Manufacturer's plates and stanks seen in Glasgow

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Re: Manufacturer's plates and stanks seen in Glasgow

Postby norman mcnamee » Fri Dec 14, 2012 3:37 pm

Hi cell, if you go onto Britain from Above you will see A &J Main on the corner of Hawthorn st Ashfield st
the works were also on the other side of Hawthorn st and there was a welding dept on Denmark st
As far a structural works go it was pretty big, they also were a steel Stockholder
I served my time as a Template Maker working in what was called The Loft.
I started 1-8-1960 when I was 15 and started my time a year or so later.

The works closed 1969? and the Bingo Hall and other works units were built on the site

The plate you show is one I have , a pal of mine found it on Islay a few years ago, it had been on a hayshed
That was, as far as I know unusual as all the sheds I have seen have an enamlled diamond shaped name plate on the gable of the building
I would think the plate you show was on a Bridge , somewhere where it could be seen
Mains done all sorts of work, some of it very heavy but in the latter years the structures were getting lighter

As far as I can recall all the places mentioned on that plate were offices, the manufacturing was done in Possil and was exported all over the UK and abroad
Bye for now, Norrie
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Re: Manufacturer's plates and stanks seen in Glasgow

Postby cell » Fri Dec 14, 2012 5:10 pm

Thanks Norrie, I’ve added an “A & J Main” tag and a pin to a couple of the pictures. I also found out that they made tea drying sheds which helps explain what might have been exported to Nairobi and Calcutta.
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Re: Manufacturer's plates and stanks seen in Glasgow

Postby norman mcnamee » Sat Dec 15, 2012 4:00 pm

Hi cell, I found this in Peebles a couple of weeks ago, an A & J Main football stand ;D
You can see the name plate on the gable


Image
Bye for now, Norrie
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Re: Manufacturer's plates and stanks seen in Glasgow

Postby cell » Sun Dec 16, 2012 2:13 pm

Good one Norrie, an engineering plate and a football stand, two of my favourite things! Now that you mention it, I’ve seen these enamel diamonds on barns but didn’t connect them with A&J Main.

On a different tact, here is a plate I picked up recently, which was from one of the steam turbines used to power the Destroyer Barrosa built by John Browns in Clydebank. As well as ships John Browns also built steam and gas turbines for powering ships and also for land based applications.

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Re: Manufacturer's plates and stanks seen in Glasgow

Postby norman mcnamee » Sun Dec 16, 2012 2:36 pm

Hi Cell I will post the plate from A & J Main fences when I find it
Your name is familiar to me,do I know you from another web site?
Bye for now, Norrie
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Re: Manufacturer's plates and stanks seen in Glasgow

Postby norman mcnamee » Mon Dec 24, 2012 11:02 pm

Hi cell, here is the name plate I was talking about
Its pretty small, 90mm x 50mm, just the right size for fences, I must have got it the second time I worked in Mains
I had it fixed to my tool box, such a long time ago
Image

More A & J Main Hay Sheds
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Re: Manufacturer's plates and stanks seen in Glasgow

Postby cell » Thu Dec 27, 2012 2:34 pm

That wee diamond is a cracker Norrie, I’ll have to look out for one of those. Everywhere I go now I see those barn plates, I’m going to have to brass neck it and make friends with some farmers and see if they are willing to part with one.
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Re: Manufacturer's plates and stanks seen in Glasgow

Postby cell » Thu Dec 27, 2012 3:37 pm

While we are on the topic of farm machinery this is a good one from a company that I had never heard of.
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William Dickie and Sons manufactured wind powered machinery that pumped water and other agricultural equipment. Those of a certain age may remember seeing these small windmills in the fields across Scotland. The company was formed in 1872 and latterly their Victoria Works were in East Kilbride, this is now the site of Atholl House, the South Lanarkshire Council offices. I believe the company was closed in the 1960s.

In Calderglen Country Park at the Museum of Rural Life in East Kilbride you can see a well preserved example of a "Dickie's Windmill" which is more than 100 years old.
Image
© Copyright Robert Struthers and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence
http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/3144655
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Re: Manufacturer's plates and stanks seen in Glasgow

Postby norman mcnamee » Fri Dec 28, 2012 12:07 pm

Hi cell, thats a belter,never seen a plate from Dickie and co

Watch out for Farm Buildings with the nameplate Bains of Coatbridge, or Ryeside? Engineering, Mains competitors

I will keep my eyes peeled for any strange name plates on my hill walks
Bye for now, Norrie
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Re: Manufacturer's plates and stanks seen in Glasgow

Postby Vinegar Tom » Sun Dec 30, 2012 5:40 pm

cell wrote:Those of a certain age may remember seeing these small windmills in the fields across Scotland.


