In 1886 Mr. Norton went to the Brown & Sharpe Manufacturing Company of Providence as assistant to Mr. Parks, their chief engineer. Soon afterward he became designer and engineer for their work in cylindrical grinding machinery, remaining in that capacity for four years. In 1890 he went to Detroit with Henry M. Leland and formed a corporation called the Leland-Falkner-Norton Company, Falkner being a Michigan lumber man. Associated with them was Charles H. Strellinger, a well-known dealer in tools and machinery. Six years later Mr. Norton returned to Brown & Sharpe and was again their engineer of grinding machinery until he went to Worcester in 1900. The Norton Grinding Company, organized that year and financed by men connected with the Norton Emery Wheel Company, have built cylindrical and plain surface grinding machinery designed by Charles H. Norton, and under his direction have been leaders in refining and extending the process of precision grinding. The Norton Company and the Norton Grinding Company should not be confused. The former make grinding wheels; the latter build grinding machines. Neither should F. B. Norton, who founded the grinding wheel industry and who died in 1885, be confused with Charles H. Norton, who did not come to Worcester until fifteen years later. There is no connection in their work, and despite the similarity of name, they were in no way related. The greatest industry in Worcester is the American Steel and Wire Company, formerly the Washburn & Moen Company. While it is no longer associated with tool building, it passed through that phase and traces back to the textile industry as well. It was founded by Ichabod Washburn, who started in as a boy in a cotton factory in Kingston, R. I., during the War of 1812. Making up his mind to become a machinist, he served an apprenticeship and then worked in Asa Waters’ armory and with William Hovey, one of the early mechanics in Worcester. About 1820 he began the manufacture of woolen machinery and lead pipe in partnership first with William Howard and later with Benjamin Goddard. The enterprise prospered. As he was making cards for cotton and woolen machinery, he determined to manufacture the necessary wire himself by a new drawing process. His first experiments were a failure, but by 1830 they were successful enough to justify his undertaking regular manufacture. He superseded the old methods entirely and built up the present great business. Goddard retired, and, after various changes in partnership, Washburn took in his son-in-law, Philip L. Moen, in 1850. By 1868 the firm employed more than nine hundred men, and wire drawing, which began as an incident in the manufacture of textile machinery, had become their sole activity. Today the works employ eight thousand men. In 1833 Washburn, in order to make an outlet for his wire products, induced the Read brothers to move to Worcester from Providence and begin the manufacture of screws. This business was operated separately