109 - Jobs I've Had IV

Seneca Spring was in a building owned by one of the oldest families of Southington, one town over from Bristol. The building was actually in a town called Plantsville, but it was part of Southington. Why I mention this... I have no idea.

This was the epitome of the "Mom and Pop" shops, with the owner being the president, vice president, secretary when  needed and taught me how to set up "coiler" spring making machines.

To clarify, there are basically 3 types of spring machines. Coilers (that I worked on), Torsion (that my dad worked on) and Four-Slide (that my brother worked on, but not at this company).

Coilers can make:

Compression springs, like the ones at right (I've made many like those below.. I mean hundreds of thousands to millions of them).

 

Extension springs, like those at left (and I've made many of these too) and lastly, Coiler machines could also make, to some extent, torsion springs like those to the right below.

The machine that makes these springs, was actually pretty easy to operate, and I caught on quickly.

In no time, I was operating 9 Coilers myself. Set up, test, operate. Keep in mind, that it's not just making the springs, they all have certain weights they should carry whether it be any of the three kinds. Specialized inspection machines are used to make sure they're done right. I'm sure this is bringing back memories for my brother.

Now, my bosses name was Joe, and during the time I worked there, he was like a second father to me. Seriously, even though my own dad worked there, Joe watched out for me as much as my own dad did. He was a mentor, and a good friend even though he was a lot older than me. The other funny thing about Joe, was he loved Rock music like most of the kids at the time. I was shocked when he told me one of his favorite movies was Eddie and the Cruisers!

Well, I was starting to do just about every job there. If my dad was out, I ran the torsion machines (my dad worked on torsion spring machines). I couldn't set them up well, but I could run them if they were set up. I also set up kick-presses when needed. Joe had a unique way of looking at the work week. We worked 9 hours a day, Monday through Thursday, then half a day Friday.

After a few years, we were all a pretty close knit family there. I was, at any one time the Coiler man, secretary when she was out and the phone rang (we kept the office door open for just such an occasion), vice president (I had to play one for a customer), to heat treater and plumber when things went wrong. It was fun.. I admit it. I saw many people come and go while I was there, and for a time, I even had Steve working there helping me in the coilers. Literally, I made over a million springs a week, something nobody in any other spring company in the area did. One reason, is we had one very high speed machine that could honestly make over 30,000 springs an hour. They came off the machine in a line that looked like they were all connected.

This post is already pretty long.. I'll continue with Seneca Spring on Friday.

Have a great Hump-Day all!