Glass plate negative of a tractor-drawn rigid-tyne Clyde Engineering cultivator, 1941
Object No. 88/289-1275
This is a photograph of a tractor-drawn rigid-tine cultivator, improved model, made in 1941 by The Clyde Engineeering Co. Ltd, at Granville, a Sydney suburb. This firm made agricultural implements and machinery, engineering equipment, and railway rolling stock during the first half of the twentieth century. A cultivator was generally used after a plough to break the soil up and prepare the field further for the crop. In America, cultivators and hoes are considered to be the same implement. Early names for cultivators were grubbers, scarifiers, and scufflers. The cultivator would stir the surface soil in order to destroy weeds that had emerged after ploughing and expose more soil to the helpful elements. Cultivators drag tines or discs through the soil. The tines are adjustable according to soil or crop type as well as depth. Cultivators could be used throughout the season even after the crop had been planted. The cultivator became a standard implement in the farming industry of Australia between 1890 and 1906. This rise in significance corresponds with the rise in the use of the seed drill. Distinctions between cultivators come from the number of rows they could produce, whether they were walking or riding/horse-drawn or tractor drawn, and there were three different types: shovel, disc, or surface. Different tines were used for the various types of soils and the type of work that needed to be done - narrow tines, wide shares, broad shares, and spring-tines. Spring-tines allowed the tines to skip and "jump" over obstructions in the field like rocks and roots without breaking or stopping. In adapting the cultivator for tractor haulage the frame and tines had to be necessarily heavier and stronger and the wheel bearings larger, dust proof and oil tight because of the greater forces and higher speed involved. As the tractor driver also had to operate the cultivator it had to have a self-lift device. By the early 1920s the design of the tractor cultivator had still not become standardised but there was a tendency to favour the grubber type of frame. The most common size of implement had nine tines set 9 in apart, worked a width of at least 6 ft and weighed at least 6 cwt. Some tractor cultivators had a swivel forecarriage or castor-wheel whilst others were attached to the tractor's drawbar., The heavy, wrought iron frame on this cultivator suggests that is was used for hard soils or recently cleared land. This cultivator was an improved model of cultivators produced by Clyde Engineering Co. Ltd. This photograph of an improved rigid tyne cultivator was printed from a large series of works photographs from the collection titled, "Clyde Enginnering Photograph Collection". Almost all of the glass plate negatives that make up this collection were taken at the Clyde works in Granville, and depict both the workers and the machinery they manufactured. Subjects covered include: railway locomotives and rolling stock; agricultural equipment; large engineering projects funded by Australian State and Federal governments; airplane maintenance and construction and Clyde's contribution to the first and second World Wars. Some photographs date back to the 1880s but most were taken between 1898 and 1945. This collection of photographs is an archive of national significance due to its unique relationship to the industrial technology, engineering and commerce of New South Wales. In Australia few collections of this nature have survived to the present day especially ones which cover one company's activities from the 1880s through to the 1950s in such depth. The photographs are also significant in their illustration of the important contribution made by Clyde Engineering to the social fabric of New South Wales. By 1923 Clyde had 2,200 employees working round the clock on eight hour shifts. Some of these lived in houses specially built by the company in Granville and the works had its own fire brigade, ambulance service, gun club and was home to Australia's first soccer club. Geoff Barker, Assistant Curator, Total Asset Management Project, February, 2008 Sidney Wilkinson-Flicker, Museum Studies Intern, October 2011. References Murray, J., Phoenix to the World; the Story of Clyde Industries and Sir Raymond Purves, CBE, Playright Publishing Pty Ltd., 1992 The Clyde Engineering Company Limited, Visit to Clyde Works of the delegates of Chambers of Commerce of the British Empire, 21 September 1909, Cumberland Argus Printing Works, 1909? Australian Railway Historical Society, New South Wales Division, Steam Locomotives Built by the Clyde Engineering Co. Pty. Ltd., Granville, Australia, Australian Railway Historical Society, New South Wales, date unknown Blandford, Percy, "Old Farm Tools and Machinery: An Illustrated History", David and Charles, London, 1976, p. 107-110 Culpin, C., "Farm Machinery", Crosby Lockwood & Son, London, 1947, p. 130-135 Davidson, J. and Leon Chase, "Farm Machinery and Farm Motors", Orange Judd Company, New York, 1908, p. 91-101 Hine, H.J., "Good Farming by Machine", The English Universities Press, London, 1948, p. 27, 30-31 Simpson, Margaret and Phillip, "Old Farm Machinery in Australia: A Fieldguide & Sourcebook", Kangaroo Press, Kenthurst, 1991, p. 24-32
