Robert Maclaren & Co.

Robert Maclaren & Co., Iron Founders and Manufacturers of Patent Cast-iron Pipes, Eglinton Iron Works, Port Eglinton.—

    Among the greatest of Glasgow’s iron industries stands that carried on at the above address by Messrs. Robert Maclaren & Co., a firm whose name has become most closely and creditably associated with the manufacture of all classes of cast-iron pipes for gas, water, and sanitary purposes. This eminent house was founded in 1858 by Mr. Robert Maclaren, who had a thorough training in the important branch of iron-founding to which he has subsequently devoted his energies, and whose experience and knowledge have been applied to the marked improvement of the class of goods he has made it his business to produce. The firm commenced operations at their present fine premises — the Eglinton works — which have been enlarged and altered from time to time to meet the requirements of an ever-growing trade, which now cover no less an area than 26,000 square yards of ground, and employ from six to eight hundred hands, according to the amount of work in process of execution.

    To describe in detail the many interesting phases and features of this thoroughly typical establishment would carry us far beyond the limits of this necessarily concise sketch. It is, perhaps, sufficient to record that there is no department in the entire works in which the productive facilities and capacities have not been brought up to the very best modern standard ; and in not a few instances there are manifested certain methods, arrangements, and conveniences of an unique order — the outcome and result of this firm’s long and exhaustive experience applied to the best and most effective purpose. The mechanical and general equipment of the Eglinton Iron Works is beyond praise. It represents the perfection of adequacy and efficiency that can only be attained after years of labour and experiment, and illustrates the laudably intelligent use Messrs. Maclaren and Co. have made of every resource brought within their reach by the gradual and continuous development of the industry they control. The situation of the works completes the sum total of their recommendation as an industrial centre, and the railway lines running through them, coupled with their proximity to the river wharfage, afford every desirable facility of transport and shipments. About three-fifths of the area covered by the works is devoted to the purposes of yards, and constitutes storage ground for many thousands of tons of cast-iron pipes of all kinds and sizes, complete and finished, and ready for shipment to any quarter of the globe.

    The Mercantile Age, referring to Messrs. Maclaren and Co’s establishment, in a recent issue, says: “Their works, as we have said, are replete with everything that science has dictated for the ablest construction of their specialities, and their reputation has long been firmly established with foreign Governments and corporations, as well as those at home, and we are glad to bear this tribute of praise in acknowledgment of their untiring energy, excellent workmanship, and business-like transactions”.

    Messrs. Maclaren & Co. are among our greatest manufacturers of iron pipes. They are, in fact, specialists in this most important industry, and their productions in gas and water-pipes of every description have a reputation that is international. The maintenance of that reputation and its consistent extension and enhancement now constitutes the industrial and commercial object of the firm ; and to this end there is no device or plan that skill, science, or experience can suggest to facilitate the operations of the Eglinton Works or improve the character of their unsurpassed productions that is not at once adopted and actively employed by the house. Such a policy of progressive enterprise can have but one result, beneficial alike to those pursuing it and to the world-wide public in whose interests it is developed and adhered to. Messrs. Robert Maclaren & Co. control a trade of universal range and immense magnitude. Their pipes for water and gas supply and for various sanitary uses are in demand among all civilised nations, and are shipped in ever-increasing quantities to every quarter of the globe.

    Untiring energy, excellence of production, and straightforward commercial principles are the united causes of this satisfactory effect ; and the business now centred at the Eglinton Works is a monument to the characteristic capacity and enterprise of a representative Glasgow firm, and a credit to the great national industry in which it is a factor of first-rate importance.

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