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The New Zealand Railways Magazine, Volume 14, Issue 11 (February 1, 1940)

Buy New Zealand Goods — and Build New Zealand — New Zealand Industries Series — No. 12. Toys, Novelties and Woodworking

page 13

Buy New Zealand Goods
and Build New Zealand
New Zealand Industries Series
No. 12. Toys, Novelties and Woodworking.

John Citizen junior, and his little sister form a considerable part of the people who create purchasing demands.

In Tutankhamen's tomb, and other Egyptian caverns of the dead, exquisite playthings for children have been found, and apparently there was no time in history when the family did not put in claims for toys of varied sizes, shapes, uses, colours, and good or bad looks. Wood still remains the leader among the materials from which these articles are fashioned. I suppose there are many who will have memories like mine, of a magician uncle who could do things that seemed like miracles with a knife and a block of timber.

New Zealand is known the world over for its timber riches; our very first exports of any importance were kauri branches for spars. Our kauri is famous far and wide; matai, rimu and white pine, the kahikatea, totara and many others are household words among craftsmen outside New Zealand. I doubt, though, whether New Zealanders themselves know what beauty can be wrought with rewa rewa, our native honeysuckle. I discovered many new things in my journeyings through the places that produce toys of wood and toys of metal, novelties and utilities, objects fancy and plain.

Anyone who has watched a young lad dealing with the mechanical intricacies of a radio set, or the ignition system of a motor-car, will readily admit that this is a mechanical age, and that the very young seem to be born with a ready-made knowledge of wheels, electricity, and machine mysteries. From this follows the fact that the young male's playthings have to keep up with the times. I called at the establishment of H. J. Ryan and Co., Ltd., in Auckland, and was taken to their mechanical toy factory. I was introduced to a miniature motor car which works from the driver's seat.

The wheels are not made from tin plate; they are 20-gauge steel, fashioned in double discs, and spot welded. The ferrule in the centre is double, one to maintain the space, and the other to carry the axle. The rubber tyres are made in New Zealand by the Redd Rubber Company and wear well.

I noticed a pressing machine turning out large indented plates, and discovered that these were to form the radiators for these undoubted “baby cars.” Modern die presses and intricate cutting machinery are working at high pressure in this well-lit one-floor factory, and some idea of the complexity of the making of the component parts of the motor car and other delightful objects can be got by strolling down the streets of shelves, all containing dies, jigs and other steel necessities. The rubber-wheeled scooter is another perfect job, and, for the very young, these good New Zealand brains have devised a three-wheel scooter which will not tip over. Let me say that all the tools and dies for this maze of operations are themselves made in the precision machinery department of Ryans, and there I was privileged to see the craftsmen at work on a task that we should be proud to have entrusted to New Zealand workmanship.

Intricate precision machinery at H. J. Ryan & Coy, Ltd., Auckland.

Intricate precision machinery at H. J. Ryan & Coy, Ltd., Auckland.

This is the making of replicas of the working tools of the Pegasus engines for the newly-arrived aeroplanes. The tolerance here cannot exceed one ten-thousandth of an inch and absolute accuracy to a degree which is mathematical has to be observed. These instruments of an incredible degree of fineness are quite unintelligible to the layman, but they all perform some essential operation in the working of the high-speed engines which are daily establishing for British aeroplanes a world supremacy in speed and efficiency. These assembly tools are all cut from solid blocks of steel, and there is no way of explaining on paper the delicacy and precision of the various processes. I should have mentioned among the products of this interesting place, a neat tricycle with ball-bearings, and of solid and workman-like appearance. Fittings for camp tables, heel and toe-plates, and all sorts of special machinery are also made here. The place also has its own spraying room where bright and breezy fast colours are applied to all the small vehicles.

I now want to take a quick survey of the work of three clever women which is solving the problem of harassed seekers after new ideas in presents.

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The scooter department at the factory of H. J. Ryan. & Co. Ltd., Auckland.

The scooter department at the factory of H. J. Ryan. & Co. Ltd., Auckland.

Visitors to the Centennial Exhibition should spend an hour at the “Paka” pottery exhibit in the Women's Section. Two clever feminine artists are here showing that the workaday potter's wheel can become a fairy. Miss Olive Jones and Miss Matheson are partners, one working at Onehunga and the other at Havelock North. Miss Jones has gone through the mill at the Stoke works in Arnold Bennett's country, and both have studied hard. The fine clays used are all New Zealand-bred, Auckland, Oamaru and Hawke's Bay contributing to this exquisite handicraft.

It is entrancing to watch a small mass of fine-spun clay of a delicate colour spinning on a small neat example of the oldest manufacturing appliance in the world. Skilful fingers press here and there, and the swiftly-turning clay grows into a graceful bowl while we watch.

The other processes are glazing which is done with every colour in the rainbow, and, of course, furnace baking. The furnace uses fuel oil, and time and temperature are matters of exact calculation.

