Walworth Valve Company

 Walworth Valve Company
During the first few years of my life, my father Edson Carl Beck worked in the coal mines located in Melcroft, Pennsylvania. The coal veins underground in this area were low. The thin seams caused the miners to work, bent over to dig yhe coal with pick and shovel. Once loosened, the coal was shoveled into carts then hauled to the surface. Because of the low ceiling, he had a dark tattoo on his forehead. It happened by bumping his head on a low overhang and the coal dust wasn’t properly washed out at the time.
His next job was working at a factory called The Walworth Valve Company in South Greensburg, Pennsylvania. The company made valves casting them, shaping them, and finally selling them. In the foundry men poured the hot molten metal into molds shaping the bodies of the valves, wedge gates, and the ball stoppers. The metals the workers used were brass, iron, and stainless steel. The choice of the different metals was determined by the type of valve requested for the customer. I believe the smallest valves were brass with a 2.5 inch diameter opening and the largest valves were steel or stainless steel and were 3.5 feet in diameter.
Walworth was an old, wood-block floored factory. It was started in 1888. The original machines were powered by a belted pulley system. A second-floor line of pulleys on a long shaft spun leather belts. The belts stretched down to power the machines on the first floor, transferring the power to each individual machine.
My father’s job was to run a large overhead drill press. His expertise on the machine often caused him to actually earn less money than those who were less qualified. Let me explain. Other men were shaping smaller, multiple pieces in a run. Once they were set up, they could drill the valves in a shorert time, earning “piecework.” That meant if they finished more pieces that the average, they got higher wages.
However, my dad would have to set up his machine to do only one, two, or maybe three valves. The set up time for the drill between orders was a loss of productivity. He earned only a straight salary compared to the other men doing piecework. His skill and knowledge hindered his wages instead of helping him.
I worked there for a nearly a year before joining the United States Navy in 1968, but my father continued to work there until 1975 when management decided to fold up their tents and move the entire operation to Mexico. One of the original buildings from the factory is still standing. It is the white, stucco-looking medical building situated behind Hoss’s Restaurant in South Greensburg just off Rt. 119.