Worcester Business Journal

20 W o r c e s t e r 3 0 0 : C i t y o f I n n o v a t o r s C harles Hill Morgan was the model of a quick study. Starting factory work at age 12 to help support his family, he went on to parlay his draing skills into an innate understanding of machinery such as mills, looms, and steam engines. One of his designs powered a business incubator offered by W. T. Merrifield. In 1860, he started a paper bag manufacturing company in Philadelphia with his brother; four years later he would join Washburn & Moen, by then the world's largest producer of barbed wire, as superintendent of manufacturing. He worked there until 1885. e longevity of that engagement belies how fraught it became. At the heart of the discord were patent issues. While at Washburn & Moen, Morgan protected his patents as his own, both in the U.S. and Great Britain. His 1884 request for the company to pursue patent infringements on his salt-coating treatment, in which companies used the process without paying royalties, was not followed up on by Washburn & Moen; Morgan insisted the infringers needed to pay him. No result. Morgan tendered his resignation on April 6, 1885, but the company initially refused to accept it. He urged his London patent attorney to continue the lucrative German patent for the salt- coating treatment, but to let all the others lapse. He continued to vie with his employer in terms of benefiting from his inventions, which were many, and which he constantly strove to improve. In 1881, he founded a spring-making steel company (while still at Washburn & Moen), and in 1888, founded Morgan Construction Co. to manufacture rolling mills and wire-drawing machinery. e company opened in 1891. Its rolling mill would subsequently displace the then-prevailing Garrett mill by approximately 1911, according to a 1917 account in Industrial Worcester by Charles Washburn. at report went on to note that while Morgan Construction was building nearly all of the world's continuous wire-rolling mills, that mill segment was by then a small part of Rolling mill builder to the world 1822-1921 Morgan fiercely defended his inventions and patents Philip "Flip" Morgan, fifth generation CEO of Morgan Construction Co., with founder Charles Hill Morgan When companies patent-infringed on Morgan's metal treatment technology and his employer did not pursue them, Morgan persisted that the infringers needed to pay him for the use. He would continue to vie with his employer in terms of benefiting from his inventions. Rolling mill prototype Image | Worcester Historical Museum Image | WBJ File Photo

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