France & Morgan

France & Morgan, General Brassfounders, Carmichael Street, Govan.—

    One of the busiest industrial features of its immediate vicinity, and one of the most notable establishments of its kind in Glasgow, is the well-known brass foundry of Messrs. France & Morgan. The house controlling this important centre of productive activity was founded in 1864 under the above title, in Clyde Street, Anderston.

    From the very first the business was a progressive one, and in 1882 the firm displayed commendable enterprise by erecting the present fine premises in Carmichael Street. These works are of great extent, covering an area of fully two thousand square yards, and the substantial ranges of buildings they comprise form a complete hollow square, enclosing a large and useful central yard space.

    Two sides of this square are composed of a three-storey block of buildings, meeting at right angles and having extensive frontages to two streets. Entering this block by the main entrance, the offices and private room, together with the metal rooms, are found upon the ground floor. The first flat is devoted wholly to the finishing processes of the industry, and to storage purposes for all classes of finished work. The second and uppermost floor contains the pattern shop, and the banding, polishing, screwed ferrule-making, and various other departments incidental to general brassfounding. This range of buildings measures two hundred feet in total length by fifty feet in breadth throughout. It has a fine exterior, presenting a commanding appearance from the streets, and its internal arrangement, plan, and general equipment are of the most complete character. The working facilities are excellent, and speak for the care bestowed by the firm upon the fitting up of their premises.

    One of the remaining sides of the square is occupied by the moulding shop, a large and exceedingly commodious structure, one hundred and fifty feet long by fifty broad, where operations are carried on upon a scale of great magnitude by a numerous staff of hands. Here there are the usual appliances and apparatus appertaining to a moulding department, all being of new and improved types, and thoroughly capable of producing good and satisfactory work ; and here, at the time of writing this notice, considerable interest was centred in the casting of a very large air-pump for a marine engine, this being a class of work in which Messrs. France Morgan excel, and to which they devote much attention.

    On the fourth side of the square is a long, low shed of spacious dimensions, which is utilised for a variety of general purposes. Here there is a powerful engine, supplying motive power for all the machinery of the foundry. The entire works are notable in all matters of convenience and appointment, and are admirably adapted throughout for the satisfactory conduct of a large and important industry of this kind.

    The principal undertakings of the firm consist in the execution of all kinds of brass-work for marine engines, for which, as already suggested, they are well and favourably known. Special features have been developed in guns, bells, sidelights, fire engines, brass castings, steam impermeators, steam whistles, gauge cocks, engine-room telegraphs, and cocks of all kinds. Messrs. France & Morgan also make glass gauge valves with loaded levers, and they have a speciality of particular noteworthiness and value in their Improved Visible Supply Lubricators, which are of the best material and workmanship throughout, are guaranteed to work satisfactorily, and are designed to embody all the recognized advantages of a lubricating apparatus with visible supply.

    The firm employ a very numerous force of workmen, and transact a large volume of trade, doing an extensive, well-connected, and far-reaching shipping business in almost every article of brass foundry. The affairs of the house are administered in person by the partners, Mr. William France and Mr. Robert Morgan, and the commercial principles observed by these gentlemen in the direction of their prosperous industry have won for them, as a representative manufacturing firm, the full confidence and esteem of an influential connection in the home and export markets.

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