I love old quality craftsmanship. Wilcox Crittenden made all sorts of cast bronze boat equipment as well as the toilet in my previous cruising boat (and there was one in this boat – I retained the original plaque). Here is a bit about redoing these lights and fitting them with LED bulbs. When I am done the electrical wiring section, I will demonstrate the new lights.
The sidelights – I am currently looking for a matching stern light!
Starboard side navigation light - before
Dismantled – Both rubber seals were still serviceable. They had 46 years of weather exposure.
Starboard navigation light Dismantled
Assembled – What you get when you use; a brass wire wheel, then a buffer with brown polish, then a buffer with white polish, then a hand buff with Flitz (I own a quart) and then a seal coat with Renaissance Mono-crystalline wax. If you thought Flitz was dear, Mono-crystalline wax is loopy. I learned about Renaissance when taking a museum restoration course; it is used to preserve all bare metals from the enviroment and oils of human contact.
Port Light installed (see, both sides are polished!)
Finished – When assembling, I did 2 things that many miss. First I coated the still serviceable rubber seal with silicone grease. The grease prevents the seal from getting too hard and prevents the seal from ‘gluing’ itself to the rubber. Second, I am installing LED bulbs.
Port Navigation light installed
A fellow in Canada designed and then had No. 90 series base LED bulbs built, in a waterproof base. I ordered 2 of them from David at Boaterbits. You must order the color LED to match the light that you are using it in – Red LED’s for the port light, etc. This allows many of us using common small lights that were designed in the past 70 years to upgrade the bulbs to something more energy friendly.
Early History of Wilcox Crittenden
In 1847, a young Yankee named William Walter Wilcox invested his faith, business savvy and modest life savings into the production and distribution of a simple metallic grommet. Wilcox soon expanded his product line to meet the needs of the sailors and shipbuilders within the coastal community of Middletown, Connecticut. Out of his early ingenuity came round-edged sail thimbles, spectacle clews and sticking tommies, creating a demand on his small firm for all kinds of ship and canvas fittings. By 1869, the rapid expansion of the company began to require more capital to service the growing number of customers. Wilcox offered an interest in the company to Albert R. Crittenden, a young man who had been under his employ for a decade. Under this new partnership, the firm became known as Wilcox, Crittenden & Company. As the Wilcox reputation for quality grew, virtually every ship to slide down the ways carried a full complement of Wilcox Crittenden gear. For example, the American clipper ship FREDERICK BILLINGS was launched at Rockport, Maine on August 11th, 1885. She was equipped throughout with Wilcox Crittenden hardware and fittings. For 38 years before the good ship FREDERICK BILLINGS started on her career, Wilcox Crittenden & Co., Inc., had been supplying dependable marine hardware to the famous clipper ships the queens of the sea in their day…
The Complete History of Wilcox, Crittenden & Co.
In 1847, Middletown was New England’s largest inland port, and it was in that year the company that would become Wilcox, Crittenden & Co., Inc. was established. According to the centennial history of the company, it was in Ben Butler’s sail loft in Middletown that Eldridge Penfield first conceived of developing a metal grommet (later to be called the sail eyelet grommet) to replace the rope grommets that were currently being used by sailmakers.
In partnership with his uncle, Ira Penfield, Eldridge Penfield formed the firm of E. H. & I. K. Penfield. The business was opened in a small building at the rear of the property located at Main and William Street in Middletown, and was the first company in America to produce metal grommets. The first grommets were stamped out using hand presses which were operated by the partners and by William Walter Wilcox, whom they had hired.
For the next two years, Penfield tried to market the new grommets by utilizing traveling salesmen who brought and sold on consignment and kept most of the profits. After this unsuccessful period, Eldridge Penfield sold out his interest to Ira Penfield, and Wilcox invested his savings and became a partner in the new firm called Penfield & Wilcox.
By using more direct marketing techniques, Wilcox was able to overcome the opposition that developed on the part of journeymen sailmakers who feared that the use of the new grommet would reduce the need for their services. The company prospered and added other items to their inventory based on the needs of sailmakers. In 1857, Wilcox invented and patented a new and improved grommet made in three parts which was even more successful than the original device. He also invented a round-edged sail thimble which replaced the iron, sharp-edged thimble previously in use.
The partnership of Penfield & Wilcox was dissolved circa 1859, when Ira Penfield retired. Wilcox moved the business and took into partnership Joseph Hall, Jr. of Portland, CT and formed the firm of Wilcox & Hall, which continued until 1867 when Hall retired and sold his interest to Wilcox.
In 1869, Wilcox formed a partnership with three of the younger men of his organization, Albert R. Crittenden, E. Bound Chaffee, and Homer Churchill. Crittenden purchased a tenth interest in the business for $5,000, and name of the firm was changed to Wilcox, Crittenden & Company.
In the maritime world, steam was gradually replacing sail, and the company’s 1870 catalog offered such varying products as shackles, thimbles, ring bolts, “Ereful whistles,” engine-room signals, boat nails “of good Swede’s steel heavily galvanized,” and cotton hooks “New Orleans pattern.” A new outlet for sailmakers was in manufacturing awnings and the company began stocking awning hardware as well. In 1883, Wilcox developed an improved brass grommet (which became known as the spur grommet), secured its approval as standard equipment by the British Admiralty, and eventually it was adopted by all the leading navies of the world. By the late 1880′s, Wilcox, Crittenden & Company had become the largest manufacturers of marine hardware with the most diversified line in the United States.
The company survived a fire in 1907 which destroyed a large portion of the plant. They maintained during the World Wars and the Depression and by 1961, Wilcox, Crittenden & Co., Inc. was a division of North & Judd Manufacturing Co. By 1971 it was a Gulf + Western Precision Engineering Company, and by 1975, a division of Gulf + Western Manufacturing Company. Thetford currently holds the name and all they offer are toilets. Sadly, the era of Wilcox Crittenden bronze passed nearly 4 decades ago.
