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28/04/2020 2:11 pm
Back in 1871, my great great grandfather Henry G Ashton invented a pop safety valve that was the first in the "age of steam" to actually work well. I would like to think his invention saved many lives and the popularity of his invention proved it's importance in the effort to make boilers of all kinds safer to work with. I am going to tell the history of the company and how it related to steam ships, locomotive, and boiler rooms. There is a good chance one of the readers might have an Ashton gauge, safety valve, or whistle on your boat now. check out the story of the company. I hope you find it interesting.
Here's a history of the company from a talk I gave at a local museum.
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28/04/2020 2:15 pm
More catalog information from the 1906 catalog.
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28/04/2020 2:33 pm
More safety valve info from the 1920 catalog.
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28/04/2020 2:44 pm
Water relief valves and pressure gauges were also used.
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28/04/2020 2:48 pm
Here are some old adverts from turn of the century journals.
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28/04/2020 2:51 pm
Of course they produced steam whistles!
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28/04/2020 2:54 pm
A few items from my collection.
29/04/2020 11:52 am
*RE: 'Ashton Valve Co. 1871*
Good morning, Steamboating colleagues,
Rick, I clicked yesterday reading about the family firm of Aston beginning in 1871 and on RE: the steam vales. This is great stuff for those of us interested in steamboats. It's technical for sure but valuable history. One of our Board of Governor members, Sons & Daughters of Pioneer Rivermen is presently in an executive position with a leading valve company here in Cincinnati. We often don't read/see the technical aspects for steamboats. I am also going to pass your information on to David Tschiggfrie, Editor of the quarterly publication S&D REFLECTOR for his interest. I intend to again read through your postings here. This all is pure gold. Hope you have more to share. Keep us posted.
R. Dale Flick - Member/Officer Sons & Daughters of Pioneer Rivermen
Old Coal Haven Landing, Ohio River, Cincinnati.
Topic starter
29/04/2020 2:00 pm
Thank you for your interest. And thanks for forwarding a mention to the S&D Reflector magazine. I have a nice history article directed to Steamboat enthusiasts. I have quite a large amount of material I've gathered on the company over the past 3 years and I love sharing it. I will continue to post it here and I hope everyone enjoys stepping back into the steam age. I started out being curious about an old family company and it's spiraled into a fascination with the machines and people of the industrial era. I've met some truly amazing people on this journey and that's the real reward to me.
Enough about me. The attached is part of the 1914 catalog and is about why you should use Ashton valves over anybody else's valves!
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29/04/2020 2:13 pm
The #17 Instruction book contained detailed parts breakdowns for many of the company's products. Below are some sheets pertaining to the safety valves.
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29/04/2020 2:25 pm
From the 1920 catalog, a breakdown of the Marine pop valve and a list of repair parts.
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29/04/2020 2:29 pm
Again from the 1920 catalog, some "special instructions" for repairing and adjusting marine pop safety valves.
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29/04/2020 2:33 pm
In 1872 Ashton Valve received government approval for their safety valves to be used on steam ships. Attached are some documents about the approval.
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29/04/2020 2:35 pm
And the last 3 sheets. The final 2 show the actual approval mention.
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29/04/2020 2:43 pm
An article from the Engineers Practice and Theory 1901
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30/04/2020 2:41 am
For over 100 years the safety valve was the staple item in their product line.
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30/04/2020 2:44 am
They often packed a lot of information into their ads.
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01/05/2020 5:46 pm
In 1892 the company purchased the Boston Steam Gauge Company and entered the gauge market. It wasn't long before the gauges earned the same reputation for quality the safety valves had. Today the gauges on ebay go for good money.
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01/05/2020 5:49 pm
Here are some catalog pages from 1920 showing some of the different types of gauges the company produced
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01/05/2020 5:53 pm
More gauge styles and a gauge from my collection.
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01/05/2020 5:58 pm
The old journals had some great adverts of gauges.
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01/05/2020 6:02 pm
Repair parts wee available for the gauges.
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01/05/2020 6:07 pm
The company had numerous patents, including these gauge patents.
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01/05/2020 6:11 pm
A few mechanical drawings and another gauge from my collection.
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03/05/2020 1:42 pm
At a steam show a few years back I was given an original stock certificate from 1877. I recently picked up an invoice from 1888.
I'm also posting the Ashton gage production chart that tracks the serial numbers and the years the gauges were produced from 1895 to 1922.
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