JOHNSONVILLE GLUE FACTORY.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXII, Issue 4930, 10 January 1877, Page 3

JOHNSONVILLE GLUE FACTORY.

We have pleasure iu drawing public attention to a new species of local industry recently started in Johnsonville—the manufacture of glue—which we are sure only requires to become known in order to be largely patronised. Hitherto when glue was in request in Wellington it had to be procured from Dunedin or from Melbourne ; and if it can be manufactured close at hand, it follows that it can be obtained with more expedition and at lower prices. For the benefit of those who are unacquainted with the process of glue-making, we give a little information as to the mode of its manufacture. It is almost unnecessary to state that it is obtained from the boilingdown of skins and other refuse collected from tanyards, &c. But before these skins can be boiled they, have to go through a somewhat tedious course of preparation. In the first place they have to be put to soak in water for two or three days ; after this they are taken out and placed in tubs containing a compound of lime ; they are moved from one to another of these tubs for about three weeks. The reason of soaking them in the lime is to soften the skins and thus make the glutinous substance, adhering to their surface, more easy of removal. If they were put into the boiler simply in this state without any further process, the effect of the lime would he to prevent the glue from “ caking,” as it would be of too soft a character. To prevent this, when the skins have been boiling some hours, a large quantity of alum is mixed with the contents of the boiler, the effect of which is to convert the lime still left on the skins into phosphate of lime; and this, of itself, is not sufficient to keep the glue from hardening. After boiling for seven hours, during which time superfluous fat has to ; he every now and again removed from the surface, as in the manufactory of soap, the boiling matter is run off into zinc troughs, and left to harden. In fine dry weather the glue will become hard iu thirty-six hours, and it is then turned out on a bench and cut first into square cakes, and then into thin flakes. When thus cut the flakes are exposed to dry on frames covered with wire, this drying process lasting, in fine weather, from four to five days. After this comes the final stage of stripping off the glue and packing it in boxes ready for sale. Now, although all these processes may seem very simple to the reader, be would nevertheless be surprised, if he tried to make glue for himself, to find how difficult it would be for - him to make good glue. Should there be too much or too little water mixed with it, the glue would not become hard at all, or, should there be any fat left on the surface during the boiling, it will be rendered useless. Again, and this is frequently the case, should the weather be what is termed “soft,” the gluewill turn “sour” in the troughs, which,.will necessitate its having to be boiled glue-making, like a good many other, things which seem so easy to accomplish" at first sight, requires great care and constant watching to make it remunerative. Messrs. Ahlers and Willbrandt, who have but recently started their enterprise, are at present only manufacturing on a small scale ; but even now they make nearly lOOOlbs. per week, with only three boilings. They have the advantage 6f a creek running alongside the factory, and doubtless when they become more widely known and patronised they will, by enlarging their premises, be able to turn out at least twice.the present amount weekly. In addition to an engine-shed and boilingroom, there is also a “drying-shed,” and, indeed, this little factory may be said to have already made itself well-known in its immediate neighborhood. The visitor would be agreeably surprised by the total absence of bad smells in the establishment, there being no more than would arise in a soap manufactory, and nothing of a similar nature to those pervading tanyards or slaughter-yards.