Mr. Howard E. Plimpton of Norwood, whose funeral occurred this afternoon at his home, was the youngest son of Calvin G. and Priscilla Plimpton of Walpole. His father and his grandfather were Iron manufacturers at Plimptonville, the station on the New England Railroad beyond Norwood. He was educated at Phillips Exeter Academy. His bent, however, was for mechanics, and after leaving there he decided to learn some manufacturing business. With that end in view, he visited the different knit-goods manufactories of New England and finally found a place at Waterford. N. Y. Here he commenced work, and after six months became assistant superintendent of the whole mill. Learning all he could at that place, he then went to New Brunswick, N. J., but failing to get a position there he went to the Medllcott Mills in Springfield, where he became assistant superintendent.
The same determination which made him succeed In the knit-goods business he brought with him when he came to Boston to go Into the bookbinding business with his brother, H. M. Plimpton. He mastered every detail and made many valuable inventions. The fact that the books of today can be opened without cracking is due to his Invention of gluten, a flexible glue. Most of the holiday books and other attractive publications are bound In Hollis-ton cloths, which were his Invention and which he manufactured. Had he lived he would have perfected a gathering machine and various other labor-saving devices. He was but thirty-six years old, and his death Is a great loss to the publishing business. He was the superintendent of the bindery of the Athenaeum Press in Cambridge and had been Identified almost from the very start with the manufacture of the books of Ginn & Co., the publishers. He was also a member of the firm of H. M. Plimpton & Co. and of the Holliston Mills Company. He leaves a widow, the daughter of George H. Morrill of Norwood, and three children.
05 Jan 1899, Thu Boston Evening Transcript (Boston, Massachusetts)