By this invention of Cox at that early date, many thousands of pounds were saved to the Commonwealth by putting a stop to the importation of wool and cotton cards from Europe.
It was probably at about this time while experimenting with wire for cards that Cox was the first to produce in the state of Massachusetts wire for fish hooks, and instructed others in the first drawing of steel wire from half an inch down to the size of a hair.
As the fisheries were one of the staple industries of Massachusetts, the value of his efforts can be readily appreciated.
If disloyal during the Revolution, Cox was not so to a great extent or for a long period, as we find later that he was quite active in support of the patriots. After the war he petitioned the state for relief, and among other acts claimed to have established the first powder mill in the state during the war. Investigations have revealed where this mill was situated and that the first powder mill was at Andover, and they made powder there in the early part of 1776. Samuel Phillips, Junior, was the leading man in the enterprise but Cox's name not before appeared in print in connection with the works.
In Dorchester, afterward Stoughton, the Everendens were makers of powder previous to the Revolution, and in Stoughton the state established a powder mill, nearly as early as the Andover scheme. The state also contemplated later a mill at Sutton. There is also said to have been mills at Bradford and Seekonk.
Cox was prominently connected with the enterprise at Andover. He claimed to have put up the first powder mill in the state, and invented a machine for granulating the powder whereby one man could granulate five hundredweight in one day at the same time saving the labor of fifty men, and that he supplied the state with that necessary article at that time.
Of his connection with the Andover scheme we have
