The story of the Singer sewing machine factory and how it made its mark on Clydebank-Glasgow Live

2021-12-16 08:57:30 By : Ms. Rose Qi

This factory is a location of global importance and is largely integrated into the town’s living structure.

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Although the words "singer" and "Clydebank" may immediately conjure up images of Marti Pellow facing Wet Wet Wet, in most cases, the first thing you will think of is the iconic Singer sewing machine factory.

The location of the world’s largest four-sided clock-five feet larger than Big Ben-the factory is a location of global importance and is largely integrated into the life structure of Clydebank.

It was first lit in 1907, with a 13-foot "singer" logo above each clock face. Locals have used it for timekeeping for 79 years. Then on March Friday, Clydebank Dean F. Downey pressed it The button stops timekeeping in 15/1963.

The birth of the factory benefited from Scottish-born George Ross McKenzie, who served as the general manager of The Singer Sewing Machine Company, the world's first successful American multinational company.

With the increasing demand for sewing machines in Europe, Glasgow was chosen as the location of the first European manufacturing plant because it is a city known for its skilled labor, iron foundry and abundant labor.

The factory was originally established in Bridgetown in 1873, and demand grew so fast that 46 acres of farmland were purchased in Kilboy, near Clydebank, in order to move to a larger site-renamed in 1900 It is the Clydebank plant.

Benefiting from its proximity to the railway line and the Forth and Clyde Canal, the then Vice President Mackenzie broke ground here in 1882. The building lasted three years and required 20 million bricks before opening in 1885.

Originally it had two main buildings 800 feet long, 50 feet wide, and 3 stories high, connected by three wings. It was designed to extinguish fires by sprinkling water, making it the most modern factory in Europe at that time.

Only ten years later, the Kilbowie factory will become Singer's flagship factory, with a strong workforce of more than 5,000 and manufacturing 80% of the world's sewing machines.

The factory was so large that it had its own railway station (which still exists today), and the level of production was so high that two and a half miles of railroad tracks were laid to connect assembly lines, foundries, tool hops, storage and distribution centers.

The productivity of the factory was so high that Singer Manufacturing Co., Ltd. was established in 1905 as a registered company in the United Kingdom. The demand was so great that every building in the factory (the largest in the world at the time) Extends up to 6 stories high.

In 1913, Singh employed 11,500 workers in the factory and shipped 1,301,851 sewing machines from the factory door to families and businesses around the world.

Over the years, the Queen (she herself received the Earl of Clydebank’s wedding gift as a wedding gift in 1947) has visited it with Hollywood star Dorothy Lamour, who participated in 1950 Singer manufacturing company party.

Speaking of the celebration day, the annual event witnessed the coronation of the "Queen of Singer", and was highly valued by the staff while on the sports day.

A family-centered workforce, if your father works in Singer, your son or daughter also works in it. Workers participating in the lunch choir will celebrate the upcoming marriage by transporting and dressing up brides-to-be in trolleys around the factory.

Who will be distinguished by those who are truly "Singerised" (that is, those who admire the company) and those who are not.

However, life in the factory is not all roses on the bed, especially when the famous singer's strike occurred in 1911.

Beginning with 12 female cabinet polishers, their jobs were reorganized and their workload increased but their wages decreased. Within a few days, almost all 11,000 employees took part in a strike to express sympathy for women.

The company fought back by closing the factory and threatening to transfer production to other factories in Europe. Eventually the strike ended-400 workers were fired as a result.

To make matters worse, the factory survived the economic recession and the two world wars (and the Clydebank Blitz), finally succumbing to the severe economic conditions faced by British industry after the war in the mid-1960s.

The factory underwent a major modernization plan during this period. Although production was limping (only focusing on the production of aluminum fuselage machines), financial problems and lack of orders forced it to close in June 1980.

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The closure of a factory heralded the end of sewing machine manufacturing in the region in 1995, and the factory has produced approximately 36 million sewing machines during its years of operation.

Although it may no longer exist, it not only exists in the memory of the people working there, but also through the train station and the Clydebank city emblem named after it, which contains the image of a sewing machine.

In addition, the current antique machines still have a place in homes and shops all over the world.