The range of articles made is astonishing, many of them, of course, made from moulds. There are napkin rings, animals of every type act as book-ends, beautifully moulded ash-trays invite the deposit of butts, and I saw an entirely novel idea in a decorative lamp-holder which was an art object of compelling beauty. These folk are artists in the true sense, creative and original. Many designs are of subtle kinship to the Maori conceptions, and some of them are so faithful that they provoked excitement in some visitors from the Arawas. The pots and vases range from the lovely simplicity of the moderns to the highly conventional, and the colours vary just as widely; soft green mingle with cream and honey, and countless pastel shades of brown and pink. I got one last surpise. We are all familiar with brooches and other ornaments of metal filigree, and other forms of art metal work bearing a large jewel or shining small plaque in the centre. These gems of colour and sparkle are, in actuality, made of fine clay and glazed by the “Paka” folks. This is a noble work and a valuable contribution to our country's satisfaction of its needs by its own people's skill, and these two ladies take their places in the ranking pioneers of new industries.

I also called at “Gytha's Studios” where miracles are wrought with a fretwork wheel and magic paint brushes. Here New Zealand birds and native flowers shower on to ornamental covers of bridge score books, note-books and other fancy articles which most buyers, I am sure, reckon as “quite unique things from abroad.” Telephone pads, coat hangers, door jambs, nursery furniture, feeder sets, tiny travel clotheslines, jostle on crowded shelves, grotesque cloth animals, and quaintbook-ends. Here again, we have something of the air of a studio rather than a factory.

Modern spraying equipment at J. Edwards & Sons Ltd., Auckland.

Modern spraying equipment at J. Edwards & Sons Ltd., Auckland.

There is, however, no possible misconception when one pays a call on the big establishment of J. Edwards and Sons, Union Street, Auckland. I had heard of this firm in several parts of New Zealand when I was visiting boot factories. Here are made most of the wooden heels for ladies' shoes, and they seem to be ubiquitous. But I had no warning of the extent and range of the company's activities.

The founder of the firm had the inherited craftsman's skill necessary to successfully make wooden saddle trees. He commenced practice in Auckland a quarter of a century ago in a modest building which would not cover one departmental area to-day. I must say that saddle trees are still specialties of this firm, and I saw a racing specimen weighing about 6 oz., and yet so beautifully modelled that it seemed as strong as steel. Again, I saw one being fabricated that had a high back-rest for mountain riding. In the matter of toys, Edwards and Sons turn out an attractive brace of boys' delights in a convincing wooden man-o'-war model, and a still more faithful submarine.

On the system of “First Things First,” I started out in the timber yard. Here were stacks of New Zealand silver beech and mountain beech which is not used until it has been air-dried page 15
Covering wooden heels at J. Edwards & Sons Ltd., Auckland

Covering wooden heels at J. Edwards & Sons Ltd., Auckland

for eighteen months. In the Edwards' establishment, absolute accuracy is essential, a wooden heel for instance only increasing one-sixteenth of an inch for each shoe size. There must not be the slightest risk of shrinkage.

The first big machine I watched makes clothes pegs. Small oblong, measured lengths feed into its maw, and each piece of wood spins round while knives set at exact angles and points produce the familiar shape. A slotting machine then makes the slit that fits the clothes-line, the peg is then steam-heated in a mixture which contains wax vapour, so that on drying out, the peg is smooth and polished.

We came next to the making of shoe lasts, a far more complicated task than at first appears. A most ingenious machine holds a pattern in the centre, and a gadget of angles and arms is so set that its knives cut the swiftly spinning blocks into an exact replica of the original. As I explained in my article on shoe manufacture, variety of shape and size in lasts is the key to pleasing the ladies who are “footwear conscious.” The Edwards firm can, and do, make any shape and size of last. I discovered, too, that a last had to be made with a hinged break in the middle, and a holding metal tube, so as to be removable from the upper after it is fitted. Polishing is done by another series of ingenious processes, and the neat little object, looking uncannily like a real slender feminine foot, is on its way.

Wooden heels have as a first step the division of a wooden oblong on the angle into two exactly similar divisions. Squarers and planers make the shape and size, and later a hollow is routed. Then comes the covering, and blues, reds, maroons and other dainty hues go on and stay. Seven thousand pairs weekly come out of these busy rooms. Now I found myself watching a doublespindle wood-turning machine and an automatic copying-lathe at work. The latter is a triumph of invention. In the centre spins a wooden article, and its revolutions operate a set of gears, wheels, and cutters that make four exact copies at a time. Anything in wood can be duplicated by this mechanical wizard, from a cricket bat to a lawn mower handle. It is, I believe, unique south of the line. Edwards also specialise in wooden articles such as cocktail trays covered with coloured and patterned celluloid, giving the most extraordinary feeling of solidity and stability. Dust extractors are everywhere and the big staff is cheery and bright. Many of the folks at Edwards' factory have been there for eighteen years, and this large scale enterprise is a cause for pride.

