Calvin Adams
1809 - 1879
BiographyCalvin Adams was an inventor and businessman who established the first malleable iron plant west of the Allegheny Mountains in Pittsburgh during the 1840s. Adams organized the Pittsburgh Novelty Works which manufactured his inventions, including the hand coffee mill, the Janus-faced lock, and the spring snap used on watch chains and harnesses. In 1872, Calvin Adams sold his interests and retired to "private life.” It appears, however, that Adams worked with his son, S. Jarvis, also an inventor, after retirement.
