MESSRS JOHN LYSAGHT (LIMITED).

New Zealand Times, Volume XLX, Issue 8166, 18 August 1887, Page 2

MESSRS JOHN LYSAGHT (LIMITED).

(From, the Railway Supplies Journal.) Among the modem applications of iron none has proved of greater service than that which has brought it into use for the construction of buildings. The great exhibitions which are being held year by year up and down the country would few of them have been possible but for the facilities afforded by corrugated iron for the rapid and economical erection of substantial structures ; and these form but one instance out of thousands of the benefits resulting from that use of iron to which we refer. It is coming more and more into vogue every day, and improvements are being made in the manufacture and modes of treating corrugated iron which render it increasingly convenient and useful. The firm of Messrs John Lysaght (Limited) have distinguished themselves by their enterprise in the manufacture of this iron and of similar goods, and a very striking illustration of what they have done is furnished by their exhibit at the Manchester Jubilee Exhibition. The Exhibition itself may be regarded as the most conspicuous example of the heavier class of the firm’s constructional iron work. They were the makers of all the wrought-iron work, having

executed the work for Messrs Neil and Son, the general contractors; and it is no slight testimony to the extent of their resources that it took them only about twelve weeks to manufacture and erect the ironwork of this large building. They are accustomed, however, to undertakings of the kind, haring carried out some of the largest railway and dock buildings in the country. f

Within the large exhibition is a little building forming a small example of Messrs LysagHt’s constructional work. It forms two bays of a railway station similar to the one supplied by them for South America, the total length of which was about 200 feet. It is covered with sheets of 24 gauge galvanized corrugated iron, and lined with timber. The upright and framework are also of timber. There lies before us, as we write, a long list of station buildings, machinery, sheds, docksheds, grain warehouses, drill-halls, bridges, factories, and we know not what beside, erected by this firm in England and abroad; and this long list is but a sample of the very many works of the kind which have been entrusted to the firm.

The sheets which cover the little building exhibited at Manchester, as well as others shown within, are in the fullest sense of the word made by Messrs Lysaght, inasmuch, as they not only galvanise them, but also roll the black sheets and manufacture the spelter with with which they are coated. The galvanising and spelter making is done at their different works at Bristol (the headquarters of the firm), and the black sheets are rolled at their Swan Gardens, and Ozier Works at Wolverhampton. It is doubtless to the circumstance that the entire process is under the immediate superintendence of the firm, that the preeminence in quality of their sheets has been attained. Their “Orb” brand is far more extensively used than any other in the Australian, markets. The various portions of the Exhibitions show the different stages in the progress of manufacturing the iron, from the pig to the finished sheet, and from the ore to the spelter coating, and these stages are described in detail on the different articles. The firm are also noted for their wirenetting, which is manufactured at Bristol, and also at Sydney, in New South Wales. Two rolls are exhibited—one showing the ordinary way of rolling netting, and the other the specially tight rolling obtained by their patent process, which, ensures a very large saving in freight. We may say that the firm have recently executed an order for 200 miles of netting for the New South Wales Government.

We commend Messrs Lysaght’s exhibit especially to our railway readers, to contractors and builders, convinced that it will be to their interest to make a careful inspection of the firm’s manufactures. We ought to state that their offices and works are at St. Vincent’s Ironworks, Bristol; and, beside the other wnrks at Bristol and Wolverhampton above referred to, they have establishments at Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide, Brisbane, and Wellington (New Zealand).