Thomas Rogers was the son of John and Mary (Larrabee) Rogers, was born on his father's farm in Groton, Connecticut He was descended from James Rogers who was in New London, Connecticut, as early as 1660, and was a great-great-grandson of John Rogers, 1648-1721, founder of a sect known as the Rogerenes.
At the age of sixteen, after receiving a common-school education, Thomas became a carpenter's apprentice and then learned blacksmithing from an uncle.
He also learned pattern making and in the course of four years saved some money with which, in 1819, he purchased the manufacturing rights for a newly imported power loom.
When twenty years old he left home and settled in Paterson, New Jersey, just at the beginning of the War of 1812. After serving throughout that struggle, he returned to Paterson and soon found employment in a shop that made wooden looms. He also learned pattern making and in the course of four years saved some money with which, in 1819, he purchased the manufacturing rights for a newly imported power loom. He and John Clark then organized the firm of Clark & Rogers and began the manufacture of the new loom, undertaking, also, the spinning of cotton. The business was immediately successful; a second partner, Abraham Godwin, was taken into the company in 1820; the plant was enlarged in 1822; and nine years later Rogers withdrew with $38, 000 as his share of the profits. With this capital he began the construction of a new textile machine manufacturing plant in Paterson, which he called the "Jefferson Works. " Upon its completion in 1832 he organized the Rogers, Ketchum & Grosvenor Machine Works and, with Rogers as president, the company began operations. During the first year, in addition to textile machinery the company began making railroad car wheels and boxes and other railroad castings. These were of such good quality that Rogers was soon approached by the leaders in railroad enterprises with the urgent request that he engage in the construction of locomotives. After three years he acceded to these requests and late in 1836 publicly announced in the American Railroad Journal (December 24) that his company "was prepared to receive orders for locomotives and tenders. " In the meantime, the company had constructed additional buildings and also had imported from England machine tools of all kinds. Rogers, furthermore, had made a close study of the "McNeill, " the first locomotive on the Paterson & Hudson River Railroad, imported from England in 1833, and from this had prepared his first design. Immediately following its announcement, the company began the construction of a locomotive intended for the New Jersey Railroad & Transportation Company. The task was an extremely trying one for Rogers, but after many months the locomotive was completed and on October 6, 1837, made a successful trial trip. It was immediately purchased by the newly organized Mad River & Lake Erie Railroad, given the name "Sandusky, " and shipped to Ohio, although not a foot of track had been laid. Since it was the first locomotive west of the Alleghany Mountains, its gauge was made the standard for Ohio. In this locomotive the driving wheels were made with cast-iron centers and hollow spokes, and the crank and connecting rod were counterbalanced by adding sufficient extra weight to the section of the wheels opposite the crank. For these improvements Rogers was responsible; he did not patent them, but in order to ensure their being public property, he filed specifications in the patent office on July 12, 1837. Three additional locomotives similar to the "Sandusky, " each with a single pair of driving wheels, were completed by Rogers, Ketchum & Grosvenor by the middle of 1838. In 1839 Rogers designed and built a new type of locomotive, and, in 1842, produced the "Stockbridge, " with cylinders outside of the frame. Two years later, he produced the type of locomotive which was subsequently adopted generally throughout the United States. This had two pairs of coupled driving wheels and was remarkable in that it was the first example of the use of equalizing beams between the driving wheels and front swiveling truck. Always progressive, Rogers took the lead in adopting improvements that others regarded with distrust. Thus to him belongs the credit of introducing the shifting link valve motion on locomotives in the United States; he was the first, also, in 1850, to apply the wagon top boiler. In his twenty years of locomotive building, as in his earlier manufacturing work, he was extremely successful and was actively connected with his company to the day of his death. A skillful workman himself, he always insisted on first-class work being maintained in his shops. Accordingly, the Rogers locomotives had a high reputation for efficiency, safety, and durability, and were used in all parts of the United States, in Cuba, and in South-American countries as well.
A skillful workman
Rogers married Marie Small of Paterson, New Jersey, and at the time of his death in New York City he was survived by five children.
Rogers married Marie Small of Paterson, New Jersey
The business was immediately successful; a second partner, Abraham Godwin, was taken into the company in 1820; the plant was enlarged in 1822; and nine years later Rogers withdrew with $38,000 as his share of the profits.