Last-making machine at J. Edwards & Sons Ltd., Auckland.

Last-making machine at J. Edwards & Sons Ltd., Auckland.

In Wellington, I found the well-known architecture of Haining Street relieved by the imposing modern building of the Barr-Brown Construction Co. Ltd. A hundred New Zealanders carry on the job here of making “anything in wood.” I had no idea, for instance, that there were so many types of ladders till I saw this firm's range, which included sizes from kitchen steps to extension giants to reach a third storey, the massive square-shaped than for weight-carrying climbing, and the cleaner's ladder with its oval-pointed ends.

The timbers used here are legion. One day tobacco jars in tessellated patterns are made, and next day the heavy Samson conveyers we see on the wharves. Revolving clothes-lines, wheel barrows, store-trucks, ironing-boards and clothes-horses, copper lids, garden seats, wooden gratings, plate racks, portable collapsible huts, and display stands are some of the articles that pour from the highly mechanised plant of this modern institution. I saw a machine which dresses timber, chamfers, grooves, shapes, moulds, and, as my guide said, “Does everything but baa like a lamb.”

Three grades of sandpaper revolve on a gigantic sand-drum, and enable any degree of surface smoothness to be obtained. Saws of all kinds, sizes and shapes are working busily, and page 16
Art objects made from inlaid New Zealand woods by Barr-Brown's, Wellington.

Art objects made from inlaid New Zealand woods by Barr-Brown's, Wellington.

only the mechanically-minded would appreciate the inner meanings of half of them.

I was interested in a beautiful inlaid box which bore harmonious patterns made with New Zealand woods, rimu, kauri, honeysuckle, matai and others. Lampstands and other table ornaments are of equal aesthetic value, all the more exciting because they do not hail from African or Asiatic forests, but are constructed from our own good green growing bush timbers. I was puzzled by one queer affair of slats and heavy sides, and found that it was a tray for the new craze of growing seedless plants.

I saw, also, a drop-side cot made from the rewa rewa wood, a revelation in artistic timber marking. BarrBrowns make the best ladders in the world, and that is a matter of proof after test. Once more I came across the New Zealand genius for inventive construction. In these days of flats, furniture does not need girth and width. A table, by the simple turning of the top, folded on both sides; a chair, turned upside down, proved to be a small step-ladder, handy for reaching the jam-cupboard; a neat stool had a lid which lifted to show a wool and sewing container with convenient compartments.

The Barr-Brown Company fulfils its claim to make anything in wood from copper lids to letter boxes.

Pinus insignis is the staple timber used at Boxes Ltd. in Auckland. In the company's own mill, the timber is kiln-dried and then it is converted into boxes at a rate which must be seen. Nails are driven in by machines that work on linotype principles, one actually getting home two and three alternately. This firm sets a special standard in box printing, and strange though it may seem, a complicated machine that shoots colours on to rollers, enables a two-colour process trade emblem to appear on the cases.

At the establishment of P. G. Wolfe, I examined a cooperage operated by modern equipment. Gone are the days of laborious and skilful hammer-tapping to get the hoop firmly fixed round the staves. A huge press operates a ring of descending iron claws. They grip the hoop at equal intervals and the steady pressure does the rest.

Here also I saw an efficient mechanism made, by the way, by the H. J. Ryan Company mentioned earlier in this article. Using the coopering language this affair performs alone the operations of howling, chiming and crozing. I should explain that these three terms relate to the precise but complicated series of things that have to be done to the staves and the top and bottom of the cask. The staves themselves are got ready for bending by steam-heating, and, of course, their tapering shape and tapered ends are the subjects of much exact calculation.

Showroom at Barr-Brown's, Wellington

Showroom at Barr-Brown's, Wellington

A well-made barrel is almost the ideal packing instrument, and, as history shows us, a perfect container for liquids requiring long storage. In Mr. Wolfe's own words the “barrel is a remarkable package.” The same plant mechanism operated by its knowledgeable craftsmen, turns out a grand type of wooden bucket.

Reverting to toys, I looked in at “Toytown” where the famous Skyraider kite is made in grosses, now adorned in timely fashion with a picture of Mickey the Mouse. But the real essence of this original establishment is its production of playing cards. The printing of these art objects is not only a matter of unique machinery, but it requires long experience and a major development of artistry. The cardboard on which the dozens of intricately coloured designs are printed has to have one remarkable quality to which few people give any thought. In spite of its fine texture and thinness, it has to be opaque, and this effect is obtained by means of a still thinner sheet inserted in the fabric. The colour printing at Toytown is superfine, no design being too elaborate.

Talking of toys, I found a treasure house in the compact workshop of H. O. Trewheela Ltd. in Auckland.

(Continued on p. 56).