28 | TTJ 150th
Anniversary: History
◄ stretch, however. For instance the American Blower company claimed its ABC Fan System Kilns ‘cost next to nothing to operate’. Some obscure items also found their way into the ad pages. Take Holloway’s Ointment, for instance, an 1890s cure-all, efficacious for ‘bronchitis and asthma, fistulas, piles and scurvy’. TTJ also took up issues itself and in 1874,
backed MP Samuel Plimsoll’s campaign that ships have load lines (Plimsoll lines) to show they were not overloaded and a risk to crew – and cargo. The magazine was also adamant that foreign vessels visiting UK ports should be subject to the same loading rules as British ships and welcomed the announcement that the same penalties for infringements would apply to both.
Above (from top to bottom):
James Donaldson established what is now the Donaldson Group in 1860 Donaldson’s employees post-war in 1919
The purchase of a new forklift for Donaldson in 1957 Below from left: Hugh Mackintosh and John Gordon set up Gordon Timber in 1862
During the First World War, a key topic was inflation. Due to military demand for timber and, it was implied, some profiteering, prices soared. This led to the appointment in 1917 of a Government Timber Buyer who took ‘complete control of the trade’ and fixed prices. The TTJ in the 1920s followed the increasing industrialisation of the industry, including uptake of laminated products, chiefly plywood. Large scale production started in the 19th century, but it really took off in the early 20th, as an article highlighted. “The adoption of this principle of wood manufacture, the combination of alternate veneers joined together with the grain at right angles to each other, has been phenomenal and plywood is now produced in almost every country and its use is general in all arts and crafts. It is also an outlet for lower grade woods for utilitarian purposes and ornamental timbers for decorative use.” In the Second World War, the trade again came under government oversight, with a management organisation comprising representatives of leading companies established under ‘Timber Controller’ Sir Archibald Harris. TTJ described it as a ‘gathering together of people of eminence, normally competitive, to work for the common good’. During the war, home-grown timber provided three-quarters of UK consumption. But imports were still needed. Ecuadorian balsa, for instance, was used in the legendary Mosquito fighter bomber. And Canadian Douglas fir featured in the temporary Mulberry harbour constructed for the Allied invasion in 1944. As for TTJ, paper rationing through the war and beyond saw it shrink to novel-sized, only reverting to A4 in 1954.
In the 1960s there was increasing talk of substitute materials being developed to do the job of timber. But a UN Food and Agriculture Organisation study in 1964, reported in the TTJ, still predicted Europe’s demand for wood
TTJ | July/August 2023 |
www.ttjonline.com
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