Pottery

Title: Blueprints of the Minnesota Stoneware Company Factory
Type: Data
Date: no date
Source: Minnesota Historical Society

Description: This blueprint was created by the Milwaukee Appraisal Company for insurance purposes.

Activities:

1. The Main Building on the blueprint is where the workers would turn the pots on wheels as shown in Photo 1 in this unit. Since the workers were in the Main Building and the clay storage and mill were in another building, how do you think the workers were able to get more clay for the wheels without taking time to leave their work?
   
   
   
   
   Answer: The factory built a track behind the workers and used a truck with wooden sides to transport the clay to the workers at their wheels. The truck had wires that separatedsections of clay for each worker.
2. Milk pans and flower pots were made on machines called "jollies" on the second floor of the Main Building. Since this was a state-of-the-art factory for this time period, how many pans or pots would you guess that a worker could make in one day?
   
   
   
   
   Answer: Articles published at the time the factory was built stated that a worker would be able to make 1,200 pans or pots in one day when working on the "jollies."
3. Since pottery needed to be heated and dried in a kiln, there was a high risk of fire in the factory. What things do you think the company might have included in the factory to prevent this?
   
   
   
   
   Answer: The factory installed iron pipes throughout the building so that it could be flooded quickly in case of fire. Hydrants were also positioned outside that could reach any part of the buildings with water. The boilerroom had walls lined with iron tokeep any fire from spreading to other rooms or areas.
4. Why do you think a blueprint like this would need to be made after the factory was built?
   
   
   
   
   Answer: An insurance company from Milwaukee made this blueprint for their records. If the factory were to burn down,a blueprint would help them assess the damage and the cost of rebuildingthe factory. It is also possible that the original blueprint for the factory had been misplaced and needed to be redone for insurance purposes.