A certain age!!! ::): I can remember at least a couple of examples from cycling around the countryside outside Eaglesham in the early eighties. The windmills were pretty decrepit by those days ( I don't recall any actually in working condition ).

A link to a SCRAN record for one of the Eaglesham examples. If you have a login, you can see the photo in glorious big size.
Glasgow ya bas!
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Re: Manufacturer's plates and stanks seen in Glasgow

Postby norman mcnamee » Thu Jan 17, 2013 11:33 pm

Hi cell, I spotted this manufacturers stamp on this cast iron fence post off Balmore rd ,while walking along the banks of the River Kelvin
I have a feeling this company was located in Partick
A &J Main also done this type of work and there are still many fences in Glasgow with gate posts bearing their mark


Image


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Re: Manufacturer's plates and stanks seen in Glasgow

Postby cell » Sun Jan 20, 2013 4:20 pm

Nice one Norrie, the 1927 Glasgow directory lists P&R Fleming as "ironmongers, iron merchants, structural engineers, wire fence and gate manufacturers, and agricultural implement makers". They had their Kelvin works in Partick with warehouses elsewhere in the City.

http://canmore.rcahms.gov.uk/en/site/20 ... vin+works/

Incidentally I was up at the old site of A&J Main on Ashfield st at the weekend, and you can still some of the cut off columns of the roof supports for their factory along the west side of Hawthorn st.
Last edited by cell on Sun Jan 20, 2013 4:34 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Manufacturer's plates and stanks seen in Glasgow

Postby cell » Sun Jan 20, 2013 4:30 pm

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I believe this plate comes from a compressor for a refrigeration unit.

Louis Sterne was an American who set up a business in 1874 making emery wheels, emery grinding machines and railway springs. The company later diversified into refrigeration which included the manufacture of compressors in Glasgow. The manufacturing site was the Crown Iron Works in North Woodside Road. (now the site of Lidl and Iceland opposite the Woodside pub on Maryhill Rd).

1974 J R Hume pictures of the front of the site Image
and the Crown workshops in foreground with the Milton Ironworks in background Image
RCAHMS site details http://canmore.rcahms.gov.uk/en/site/17 ... ironworks/
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Re: Manufacturer's plates and stanks seen in Glasgow

Postby norman mcnamee » Sun Jan 20, 2013 6:18 pm

Hi Cell, good photos and the plate is a good find
Bye for now, Norrie
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Re: Manufacturer's plates and stanks seen in Glasgow

Postby cell » Sun Jan 27, 2013 2:10 pm

Always nice to do one of these and find the company is still going strong, these two come from pumps made by Dawson & Downie, a Clydebank company.
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The following is a potted history edited from the company’s website http://www.ddl-ltd.com/

Dawson Downie Lamont Ltd - Designs and manufactures reciprocating pumps for the oil and gas, petrochemical, marine industries. The company, Dawson Downie was originally founded in 1905 in a small facility, north of Glasgow by two families, Dawson and Downie. As manufacturers of pumps they supplied predominantly the shipyards on the river Clyde. A few years later the company moved to larger premises in Elgin Street, Clydebank where it remained in operation until 1996 when the company relocated to Glenrothes on the east coast of Scotland.

As part of the war effort the company manufactured munitions during World War I and II. In the early 1940s the company diversified into the design and manufacture of reciprocating pumps for the oil industry; a sector which now represents 90% of Dawson Downie Lamont turnover. In its heyday in the 1950s and 60s the company employed more than 300 in Clydebank and owned its own foundry.

Ownership of Dawson Downie remained within the two families until the early 1980s when it was bought by Warwick Engineering Investments. It was then amalgamated with another pump manufacturer - Thom Lamont from Paisley to form Dawson Downie Lamont Ltd. In 1985 the amalgamated company was sold to Bromsgrove Industries, now known as the BI Group. Dawson Downie Lamont became an operating company with BI Marine & Offshore Ltd and moved premises in 1996 to join its sister company Forth Tool & Valve in Glenrothes, Fife.

There is a RCAHMS record of their Elgin St works with a couple of photos, the site has now been completely cleared and houses built.
http://canmore.rcahms.gov.uk/en/site/16 ... engineers/
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