George Capewell

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George J. Capewell (1843-1919) was born on June 26, 1843, in Birmingham, England. He was educated in Woodbury, Connecticut and went to work at fifteen for Scoville in Waterbury, Connecticut. At twenty he was Mechanical Superintendent of Cheshire Manufacturing Company.

In 1870 he founded a business, manufacturing specialties of his own invention. In the centennial year of 1876, he began his major life work, the invention of an automatic process to produce horse nails. After years of frustration, failure, and the loss of thousands of dollars, a perfected machine was exhibited to investors in Hartford, Connecticut in the fall of 1880. In 1881, George J. Capewell formed the Capewell Horsenail Company in Hartford, Connecticut.

A 1900 article reported that “Mr. Capewell’s tenacity of purpose has brought him to the top and it is Hartford’s boast that he is one of the men who has done much toward making the city known the world over.” He died on November 6, 1919.

Presently, the company continues to manufacture nails in Bloomfield, Connecticut on machines designed by George Capewell.