Nathaniel Wheeler was an American manufacturer and legislator.
Background
Nathaniel Wheeler, the son of David and Sarah (De Forest) Wheeler, was born at Watertown, Litchfield County, Connecticut, of English and Huguenot descent. Moses Wheeler, the first of the family in America, emigrated from England in 1638 and settled in New Haven, Connecticut, in 1641.
Education
After receiving a common-school education Nathaniel learned the trade of carriage-building in his father's shop and specialized in the ornamenting of carriages.
Career
In 1841, upon his father's retirement, he took over the business and for five years conducted it successfully. In the meantime he had become interested in manufacturing by hand such metal articles as buckles, buttons, and eyelets, and for a time carried on the two businesses in the same establishment, gradually equipping his metal-ware factory with machinery. In 1848 he formed the partnership of Warren, Wheeler and Woodruff with two men already engaged in the manufacturing of metalware in Watertown, and erected a new factory, of which he took charge. In New York late in 1850 he saw the newly invented sewing machine of Allen B. Wilson. Contracting to supply five hundred machines to the firm controlling Wilson's patent, he engaged Wilson to superintend their manufacture in Watertown. Meanwhile the latter had conceived the idea of a rotary hook as a substitute for his double-pointed shuttle, and was given carte blanche by Wheeler to proceed with the perfection of a new rotary-hook machine. Obtaining a patent for this, Wheeler and his partners reorganized their company as Wheeler, Wilson and Company, and began to manufacture the machine, Wheeler supervising sales and distribution, and Wilson manufacturing. In less than two years several hundred machines had been sold to the public, and introduced into factories in Troy, N. Y. , Boston, Massachussets, and Philadelphia, Pa. For the better prosecution of the growing business Wheeler reorganized the company in October 1853, under the name of the Wheeler and Wilson Manufacturing Company. Three years later he removed the factory to Bridgeport, Connecticut, where as president he directed the company's affairs until his death. A four-motion feed which Wilson perfected in 1854 Wheeler immediately incorporated in the company's machine. With these several improvements the Wheeler and Wilson Manufacturing Company quickly became one of the four principal sewing-machine manufacturers of the United States and was one of the four composing the great combination established in 1856 to pool sewing-machine patents. In this Wheeler took an active part. Besides attending to his growing business he invented and patented a wood-filling compound in 1876 and 1878, a ventilating system for houses and railroad cars in 1883, and a number of minor improvements in the sewing machine. He was a director of the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad, and of numerous other organizations, and served in the Connecticut legislature in 1866, 1868, 1870, and from 1872 to 1874. He died in Bridgeport.
Achievements
Connections
He was twice married: first, on November 7, 1842, to Huldah Bradley of Watertown, and second, on August 3, 1858, to Mary E. Crissey of New Canaan, Connecticut. He had two children.