Thus by my failure to realize their necessary position and to lay before them a thoroughly business-like proposition, demanding for myself the practical direction of the business and a proper sum for the patents and the good-will of the business, and assuring to them the safety and disposition of their money the enterprise was doomed from the start. An excellent opportunity seemed to offer itself for going right on with my business without the delay which would be involved in the erection of new works. The Southwark Foundry was in the market for sale. These were the old engineering works of the firm of S. V. Merrick & Sons; they were famous works before the war, when they were largely devoted to the manufacture of municipal gas and water plants, having, I think, a monopoly of this class of work, for which they were especially equipped. During the war they had built engines for some government vessels. A few years after the war the elder Mr. Merrick died, and his two sons, J. Vaughan and William H. Merrick, retired from business, and these works were closed. In company with several of the gentlemen interested I was shown over the works by William H. Merrick and was very favorably impressed with them. They covered a large plot of ground, the front extending from Fourth to Fifth streets on the south side of Washington Avenue, in Philadelphia; they were favorably located with respect to transportation facilities, a branch of the Philadelphia and Baltimore Railroad ran through this avenue to the Delaware River, and two switches from these tracks entered the works, one going to the foundry and one to the erecting-floor. This floor was commanded by three cranes, operated by power, the largest I had ever seen, while an annex to the foundry was commanded by a steam-crane of equal size, and the main foundry floor was provided with an overhead traveler, the only one at that time in the country. The machine-shop was a large three-story building, the first and second floors of which, as well as the erecting-shop, were filled with tools, some of them of large size. I was particularly impressed by the great planer, the largest in the country, capable of passing objects twelve feet square. The office was provided with a large fire-proof vault which was carried up to the second story for the use of the drawing-office. I expressed myself decidedly in favor of purchasing these works. I could form no judgment respecting the tools, all their working parts being coated with a composition of white lead and tallow; but I did not care much about them, because I should speedily fill the works with the latest improved tools, most of which I expected to import from England. A contract was immediately made for the purchase of these works, in part payment for which the Merrick brothers were to accept stock in the proposed company. Thus they became numbered among our stockholders.