Historic Mills of Connecticut

Companies Associated w/Complex

• Bacon Bickford Eales & Co. 1837-1887
• Ensign Bickford Aerospace Company 1987-2001
• Ensign-Bickford Aerospace & Defense Company 2001-present
• Ensign-Bickford Co. 1887-1987

Use (Historic)

• Firearms, Weapons, Explosives

Largest Documented Workforce

n/a

Historic Narrative

William Bickford, from the Tuckingmill milling district of Cornwall, England, developed Miner's Safety Fuse to replace fuses of straw or goose quill that were used to detonate black powder. He was granted a Royal Patent for his invention in 1831. Bickford's process, called fuse-spinning, derived from rope manufacture, A long spinning bench (30'-40') held vertical-axis bobbins at one end and traveling jennies drew and twisted together cotton yarn from the bobbins. Before the twist tightened, powder was fed by gravity into the center of the strands through a leather funnel. In the second step, countering, a second set of strands was twisted around the fuse in the opposite direction from the first twist to prevent unraveling and powder leakage. Then the large spool of several hundred feet of fuse was wound onto smaller spools for distribution. The last operation, varnishing, was to draw the fuse through molten tar, for waterproofing, and talc, to prevent sticking. Richard Bacon brought Bickford's fuse to Connecticut in the 1830s. Bacon was a partner in Phoenix Mining Co., which had resumed copper mining at nearby New Gate. He obtained exclusive rights to sell fuse in the United States and in 1836 he convinced the English firm to establish a manufacturing subsidiary--Bacon, Bickford and Eales. Eales was an Englishman sent to set up the machinery and supervise production. Joseph Toy, sent from England in 1839 to oversee the operation, gained full control of the firm by buying the shares of Bacon and Eales. When Toy died in 1887 his son-in-law, R. H. Ensign, became managing partner and renamed the firm Ensign Bickford and Co. An explosion and fire in 1859 destroyed the plant, so the earliest extant buildings date from 1860. Ensign Bickford still occupies the plant, though the products have changed. The Simsbury Historical Society holds significant examples of 19th century fuse-making equipment. A fuse machine like those in use in the 1830s has been assembled from parts of several machines. Except for the iron rack-gear that the jenny advanced upon, the frame and transmission elements are all made of wood. Revealing what were apparently American design changes, the 1870 Simsbury type machine is an upright fuse spinner with cast-iron frame. The museum's countering and varnishing equipment has also been assembled from parts of several machines. (Roth) Primacord detonating cord was trademarked by Ensign-Bickford in 1937. The Space Ordnance Division was established in 1965 and was a sub-contractor for the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo NASA programs.

Number of Existing Buildings

Over two dozen blocks.

Dates of Construction

1860, 1906 with later additions

Architect

n/a

Builder

n/a

Building Type

• Administration
• Mill
• Warehouse / Production Shed

Architectural Description

The 1860 buildings include several support shops and at least one fuse spinning mill. Built of brownstone in random ashlar, as is most of the complex, the fuse mill is a 2-story structure, 120' x 35' with gable roof. Typically for these mills, the walls are heavy masonry and the blow-off roof is light wooden frame and shingle; fuse-making machinery was on the first floor with powder magazine on the second. Most of the surviving buildings date from the early 20th century. A 1906 fuse mill, 160' x 30' with similar functional design as the earlier mills, is separated by masonry fire walls into nine separate production spaces, each presumably safe in the event of fire or explosion in another. (Roth)

Exterior Material(s)

• Stone

Structural System(s)

n/a

Roof Form

• Gable

Roof Material

n/a

Power Source

n/a

Condition

n/a

Condition Notes

n/a

Specific Location

east side of Hopmeadow Street/Rt 202 south of West Street

Adjacent To

• Water (for Power)

Exterior Visible from Public Road?

Yes

Parcel ID / Assessor Record Link

• G11/132/52 / Link →

Acreage

40.46

Use (Present)

• Industrial

Form Completed By

n/a

Date

n/a

Bibliography

1. see Historic Resource Inventory for Simsbury, FuturePast Preservation (2010).
2. Roth, Matthew, et al, Connecticut: An Inventory of Historic Engineering and Industrial Sites (Washington DC: SIA, 1981).
3. Ensign Bickford Aerospace & Defense website.