International Sensors and Controls

Historic Rocky Glen Mill

Listed in the National Register of historic places, Rocky Glen Mill has a rich and storied heritage. Constructed in 1834, utilizing the first insulated cement brick, this magnificent structure was so unique that it was featured in a September 1859 issue of Scientific American magazine for incorporating some of the latest innovations of the time. It was originally home to the New York Belting and Packing Company, the largest India rubber establishment in the country. American clipper ships brought tons of dark India gum from Penang, Singapore and Calcutta to be molded to new uses in this quiet New England village.

As described in Scientific American magazine, "For once, a manufacturing village was beautiful and the immense factory, nearly 300 feet long and the white cottages half hidden among the trees, looked picturesque by contrast with the lofty mountain beyond and the wild forest scenery around."

At the base of Pootatuck mountain, a heavy dam was thrown across a narrow gorge and the Pootatuck river wad forced back many hundred feet to form a deep basin for the mill pond. The factory relied on a water wheel 50' in diameter (said to be the largest in the world at that time), to drive the powerful machinery required for the processing of India rubber. Also required for the processing of India rubber is a web of powerful cotton duck. The cotton was gathered in the cotton fields of the South and brought here to be woven into long webs of duck. Then, when the Northern mechanic combined this with the India gum to create the perfect belting, it would be returned to the Southern planter as belts for his cotton gin and saw mills.

Today, the waterfall generates back-pressure which runs water through a canal, which in turn runs another waterfall into the building, running a turbine which provides electricity. The system is capable of producing about half of the building's needs, with the rest supplied by Connecticut Light and Power. Many of the original beams and construction materials are still in place. The scenery is just as breathtaking as it was 150 years ago.

We at International Sensors & Controls, Inc. plan to do our part to keep the legacy alive by continuing the tradition of world-class innovation and leading edge manufacturing.