LOCAL INDUSTRIES.

Poverty Bay Standard, Volume I, Issue 247, 29 September 1884, Page 2

LOCAL INDUSTRIES.

DROWN SMAILL’S ESTABLISHMENT. How few persons there are who pass by day after day many of the busy hives which go to make up a community, who ever pause to think for a moment what is going on inside. Most, of the exceptions to the rule among all the busy multitudes who go to and fro will be found among the class known as journalists—a class whose occupation naturally leads them into every hole and corner; for whom every incident, either great or small, has an interest; who discover in the most trivial circumstance, which would not be noticed by the ordinary observer, a theme whereon they can dilate, and manufacture for the reader something that will interest him. Day and night, Sunday and week day, are all alike to the knight of the quill. For although the great mass of people seem to forget that while they sleep the world still goes on, the seasons come and go, and the elements continue to fulfil their functions, yet the journalist continues on his beat in the search for news. His aim is to treat his subjects in a popular way, and thus make palatable what, would often be looked upon as dry details, for it is with him, as with any other teacher, the mode of application which make ' his efforts to supply information a source « f pleasure to those to whom he desires to convey instruction. There are many of the common things of life of which too little is known, and a knowledge of the laws which regulate them ought to be within the reach of most people. Few, we imagine, who daily walk down Peel Street have any conception of the amount of machinery, the number of different branches, and the quantity of work generally, which it is possible to turn out from the unpretentious premises of Messrs. Brown and Smaill. This firm in the course of a few years have made a mark and now possess one of the most flourishing businesses of the kind in the colony. They have machinery for performing all kinds of work in brass, iron, or other metals, in addition to an extensive coach factory and other branches of business connected therewith. Let us take a peep inside. What first strikes our attention is three forges, the red flames from which throw their lurid glare on the brawny and perspiring mechanics who are weilding heavy-headed hammers with as much ease as a young lady handles her parasol. The only thing we miss is the man who in former times “ made the bellows blow.” On enquiry we find that he has been replaced by a mechanical contrivance for “raising the wind.” What is it? It is called a centrifugal fanner. The diameter of the box which contains the fanner is not much more than a foot, yet it supplies the wind which once required the ponderous blacksmith’s bellows, an implement which is familiar to every one. A pipe leads to each of the three forges used, and still there is a supply left for others when extended operations require it. The motive power in the foundry is, of course, steam, which is provided by means of a six-horse power vertical engine and boiler. Once ic did duty in a steamboat, but science has been brought to bear on it and made it suitable for its present position. By a locally made governor the speed is regulated according to the number of machines being driven, and if, as sometimes happens, the driving belt slips off, the engine stops itself. What is that cylindical object like a stovepipe, we ask Mr. Brown ? That, he remarks, is a local adaptation of a familiar principle which saves fifty per cent, of fuel. Instead of supplying cold water to the boiler it is pumped into this cylinder. The waste steam from the engine passes through five tubes in the cylinder on its way upward, and heats the water almost to boiling point before it is required by the boiler. Thus, by the aid of science, five shillings worth of coal per day suffices for all requirements. Near the engine is a locally-made driller. Its component parts have served many purposes before they were put together in their present form. One wheel, which now bores bolt holes in wheel tires, formerly took part in sewing on shirt-buttons, but an humble origin is not detrimental to its usefulness. Its nearest neighbor is a lathe used principally for the woodwork in carriage building, but here, too, ingenuity has been applied with success. An old coffee mill has been called into requisition and is now grinding the coal dust required by the moulder. The long box attached to the lathe which seems to be out for a holiday, turning round without any apparent object, contains sand and horse shoe nails. By its revolving motion the nails are polished, so that the machine is never idle. By fixing on an emery wheel a great deal of hand filing is obviated. The whole contrivance is of local manufacture, and is worth seeing. In another corner is a foot lathe for small jobs, and by its side one of Leigh and Hunt’s verticle drilling machines intended to bore holes up to an ■inch in diameter, but much larger ones have been bored. On the left hand side is the most important machine in the shop, viz, a self-acting screw cutting lathe, having a bed fourteen feet in length. With its aid the firm can turn anything like a shaft or tube up to nineteen inches in diameter, while a pulley three feet three inches in diameter can be turned or bored. A shaft twenty-two feet in length is now being turned. By the addition of supplementary wheels it xs possible to make a screw having twenty threads to the inch, or one with only a thread in three inches, either square or angular. In other words an engineer can turn the screws for a watch or one for a hydraulic wool press on the same machine. The shaft referred to is intended for a double purpose. The eccentrics cast last week will be fixed on the shaft, and will be connected by rods with the pumps of a hydraulic wool dumping machine, and will do away with the hand apparatus which usually takes seven or eight men to work it. Attached to the machine shop is the moulding room, and outside the cupola, in which old scraps of iron are melted previous to being conveited into articles of use. Alongside is the coach factory, where all kinds of work connected with that line are carried on. With the appliances on hand a finger or an eight horse waggon can be turned out with equal facility. In the yard there is a brick furnace for heating wheel-tires, besides other appliances for the same branch. Near by are the office and store-room, and a detached building devoted exclusively to the horseshoeing.

This completes the round of the premises. We have only noted the main features, but there are a host of other items of interest. The most important of these is the ironmoulding branch referred to on Saturday. The initiation of this important industry marks a new departure in the manufacturing capabilities of Poverty Bay, and must necessarily be an immense advantage to the district. Hitherto it has been compulsory to send away for the smallest castings, and the expense of doing so has been so great that in many instances the cost of repairs has made machinery a loss rather than a gain to the possessor. This has now been obviated. Brass and iron castings of every description can now be made in Gisborne, an advantage which settlers should foster by every means in their power.