LOCAL INDUSTRY.

Press, Volume LXVI, Issue 19975, 9 July 1930, Page 13

LOCAL INDUSTRY.

MANUFACTURERS VISIT FACTORIES. MAKING OF BSTHS. - Two novel aspects of industry »■ Christchurch were shown to member* of the Canterbury Manufacturers'.. Association when they visited the works of Messrs Scott Bros., ironfounders, and of the Lace Web Company, yesterday afternoon. The party was led by'Mr-E. H. Marriner, organiser, and Mr Isaac Woolf, president of the Association, and the main object of the visit was'- to 7 show - to local manufacturers what was being done by local industry., As one speaker explained ■ later, they ■ passed each other's factories every day without realising what was being done in them. The chief interest'at Messrs. Scott Bros.' works- lay in the methods of • manufacture of porcelain - baths. Th* party was shown every step of th© process, from the original casting of the iron bath to the final baking 'of* th© enamel. The.final step in the process, . after the .baths had been- cast, Cleaned' by sand blasting, and had received a preliminary coat, was of ; greatert interest, and was the. first shown to the. party. Out . of the Furnace. From the wall of a. room.'alieady unusually hot for the season a glow and a wave of heat beat as.a door wu - s opened, revealing th® red and glowing bricks of a furnace, and deep in £h« "heart .of it an incandescent mass that Tas the bath. A great : pronged beam of steel, suspended from. an - overhead, track, ;was moxed forward until it .gripped the bath, lifting it out and placing it tupon -a .iteel-■ cradle- • The -• furnac® doors were lowered, and- three.-men, with-their faces";masked, moved, forone working a machine that sjrung.;, the'bath in various.pqsitions, while; the others sifted the, fihe, porcelain dust on to it froib Jong-handled . sieves. This work was quickly,* finished and the doors were reopened and the : bath returned \for reheating. - Some ten. minutes later the bath was swung out. again,-'red at-first, but soon cooling to a;> dull yellow. A new coating of porcelain oust" ~was~ sifted on"* and the bath ■ returned - for.- a»iLnal baking. TheVlasfc time the* bath. emerged, from the ' furnace.; it. showed the- brilliant . smooth white surface of' puiro,porce- . lain,, and- was'"set: aside ..to feßol' betor® being moved to the-store. • • .. ... .. '• Thepregaration" of' the-porcelain and the preliminary processes occupied the • attention of the party* while.- the «bak"ing proceeded;; Mr F; ScotV explained i that the furnace, which jjaye a Aeat of from 1600" to 1800. degrees was oil-fed ~under pressure. The chief ' difficulty' • was to , find! bricks . which would'stand'the tremendous heat." .attention! of the, party ' were the tion :of porcelainenamelled , street; name • plates for, some North Island towns and the preparation of the .■.moulds, for castingwhere the "firm's extensive. manufacture of kitchen ranges iB carried-0n,,. • .. At the - conclusion of the visit _Mr Woolf thanked "Messrs Scott Bros, for the opportunity given, and pointed put that 'with such manufacture ; in progress in our own country, there should-be »o need to obtain these-goods from over- ■ seas. .. ■ :■ -..v. Sprung C&airs. . ' The party next visited the showrooms of Lace Web, Ltd., where they were 'shown the . advantages of the special method of springing used in upholstered chairs by the company. Mr J. W. Thomas explained that the. special resilience of t]he springing was due to the fact that the springs were tempered after being shaped. After seeing- this the party next went out" to., the ■> factory at Addington, where the ' actual manufacturing' processes • were observed. The most notable features here were the use of sheet wadding in place of loose packing-for chairs, the making of standardised parts so * that . specialist workers were unnecessary, and the reduction of the bulk of sprung sept botby placing them, in a device -likt;. a woolpress,, in. order to - pack them - for distant transit; The : factory, was engaged in the making of theatre-seats . for eight theatres throughout New Zealand, and also of 1500 seats for the new - first class carriages of the Railway Department. ' ' • y