ONEHUNGA IRONWORKS COMPANY (LIMITED).

New Zealand Mail, Issue 906, 12 July 1889, Page 30

ONEHUNGA IRONWORKS COMPANY (LIMITED).

The works of the above company are in full working at present. Mr Enoch Hughes is ihe manager of the. works, and Mr William Miller has charge of the rolling mills. The works are the largest in the Southern Hemisphere, consistingof rolling mills for the manufacture of bar, sheet, angle, and tee iron, atao rails and fishplates, etc., and,.if in full work, capable of turning out 300 tons of finished iron every week. The sizes of iron which the company now make are—Plats, from f by£ to 8 by 1 inch ; rounds, from J inch to 4 inches diameter ; squares, from J to 3 inches ; angles, from to 3 inches ; tee iron, 3 by 3 by \ and 7-16ths, and 3 by by 2h and 7-16ths ; rails, 14, 16, 18, 251bs. The present output of finished iron is about 100 tons a week. A blast furnace is now in course of erection for the smelting of ironsand and iron ores, -and is expected to be finished in about four months, and will turn out about 120 tons of pig-iron per week. The engine-power consists of one 80 horse-power condensing, also two 50 horse-power condensing, and one 25 horse-power made by Davey Bros., of Sheffield. The rolling mills were manufactured by Messrs Taylor and Farley, of West Biomwich, and are of the latest modern tj'po. The steam-hammer is by Condie. There are seven pairs of shears on the works ; the largest pair was made by the company, and is used for cutting old railway rails. There are ten furnaces. The whole of the machinery is covered by two large roofs 100 ft square. There is a 12-ton weighbridge and an extensive railway siding and every convenience for carrying on the business. The foundry is 80ft by 40ft, with ten ton crane, a Root’s blower, large cupola, core house, &c. The Company make their own rolls, and are continually adding to the sizes of iron they already make. The fitting shop contains one largo roll-turning lathe for turning new rolls and dressing old ones, screw-cutting lathe, planing-machine, and drillingmachine. The blacksmith’s shop contains three fires, blown by a 22-inch fan, driven by an 18-liorse power engine, which also drives the Root’3 blower for the cupola, and the machinery in the fitting shop. The company have their own works for the manufacture of firebricks, and the quality of the bricks made have been found superior to the imported fire-brick for furnace works. One furnace erected eighteen months ago has lately been repaired after heating over 250 tons of iron. No English fire-bricks have ever been known to stand the same amount of work. The company make all sizes of fire-brick, command a ready sale. The sheet mill has been erected some time, also the annealing furnaces. The men for work-

ing the sheet mill are expected- to arrive by”the next incoming San Francisco mail steamer. The corrugating and galvanising plant are on the way out, and on arrival, the company, after fixing it, will turn out galvanised plain and corrugated sheets of all sizes and gauges.—New Zealand Herald.