- ELLIS DOTY (deceased), Janesville, whose portrait appears
in this work, was born in Lockport,
- Niagara Co., N.Y., on the 6th day of September, 1838, and
was therefore in the 34th year of his age at the time of his
death. In 1841, he came to Rock Co. and settled, with his father's
family, in the town of Turtle. The family moved to Janesville
in the spring of 1847, and the subject of this sketch remained
a citizen of this city until the time of his death. In the year
1854, Mr. DOTY entered the office of Joseph BAKER, then publisher
of the Free Press, for the purpose of learning the printer's
trade. He remained there until the consolidation of that paper
with the Gazette, two years later, when he was thrown
out of employment, and sought a situation in the northern part
of the State. Returning a few months afterward, he became in
some way connected with his brother, William DOTY, in the publication
of the Janesville Messenger. Afterward, he was employed
by HOLT, BOWEN & WILCOX, then publishers of the Gazette,
and was made foreman of their job office in 1861. Early in 1863,
his connection with this establishment was severed, and he removed
to La Fayette, Ind., there to engage in the publication of a
newspaper. Remaining in that place but a short time, he returned
to Janesville and opened a job printing office, afterward associating
himself with Garret VEEDER, of the present firm of VEEDER &
ST. JOHN, publishers of the Recorder. In 1865, his failing
health compelled him to retire from a business which he was entirely
qualified to pursue with success, and he disposed of his interest
in the establishment to H. L. DEVEREAUX, now publisher of the
Burlington Standard. During the summer of the year in
which Mr. DOTY abandoned the printing business, he entered into
partnership with two of his brothers for the manufacture of the
celebrated DOTY washing machine (the invention of his brother
William), and to his energy is due much of the success which
has attended the introduction of that household implement. During
the following year, R. J. & Hamilton RICHARDSON were taken
into the firm, which was styled DOTY Brothers & RICHARDSON.
A consolidation of this firm with the Badger State Manufacturing
Company was effected in 1868, and the name changed to the DOTY
Manufacturing Company, which it still retains. Mr. DOTY occupied
the position of secretary of this company for three years, retiring
as an officer in 1871, but still holding his financial interest
in the concern. During the year 1870, he associated himself with
Thor JUDD in the manufacture of a gas machine, which had been
rendered valuable by improvements made upon it by Mr. DOTY. This
partnership was continued less than a year, Mr. JUDD assuming
the entire interest. Being at leisure after the expiration of
his third year as Secretary of the DOTY company, Mr. DOTY began
to work upon an idea, which had originated in his own mind, for
the improvement of railroad car axles. On the 1st day of May,
the first model of his anti-friction axle was completed and a
patent secured. An arrangement was effected whereby George MILTIMORE,
of this city, secured a half-interest in the invention, and together
they proceeded to introduce it into use. On the first day of
July, the first trial of Mr. DOTY's axle was made, on the Chicago,
Burlington & Quincy Road, and it was pronounced a success.
Mr. DOTY's inventive genius has thus removed one of the most
expensive drawbacks to railroading, and it will, in time, as
the Superintendent of the Burlington & Quincy road writes,
"effect a complete revolution in the manufacture of rolling
stock for railroads." A stock company for the manufacture
of the DOTY axle was organized in December, 1873, with a capital
of $500,000. The inventor had also perfected machines for the
manufacture of this axle, which indicate, in a still greater
degree than the construction of the axle itself, the capacity
of his mind for grasping and working out difficult mechanical
problems. Mr. DOTY died March 15, 1874, at a period in life when
he was most useful to his fellow-men, and when the latent genius
within him had just begun to develop itself in practical form,
and the rich ideas with which his comprehensive mind was stored
had barely reached the confines of the mechanical arena where
the true civilization of our race is secured by the continuous
battling of American genius. Warm, earnest and constant in his
affections, possessing also a character controlled by a high
standard of integrity, he was, nevertheless, of so retiring and
undemonstrative a disposition that only his most intimate friends
appreciated his great worth. His intellectual powers were also
of an unusual character. He was highly endowed with mechanical
genius, and, in power of concentration and breadth of comprehension,
either of principles or facts, in their relation to practical
affairs, he had few superiors. Mr. DOTY was married to Miss Olive
PARKER, of Janesville, Wis., April 16, 1862; they have one child
- Arthur.
-
- Taken from "The History of Rock County, Wis."
(c)1879; p. 704.
-
- Courtesy of Carol
|