John Law & Co.

John Law & Co., Manufacturer of Tinned, Untinned, and Enamelled Hollow Wares, Rae Street.—

    Prominent among the great representative industries which have endowed Glasgow with an eminent status as a productive centre appears that of tinned, untinned, and enamelled hollow ware manufactures, and one of the most notable firms engaged in this important branch of industrial activity is named at the head of this brief sketch. The old-established firm of John Law & Co., hollow ware manufacturers and ironfounders, Glasgow Foundry, Rae Street, Glasgow, was inaugurated upwards of forty-five years ago in the locality with which it is now associated, and has built up there a business which stands to-day as one of the commercial features of Port Dundas.

    The production of every description of cast-iron hollow ware has been brought by this house to the very highest degree of modem perfection, and a visit to the works of the concern in Rae Street constitutes a full demonstration of what can be accomplished by capital, experience, and enterprise in raising the manufacture of such commonplace articles as saucepans, pots, pans, kettles, &c., to the dignity of a veritable mechanical science. The premises in question occupy a fine site of fully three acres, almost the whole of which is covered by extensive buildings, ranging in height from one to three flats. There is a large warehouse of excellent arrangement and capacity stocked with a large assortment of finished goods, also large stores for unfinished hollow ware of all kinds, suitable for the trade. After this comes a succession of working establishments, consisting of moulding, turning, tinning, enamelling, japanning, dressing, cover making, smiths’ shops, and annealing departments, all fully equipped with every requisite of improved and effective plant.

    The mechanical outfits of these various departments are quite indescribable within the limits of the present sketch, and to inspect it in detail is a distinct privilege and instructive lesson to anyone interested in ascertaining to what extent this branch of trade is carried on. It is not too much to say that this firm are the largest manufacturers of cast-iron hollow wares in Scotland. The firm is known all over the world, and the range of its operations, scope of its connections, and the reputation of its manufactures under their celebrated brand and trade mark <L> are alike international and practically universal. The force of hands employed at these works numbers upwards of three hundred and fifty, and the whole industry is illustrated with the utmost completeness in its every branch and department. The company do a large business, both home and foreign. The affairs of the house receive the most careful and capable personal administration ; and this is one of the few firms in the present competitive age whose productions have acquired a standard of sufficient weight and eminence to secure for them a continuous and wide demand and sale without recourse to ordinary methods of modern advertising.

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