DICK & SONS' CLYDE THREAD-MILLS.
The view of the Clyde Thread-Mills, furnished by our engraver from accurate drawings taken on the spot, affords a very good idea of the extensive manufactory of Dick & Sons, from which this country is now supplied with the most perfect, even, and tenacious sewing-cotton made in the world. The cotton for the mills, after having been unloaded and inspected by the revenue officers, is conveyed at once to the mills, where there is an immense amount of warehouse room for the raw material, independent of the space devoted to machinery and the storage of the manufactured article. Of the latter, however, there is never a large accumulation, the active and ever-increasing demand taxing to the utmost the facilities of production, great as they are.
The Manufacturing, &c.
A full description of the processes of scutching, carding, spinning, twisting, bleaching, and spooling, through all of which the cotton passes before it is packed for exportation in the form of thread, would require more space than we can devote to them in this treatise, and, moreover, would be rather dry reading for the ladies, for whose information and amusement this little publication is intended. It is sufficient to say, that all the latest improvements in machinery, in each of the above branches, have been introduced at the Clyde Works; and that as regards the perfection of their mechanical facilities, as well as in point of capacity, they have no rivals in the United Kingdom.
Manufactured Article in New York.
The consignments of Dick & Sons' spool-cotton to this city are on a scale of magnitude which those who have never reflected upon the immense and universal consumption of the article would scarcely believe. The bulk of the importations is received by the Collins' line of steamers, and delivered at the Collins' wharf, whence it is conveyed to the New York agency of the firm, 51 Dey-street. To the trade it is unnecessary to say, that Dick & Sons' six-cord spool-cotton is the best in the market; and ladies generally are aware that in strength, uniformity of thickness, and closeness of fibre, it is superior to any other sewing-thread in use.
Mr. Dick, senior, has probably had more experience as a manufacturer of the article than any other man living. Prior to commencing business on his own account he had been for nearly thirty years the manager of a factory celebrated for producing a superior description of sewing-cotton, also well known in the United States. Hence the cotton of Dick & Sons came into the market with a ready-made popularity. The name of Mr. Dick was a guarantee of its excellence, and a large demand for it spontaneously sprang up in the United States, Canada, the West Indies, and the British possessions in India, and throughout the world.
Infinite pains are taken to retain for the article the celebrity it has acquired. Every spool is inspected before it leaves the factory at Glasgow, so that no defective specimens can possibly reach the hands of consumers.