A quantity of original technical drawings, many of them to do with Australia's mining history, primarily from James Martin and Company's Phoenix Foundry, Gawler (near Adelaide, South Australia). There are also some from the Adelaide office of Forwood, Down and Company, Engineers and Founders. The drawings are hand-done in India ink on drafting linen (with each sheet often around a generous 70 x 100 cm)
There are approximately 120 from the 1890s and 1900s (100 large, 20 medium to small); 13 from the 1910s; and 12 from the 1920s to the 1940s; a few are creased where flattened when rolled, some corners are dog-eared, and they have come from an office in a foundry, and not from a collector's cabinet - but they are certainly worthy of that happy fate! The best of them are visually superb exhibition pieces, with evocative titles accompanying the wonderful designs for heavy plant and equipment for mines around the country. Examples include 'Safety Cage "A", Hannan's North Gold Mg Coy' (1901); 'Atlas Gold Mine Ltd, WA. Arrgt of 10 Head W.F. Battery' (1902); 'Proposed 30 Head Battery for Maryborough Leviathan Gold Mines' (1902); and 'Stamper Box for the Bird in Hand Mining Co.' (1893) - the latter being one of only two in the collection that feature extensive hand-colouring applied on the verso of the opaque linen. Of particular interest is the series of drawings featuring the Phoenix-Weir Concentrating Table. An Adelaide newspaper, The Chronicle, contains a lengthy account in its issue of Saturday 23 February 1901 of a 'Visit to Martin's Works, Gawler', complete with a large illustration comprising technical drawings of this item. The most informative article states among much else that the object of the visit by 'a number of Adelaide gentlemen, many of whom are interested in the North Queensland Tin Mining Corporation ... was to witness a practical trial of a concentrating table, invented by Mr. G. Weir, engineer, of the Broken Hill Block 14 mine. For some time another make of concentrating table was used at Block 14, but it was not satisfactory. It was always getting out of order, and cost a great deal in repairs, besides stopping operations from time to time.... [The] manager of Block 14 suggested to Mr. Weir that he might design a table which could be more strongly built, but the alterations, which were eventually made were so radical that the mechanism was entirely different.... Mr Weir patented his improvements, and has disposed of his rights in them to Martin & Co.'. The average price on these unique items is a nominal $50; there are many individual sheets among this extensive collection of 145 drawings that seem to us to be cheap at ten times that amount.
Item #100498
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