GDTHRIE AND LARNACH'S NEW ZEALAND TIMBER AND WOODWARE FACTORIES.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 5347, 9 April 1879, Page 6

GDTHRIE AND LARNACH'S NEW ZEALAND TIMBER AND WOODWARE FACTORIES.

The premisos of the above firm, both whrn it was plain Measra Guthrio and Laroaeh, and since it ha* booome absorbed into a public company, havo been so frequently and fully described that to attempt at this period of time to give y..-fc another detailed account of all that is to bo aeen in each department of induistiy thereiD, of all the wonderful ■maohinery that ie driven ou Ha unceasing way to mould and fashion native aud other timber iuto articles of use and ornament, and of each varied method employed of turning the rough into the smooth, the imper.ect into the perfect, for man's profit, pleasure, andoonvenionoa— todeacribeallthisonceagain would, if not weary the reader, at least be only to go over ol J ground and repeat a w-11----toldstory. But seeing that every day, nearly, freßh machinery is being added to carry oa ■the working of this gigantic hive of industry, and neeiog more especially that since the Tecent remodelling of premises, a num.. fcer of alterations, improvements, and addi tiona have be-n effected, a short suuiuwy of. the principal of the°e may not now bo thought out of placi The alterations made in the premists themselves were described by us -while* nndrr progress from the architect's plane, and there will now, therefore, be no necfsiity to repeat anything on this head. Wo purpose merely to describe some of tho more recent additions to the factory, and a few of the more striking points that coma under notice during a passage through, and view of, the whole of the various rooms and departments connected with the Company's premises in Princes street South. One of the most important of the recent additions is what is known as the drying. room, erected and fitted up since New Year. This room is 06 feet by 76 feet. It contains two kilns, which each hold seven trucks, each truck capable of containing 7000 feet of timber. Thus about 100,000 feet of timber Can be put through the dryicg operation at one time. The operation consists of giving the timber as it comes from the saw the full seasoning required. This ia done in t!;e fol lowing manner : —Two brick air-shaftn havo been provided, each CO feet high, in order to cause the current of air necessary through each kiln. The exhaust steam from tho engines is conveyed through a large p'pa, and from this distributed by 8000 feet oi small piping underneath tho drying fliors. This heats tho air, which pasaoa in a current, as atated, underneath the floor, rising at one aide of it by means of trap doors. Where it rises it ia generally kapt at a temperature of 120 deg., and, passing through the loaded trucks of timber, gradually cools, until where it reach's the air shafts it has g*>ne down to about 70 deg. There aro seven trucks in each kiln, and ouo ia removed every day, having been plaued in at the cool side, and being taken out at the warm one. Tbui each day the timber advances a stage of tsraperature, much as a human being t.kes his course thrmirfh a Turkish bath. Iv this way the timber g-es through a gradml saaBoningprocess. It leaves thesawgreen, damp, and heavy, and in seven days, or at most a fortnight, is turned out perfectly seasoned, without any ri-k uf wa-ping or splitting, fit for any possible purpose without farther treatment. Tlie great advantage to the Company of this addition to the factory is at once apparent. Instead of timber having to stand stacked for a couple of seasons in order to bo fit for working, tho drying-room enables it to be used within a fortnight after leaving the rri'l, bo that the saving of interest ou capital alone will very Boon repay ■what haa bosn iuvested. Besides, there is tho further advantage that the seasoning is porfectly aud evenly done, without any dependence oa weather or other influences.

This drying-room opena on Bond street and, with an entrance from tliis sbr^eii aU-> adjoining the iroo.yard, is a tpoutiag and ridging manufactory, which waa originally taken over from Messrs R. and T. Haworth, by whom it was formerly conducted. Siuce then it has assumed very considerable pro portions, and now about eight tons a ironth are turned out. These aro all galvaniatd iron gooda, and water-tauks of the same material are also here put togother. A large punching machine ia naed for catting out lead washers, and theao aro formed with surprising qaicknes', the motive power being Bupplied by a powe;ful lever. The iron-yard, just below, ia 74 feet by 51 fee\ and contains a large stock of galvanised, sheet, rod, and bar iroa. Fitted up in the centre of the yard is a machine for curving galvanised iron to the moulds required for verandah roofs, water-ta&ks, &c.

