Crawford Brothers

MESSRS. CRAWFORD BROTHERS, Flax Spinners, Patent Linen Thread and Shoe Thread Manufacturers, Beith, Ayrshire.

    This distinguished business was founded over a century ago, and is one of the oldest linen thread manufacturing houses in the United Kingdom. The works are situated at the junction of the Glasgow, Barrhead, and Kilmarnock Joint Railway and the Lanarkshire and Ayrshire Railway at Beith, and are very easy of access from Glasgow. They consist of several large and well-designed blocks of buildings, affording scope for the operations of some hundreds of hands. Near by is a neat village, mainly the property of the firm, and appropriated to its employees.

    The plant for heckling, preparing, spinning, and twisting is all of the most approved design, and turns out thread for all kinds of sewing of decidedly superior quality. The best Irish and Continental flax is used, the fine silky flax of Belgium being eminently suited for the finer numbers. With the exception of the preliminary processes proper to the heckling department, thread manufacturing is now entirely done by machinery, and to describe the various processes of preparing, spinning, and twisting transcends our descriptive powers. The visitor cannot fail to admire the wondrous uniformity and evenness of the production, particularly in the finer classes. Of course this is essential to the strength and perfection of sewing thread, and is a chief element in the reputation won by this firm. After the spinning and twisting operations are complete, the thread is bleached, dye and finished, and is ready to be put up in various ways according to the requirements of the customers.

    The Messrs. Crawford Brothers make all kinds of linen and shoe threads for hand and machine sewing, including gilling, carpet, Jacquard, sewing machine, wax machine, sole sewing, bookbinders’, glove, lace, embroidery, and household threads. Their threads are famous for evenness, strength, and superior finish. Their floss and flossette embroidery threads have long held the foremost place in the market, being of such pure colour and having a lustre equal to silk. The connexions of the firm extend to all parts of the world, and include a valuable home trade. The offices, which are appointed in handsome modern style, occupy a convenient position at the entrance of the works.

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