COBRA.

Marlborough Express, Volume XLIV, Issue 255, 4 November 1910, Page 6

COBRA.

A GREAT BOOT POLISH. Cobra came into the world some years ago to fulfil a great need. 'Great, changes had been wrought in .the $>r-o- ---' cess' of manufacturing leather.' Theso■changes led to tlie introduction of ■ "dry leather." With this invention ■ came the need of a suitable polish, the old. ones, composed mainly of . grease, lampblack, and other unsavory ingredients, being destructive to this new and more refined class of leather. An English gentleman named Rowe recognised the opportunity, confided it to his brothers, formed a partnership with them, and set to work to make a suitable polish. • But it was no easy matter. It involved a great deal of study and a vast amount of which might have damped the ardor of men less gifted with determination to succeed in their purpose. It was eventually discovered that a perfect polish must consist of coloring substances which would be completely soluble, and which should "not choke the pores of the leather. After many more experiments a combination of wax, turpentine, and a certain ingredient for coloring was decided on. Still more experiments, and at length—perfection. Now came the struggle to secure the recognition of the world for their invention,, and a long and severe struggle it was. But at last the leather manufacturers realised that despite the improvements they , had made something more was necessary as their leathers did not wear as well as they should do. Then came Cobra. It was just the very thing that was needed. It made the leather comfortable to wear, and also permitted ventilation, the importance of which we shall deal with later. Immediately companies were formed for making this wonderful polish, and the Rowe Brothers eventually came to Sydney and started a factory there. The company is known as Blyth" and Platt, Ltd., though the Australian business is quite 'distinct , from the English concern carried on under the same name. Their success has been phenomenal, though no greater than their enterprise deserved. The imposition of a duty on imported, polishes was ; of course, a ;great aid to the venture, and as'the reader , will see in. the interviews with jfetailers which appear later' in this article, ■ Cobra is rapidly pushing the imported article off the market, not because of the tariff so much as because of its superior' quality. So great has been the demand for Cobra that within the past few months the Rowe Brothers (of Blyth and Platt, Ltd.,) have placed an order for 1;500,000 tins to be specially manufactured for them, which is a record order for this class of tin. A still more striking instance of the manner in which Cobra has caught the market is the fact that one Sydiiey firm alone (Messrs Johnson and Sons) have just placed an order with the firm for no less than 3000 gross of the polish. This is absolutely, a record for a single order, not only

for; Australia, but for the British dominions. A visit to Messrs Blyth. and Platt's factory, known as the Solar. Works, Waterloo, is in several respects a revelation, of simple, agreeable, and effective industry. The factory, itself is-a two-storeyed building, with commodious and well-ventilated rooms. The "hands'' are mostly young ladies, not" factory girls in the way that that description usually answers. For the Rowe Brothers possess curious refornied ideas which would deeply shock many of our conservative-bred employers, who retain, early Victorian notions of keeping working girls " in their place." The Rowe Brothers regard their female employees as young ladies, and as such they ! treat them. They have provided a fine/tennis court at the rear of the factory, where the employees may in their lunch hour, or during any slack time, enjoy a game and impart some pleasure into the day's work. Consequently one is at once struck by the atmosphere of contentment in the plac ; e, and the apparent good fellowship that exists between the employers and the employed. The happy laughter of the girls mingles with the clashing of thousands of tins, and makes one reflect that if all employers were so human, labor would not only be more dignified, but would be generally loved, while the standard of work would be enormously increased. But such sentiments may be regarded as socialistic, so we shall proceed with the subject before us. The different waxes employed in the manufacture of Cobra are heated, in a steam pan and entered from there into a machine which is heated with steam pipes. The preparation is then taken by a pully to the filling bin; or machine, which is heated by a steam jacket. The filling bin is hoisted above a number of large trays, each one of which contains a gross of empty tins. The polish comes through the bin into the tins by a patent process, in a thick fluid, but it solidifies in the space of two or three minutes. The filling process is so simple, • yet its capacity so extraordinary that -one girl can fill between 15 and 20 gross of tins in an hour. As soon as the liquid enters the tins another girl fans it till it sets, after which the trays are taken to another table, where they are turned down on- to circular pieces of tin foil, which immediately adhere to the polish. The tins are then "lidded" and packed into boxes of a dozen each, after which the boxes are neatly done up in parchmentine and made up into gross lots. A separate process is the stitching of the boxes, which is done by a box machine operated by a single girl. The majority of the waxes used in the manufacture of Cobra have to be imported, much to the regret of the Rowe Brothers, who are staunch supporters of local industry. However, several of the ingredients, such as beeswax, are Australian-made, as are also the tins, the packing-paper, and the cardboard boxes. Between 70 and 80 gross of tins are packed daily at the Solar Works.