In the boiler-room, also opening on Bond street, are two 50-hora9-power boilers busy at work, and tenders are now being asked for fitting up a third. Perhaps in connection with this room it might be well to draw attontion to the wonderfully economic way in which fuel U saved, and the water used on the premises is made to perform n variety of functions. A largo tank, balding some 20,000 gallons, is provided, and every particle of water from the roofs of the buildings, from the hydraulic lifts, &c, ia conveyed hereto. There it is used for generating steam, which, after going through its first duty of driving the machinery, is collected for the purpose of supplying the drying room, as previously stated, and besides this is used for beating the water ia the tank, from whence it originally came, to a heat of 200 degrees. This heated water is the feed water of the boilers, and thus, as may be imagined, a v«ry considerable saving of fuel is tfl cted. The whole of the feel used, too, is the shavings and -eawduet from the various workrooms, discharged upon the floor of the boiler-room fey pneumatic tubes. Passing through the sawing and planing workshop to the machinery, to which a self-acting circular saw has recently b;en added, and which, in the hands of a couple of lads, rans boards off into various lengths by the half-dozen at a time, a manufactory Jately introduced ia reached, that, namely, of wheel-spokeo. Thtre are three lathes, a sand-pipering and a tenoning inachinj busy at work in tuia room, which fronts Princes street on the south Bide of the arcade. The ironbark logs, from New South Wales, are laid down in thj rough, hiving been previously cut to something like the siz3 neces' cary, anl alooai in a few moments—so quickly does tie change appear to be brought about—they are packed in heaps, smoothed off, and ready for use. Iq the lathes, the logs being fixed appear to take care of themselves, and are chipped down to the requisite proportions, wh-ju tha attendants ot tha teaoniug and amd-papering H'achioes tak) them in hand and turn them out in thj perfect fashion dchcribc-d.

In the turnery depirtmont, a new art'ele in the shape of a washing machine is turned out. This is obstructed upou a recent pattern, and appears to be well titled for its work. Two gocd features aro its perfect simplicity and ease of working, while it has -cheapness a'so to recommend it to careful and economic hjusevivea. O£ course, in a turning-shop ho thoroughly and fully provided with machinery as is the one under notice, many of the machines are of groat interest; but to the ordinary observer, what is known as the "hand saw" is certiinly -more so than auy other. This aaw is simply a band of steel running liki a belt around « couple of wheel.*, and with it a pea of timber may be cut to auy pittera, like thiS of the figure 8. It is au old iuvtntion, but could not be generally uaeil for long year 3 ■because of the liability of the band aaw ti break. A French manufacturer, however. ha 3 BU3cee<ied in overcoming this defect. A machine for making hay-rakes is also bu-y as ■work in this department.

The sash and door factory is a busy room, an immense qumtity of work being turno 1 out in this department. A recent addi iin to the machinery is a diagonal planing machine, in whiuli, at one operation, thedcjr in tho rough ia d-cssbdoff, saud-papered, and turned oat complete. In fastening tho beidirjgof thep.inili, a remarlublo little maohioe in tho shape of a Yankee nail-driver comes lato use About a dozen nails are placed Bide by bile in a kind of met A sheath inside a hammer looldDg article, and, with a tap of a mallet, a lad drives a nail wherevur he wants to with a regularity andcompleteness that 'no human being unassisted coulJ ap. proacli; and every nail is driven home in the "most workmanlike manner. Of alltbenum. berlesa little labour-Eavjng articles a downSister ever invented, the nail driver seems one of the most perfect. On the north side of the factory arcade, and on the third storey, thu tub and bucket factory is situated. Prom the time that the blocks are brought up by the lift of the required length], till cut into staves, tapered, tongued and grooved, hooped, and bottoms provided for them, the tub is turned out a finished article, every operation ia performed by machinery ; and an an sample of tho perfection and completeness to which machinery can be brought, this department is always of extreme interest to ■visitors. Besides tubs, buckets batter fir- |

kins, choose moulds, Ac, are manufactured, and a very large trade in these articles is done.

