William Riddell & Co.

William Riddell & Co., Paper Machine Wire Makers and General Wire Workers and Weavers, 142, Trongate ; Factory, Springfield Road.—

    Wire-weaving is a very interesting branch of industry, and requires very large, heavy looms for the process, much larger than the ordinary cloth-weaving looms, although the process is akin to that of cloth-weaving. Wire-cloth for paper-making machines is the principal trade of the wire-weaving factory, although there is a great number of other purposes to which the wire-cloth is devoted. These cloths are woven from forty inches in width up to a hundred and twenty inches, and are cut in large lengths and sewn end on end, measuring, according to the size of machine they are meant for, from six feet to sixty-five feet. The finer the class of paper made, the finer must be the warp and woof of the wire-cloth.

    One of the first in this capacity is the firm of Messrs. William Riddell & Co., whose works are well-known in Springfield Road, near Parkhead, and situated on the Clyde bank, a little above the Dalmarnock Paper Mills. The firm has been established since 1852 : was first in Canning Street, and removed to Springfield Road in 1883, with warehouse and brush factory at 142, Trongate. Since Mr. Riddell’s demise the business has been ably sustained by Mr. R. H. Begg and Mr. William Begg, who are now the sole partners.

    The works in the Springfield Road have been considerably extended of late, and cover about fifteen hundred square yards of ground, which is almost entirely built upon. There is a large amount of the best and most modem machinery (in possession of patents) in this trade in these works, some of which the firm have-the exclusive monopoly of, and a very pronounced enterprise and ingenuity mark the action of the proprietors all throughout the conduct of this business. Very fine work is produced by them in all their departments, and nothing stands in the way of improving and keeping up to the modem standard. The firm employ about one hundred workers, and have travellers throughout the United Kingdom. They do a very large home trade, which is yearly increasing, and export to the colonies, East India, China, and Japan.

    The present proprietors have been for a long time attached to the business, and evince capital experience and thoroughgoing business abilities, and the rapidly extending works within the past few years speaks volumes in their favour.

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