J.M. Adam & Co.

J.M. Adam & Co., “The Engineering Bureau”, 40, St. Enoch Square.—

    The exact position taken up by a merchant-engineer may not be absolutely clear at the first glance, although from the success being achieved by the business that has been established under the above title it is very evident that the firm meets a want in the engineering trade generally. The establishment, which is very appropriately termed  “The Engineering Bureau” of Technical and Commercial Information, is at 40, St. Enoch Square, and consists of a suite of spacious and well-fitted offices, where an efficient staff is engaged.

    The “Engineering Bureau” is designed to afford prompt and comprehensive information as to the best materials and appliances in use, or being introduced, for civil, marine, and mechanical engineering, agriculture, and the chief manufactures. Recognising the frequent inaccessibility of periodical advertisements when wanted, and the difficulty of judging the relative advantages of various articles or designs when one or other is exhibited by special representatives, engineers and manufacturers at home and abroad find it economical to send their inquiries to this centre, where the information scattered over thousands of publications is classified and indexed for instant reference, and where a record is also kept of new machinery on stock and second-hand articles for sale. Here also, in the very heart of the city, engineers and manufacturers from the extensive industrial area of which Glasgow forms the centre, are provided with a comfortable reading and writing-room, where business may be transacted or the chief technical papers consulted.

    The mercantile business of the firm may be said to be extremely comprehensive in its character, and is devoted to the commercial development of useful inventions and the supply of every requirement connected with engineering. A necessarily somewhat brief account of the various departments will give some idea of the general scope of operations included in the firm’s business. The supply of such universal requisites as boilers, engines, and engineers’ marine tools, need scarcely be mentioned. Special attention is given to hydraulic, pneumatic, and electric machinery now in constant use in so many different branches of industry. For mining, civil engineering, and also manufacturing and agricultural materials and implements, the firm undertakes contracts, and estimates are also prepared for complete outfits for workshops and for foreign railways and factory plant, including every kind of materials and minor requisites.

    The firm also undertakes to buy direct from manufacturers on behalf of foreign correspondents at a fixed rate of charge, the latter thus reaping the advantage of the most extensive connections and experience, backed by the special repertory of information before described. They also act as shipping agents, taking charge of the transhipment and insurance of merchandise en route for all parts. Under the able management of Mr. J. M. Adam, who also acts as a public valuator and arbiter, a highly influential business is being developed, and the establishment is rapidly attaining a leading position in the trade, whilst among colonial contractors the house is favourably known through its consulting engineers appointed to conduct its operations abroad. Messrs. J. M. Adam & Co. have also an extensive connection in Glasgow and throughout the United Kingdom.

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