A. S. Bryce

MR. A. S. BRYCE, Oil Merchant and Drysalter, Manufacturer of British Sperm Oil, Tallow Melter, Lard Crusher and Refiner, Glenpark Oil Works, off East Nelson Street, Glasgow.

    It is a vulgar error to suppose that the oil, tallow, and lard trade and the manufacture of cognate products are either devoid of interest or wholly unpleasant. On the contrary, it is one of the most important and one of the most essential occupations in existence. Some of the processes connected with it are exceedingly interesting, and, in the best manufactories, the unpleasantness incidental to it is reduced to a minimum.

    The magnitude of a business such as that carried on by Mr. A. S. Bryce, of the Glenpark Oil Works, Glasgow, is calculated to astonish people who are heedless of the extent to which the industries, the conveniences, and even the luxuries of civilisation are dependent upon such a manufacture as is there exemplified. Moreover, the business is a most elaborate and comprehensive as well as a highly important one with exceedingly wide connections — connections which are not confined to the United Kingdom, considerable as is the home trade, but which extend to various parts of the Continent and the Colonies. If there be one lesson more than another which an inspection of his works serves to inculcate, it is that nothing in the economy of nature need be wasted, for the way in which the most unpromising and apparently useless materials are turned to account, and converted into products of high commercial value, is simply astonishing.

    The main building, in which Mr. Bryce’s business is carried on, is two storeys high, and is used for refining purposes — of the various oils produced at the works, as Sperm, Engine, Machinery, Cylinder, and other oils used for lubricating purposes. The other sectional buildings comprise a house for lard-crushing, grease-extracting, and tallow-melting. The mechanical appliances in this department consist of ten boiling pans, fired from the outside, and five large digestors, worked by steam power. Next, there is an oil-refining house containing eight vats of malleable and cast iron. Behind this is the cooperage, for the casks used for the purposes of the home and foreign trade are made on the premises — a fact which indicates the completeness of the operations carried on here.

    The press-house constitutes a noteworthy department. It is here that the lard is pressed, and for that purpose five presses are in operation, worked by steam and hand pumps. Ensuing upon the process of hydraulic pressure, the olein is separated from the stearin, the former being used for lubricating purposes and the latter for soap and candle making. It has been said that nothing in this manufactory is wasted. Exemplification of this is afforded in the department under consideration, for the residuum of the lard and other fatty substances is pressed so that the grease is extracted, and what remains, being rich in nitrogenous substances, forms a cake very suitable for manure merchants and farmers. This constitutes an important product and commands a very large sale. Further in exemplification of what has been urged on the score of economy, it may be stated that there are in various parts of the yard cesspools where all the refuse liquors are collected and allowed to settle. The grease from these, having risen to the surface, is collected — that is, carefully skimmed off — and afterwards utilised in the manufacture of soap.

    At the eastern side of the works there is a house for the production of lamp black, which is largely used in the manufacture of paints and in the processes of paper-staining. The contents of a tank holding 20,000 gallons of tarry and resinous material are pumped up twenty feet, carried along runs, and burned in a furnace.
In addition to the departments mentioned, there is a tallow melting house; and here the finished product is seen in casks ready, for consignment to places at home and abroad.

    Even from this brief and imperfect sketch it must be obvious that the business here carried on is a very extensive and, from a commercial and utilitarian point of view, a highly important one. It is one which necessitates an exceptional degree of chemical skill on the part of its principal as well as business enterprise and acumen. These indispensable requisites are possessed in full measure by Mr. Bryce, who has had long experience in the varied kinds of manufacture he is engaged in, and which he commenced in the year 1854. Aided by his son and an efficient staff, Mr. Bryce, who is still in the prime of life, may hope for a continuance of prosperity at Glenpark ; and to that end they are alive to all new improvements. To their already large works, now covering an acre of ground, preparations are at present being made for the manufacture of oleo-margarine on an extensive scale.

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