Campbell, Achnach and Co.

CAMPBELL, ACHNACH & Co., Waterproof and India-rubber Manufacturers, 108, Argyle Street, Glasgow; Thistle Rubber Mills, Commerce Street.

    Among the pioneers of waterproof and india-rubber manufacture in Scotland, few names have become more familiar than that of Messrs. Campbell, Achnach and Co., of Glasgow, London, Dublin, Montreal, and New York. It is now upwards of twenty years since this eminent and influential firm first commenced operations in the Western trade capital, and during that period they have developed a business and industry equivalent in magnitude to the far-reaching demand which the quality and superiority of their manufactures have elicited. They are well known in all the principal markets at home and abroad, and wherever india-rubber in its many and varied adaptations is used and applied, Messrs. Campbell, Achnach and Co. command a reputation worthy of the enterprise and skill with which they have advanced the interests and promoted the success of this typical and important branch of national commerce.

    They are the sole makers of the famous “Thistle” brand garments, and the appropriate trademark of the firm forms an accepted imprimatur of reliability and excellence in respect of every class of goods they produce and supply. In keeping with the high status of the concern, the wholesale warehouses at 108, Argyle Street are fitted up in splendid style, and present many features of suitability and commodiousness for all the purposes of the trade to which they are devoted. Two large flats are fully occupied — the under portion serving to exhibit representative examples of the numerous varieties of india-rubber work which the firm have specialised, while the counting-house and private rooms afford ample accommodation for the services of a large clerical staff, and the entire commercial operations are under efficient oversight and supervision.

    The firm’s warehouse and showrooms in Jamaica Street are equally well appointed, and a splendid stock is submitted to the inspection of the public, under conditions which fully emphasize their many features of elegance and finish. It is in the extent, capacities, and resources of the Thistle Rubber Mills in Commerce Street that we gain an adequate idea of the immense character of the industry which Messrs. Campbell, Achnach and Co. control. These mills form a very effective structural feature of this part of the City, and are by no means awanting in architectural merit, as they are also exceptionally convenient in internal arrangement and design. Everything tending to economise and accelerate the operations of a large and thoroughly comprehensive rubber work is here effectually comprised, and the visitor to the Thistle Rubber Mills will be equally interested in the methods under which the operations progress — from the preliminary treatment of the raw material to the final stages of production and finish — and the capable guidance that is brought to bear upon the busy labours of a staff of 250 hands. The comfort and consideration accorded to the employees may be specially noted as a gratifying feature of the Thistle Works, and the excellent systems of ventilation and lighting embodied in the structural arrangements are deserving of special notice. The main entrance forms, in itself, an attractive feature of the works, while there are separate gateways for the conveyance of goods, and the hollow square formed by the buildings at the rear of the principal structure is made available for all the purposes to which such ample space may be devoted. Throughout the three floors everything is characteristic of the orderliness and method prevailing in the firm’s busy industry, and the equipment exemplifies every modern improvement and advancement that has been effected in the adaptation of machinery to the making of india-rubber and waterproof goods, while these features have contributed to enhance the many pleasant and favourable auspices under which the routine of industry is sustained.

    By an intelligent oversight of the whole departments Messrs. Campbell, Achnach and Co. secure for their productions that superiority for which they are so widely famed. As the sole partners of the firm, Messrs. George Campbell and William Achnach devote energetic and assiduous attention to the entire details of the work. Enterprising and progressive in all their methods, they evince continuous interest in the further perfection of india-rubber manufacture, and the undeniable prosperity and distinction of their undertaking constitutes the best proof of the success with which this meritorious object is accomplished. Both gentlemen are personally well known in Glasgow, where they have earned the estimation of their commercial confreres and the general public alike by the integrity and discrimination by which the progress of their undertaking is so notably marked.

    The following are their branch establishments :—
London (Shipping).— 2, Gresham Buildings, Basinghall Street.
London (Home).— 26, Aldermanbury.
Dublin.— 11, Crow Street.
New York.— 104, Prince Street.
Montreal.— 214, St. James’ Street.

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