A new room has been provided fur the upholatery department above the arcade, giving room for the increase! amount of work that has sprung up in conueoticn with it.

Passing through the furniture or cabimtmaking department, a gild r's room is reached, where an experienced artist does all the gilding of picture-frames, mirrors, &c, turned out by the firm. Some of the handsomest of the articles in the show-rooms down-staira are from the hands of this work maD, and attest the excellence of his handiwork. Immediately above the offices a polishing-room has been provided, where the various pieces of furniture receive their finishing touch before going into the s ilerooms.

Adjoining the factories, and in the rear of the offices, are situated the wood ware storei, of four floors, where the whole of the various descriptions of woodwaro goods manufac tured l>y the firm are kept in stock. There are large quantities of doers, windows, man tel pieces, and turnery of all descriptions stored here, and orders can be fulfilled in almost any line that can be mentionsd at a moment's notice. A lift, eight feet square, occupies the centre of the building, and takes goods from flat to flat as is required. On the top floor, it may be stated, there is an immense Btock of paperhangings of every conceivable pattern and design. Tho largo separate buildinga on tho south of the pile running right through from Princea to Bond street are devoted to iron mongery and furniture sale and show rooms Each building has four flats, each an open II >or of 140 f oet in depth, by 40 feet in width. As show-rooms, therefore, it may easily be understood there is nothing in Dunedia of the same extent, and, as may be expected, the stook in each department is extremely largo and varied. To attempt a detailed deaoiiption. would be folly. In connection with the ironmongery department, wh»t certainly is specially deserving of mention is the stock of Indian silver goods. These comprise cups, goblets, &c, and are of. portion larly handsome and rich appearance. They are the manufacture of the natives of an inland district of India frequently mentioned in connection with tho lute famine —Cutch, namely ; and as a matter of fact the firm's order for the goods was delayed in fulfilment through the prevalence of the famine in the district at the time. These goods are the first of the kind ever imported for sale to Dunedin, or, we believe, New Zealand. In the furniture department, the exceedingly handsome articles on view of native woods have frequently been referred to. Some of the wardrobes of red pine and mottled kauri combined, and of rere rcro and native honeysuckle combined, are espe cially pleasing to the eye; and for a real idea of the magnificence of the furniture the firm produces, a sight of the furnished drawing room in miniature which is shown on the ground floor is only required. The suite is of a design and character decidedly unsurpassable by anything imported, and the magnificent mirror is a credit to the workmanship of the Colony. Just now, t. o, a fellow screen to the one so greatly admired at tho time of the railway banquet in the firm's rooms—the work of a Dunedin lady—i 3on view. On the top floor of the furniture department a large stock of imported carpets is on baud. In bringing this necessarily meagre notice of the Woodware Factories Company's Dunedin premises to a close, it may be well to state, as showing to what an extent the company is an employer of labour, that a total number of 350 hands are there employed. Mr Walter Guthrie is, as is well known, the managing director, and, of course, the active general superintendent of the whole concern ; Mr C Braid i* in charge of the ironcionge»y department; Mr A. D. Denovan of the furniture department; Mr Robert Guthrie is at the head of the various factory works ; and Mr John R>bs is chief engineer, and id charge of the whole of the large quantity of machinery in connection with the woiku. The viiitor, who is guided through the premises, s almost bewildered by the multiplicity of the departments of industry ; and it may safely be said that nothing but a personal visit can afford a jast or true idea of the extent of the manufactures in progress, the completeness of the machinery in operation, and the wonderful army of workmen in busy employ, that go to make up what, us a whole, is the largfst manufacturing and industrial conearn in the Southern Hemisphere.