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Summary
Object Statement
Photographic glass plate negative, tractor drawn rigid tyne cultivator, improved model, side view, made by The Clyde Engineering Pty Ltd, Granville, New South Wales, Australia, 1941
Physical Description
Photographic glass plate negative, tractor drawn rigid tyne cultivator, improved model, side view, made by The Clyde Engineering Pty Ltd, Granville, New South Wales, Australia, 1941 A rectangular black and white silver gelatin glass plate negative in landscape format. The image depicts a rigid tyne cultivator, improved model, side view. Handwritten text on envelope reads '1686 / RIGID TYNE CULTIVATOR / IMPROVED MODEL / SIDE VIEW' and in bottom right corner '20-5-41 / KW'.
DIMENSIONS
Height
164 mm
Width
215 mm
Depth
1.5 mm
PRODUCTION
Notes
The Clyde Engineering Company photograph collection is made up of around 1300 half plate glass negatives and approximately 4000 triacetate negatives. The origins of the collection can be dated back to 1855 when William Henry Hudson set up the firm of Hudson Brothers in a small shop in Redfern, Sydney. Initially the company specialised in woodworking and the first major contracts undertaken by the Hudson Brothers included woodwork for the 'Great Hall' at Sydney University and building the Sydney 'Garden Palace' in 1879. In 1876 Hudson Brothers won a lucrative contract to build rolling stock for the New South Wales government and as a result the business began to move toward metal-work rather than wood-work. The business was a success and twenty five years later had expanded to such a degree that a new work shop was needed to accommodate staff and equipment. In 1881 Hudson Brothers moved onto two hundred acres of land at Granville in the Western suburbs of Sydney and the new factory opened two years later in July 1883. Unfortunately the recession of the 1890s hit Hudson Brothers hard and by 1898 it was forced into receivership. It was then that the newly formed Clyde Engineering Company took over the Hudson Brothers, although William Hudson continued to remain a board member and motivating force behind Clyde Engineering. Given the new company arose out of the old Hudson Brothers it is not surprising to find Clyde Engineering adopted a phoenix as its logo. The choice was apt for the new company did rise out of the ashes of the old and by 1950 Clyde Engineering had become the largest engineering enterprise in New South Wales. In 1901, soon after it had become Clyde Engineering Ltd., the company began making carriages for the Federal Government and in 1903 began making them for the West Australian Government as well. In 1905 Clyde won a major contract with the New South Wales State Government to make railway locomotives. Clyde Engineering was a large operation and took on contract work for major state government projects, mainly in New South Wales. These included prefabricated steel work for the Hawkesbury Bridge and the northern approach to the Sydney Harbour Bridge. In 1932 the company also built and supplied steel work for the Clarence River Bridge at Grafton and the Manning River Bridge at Taree. Clyde Engineering made agricultural equipment for many parts of New South Wales, continuing the work of Hudson Brothers who began to manufacture windmills and ploughs made to their own unique designs in 1884. During the Second World War it was an integral part of 'Workshop Australia'. In this period Clyde Engineering took on a new field, the repair of Hudson and Wirraway aircraft. In addition it provided munitions; 25-pounder field gun parts; locomotives and rolling stock to the war effort. The triacetate collection appears to date from the late 1930s through to 1960s the glass plates from around 1900-1950. Most of the photographs are commissioned works taken around the Clyde Works in Granville, Sydney. Others are copies of original photographic prints, blueprints and pages from books. These are hard to accurately date it is almost certain that the collection is the work of numerous photographers; unfortunately their identity is at present unknown. Glass plates were first used to support photographic emulsions in the late 1840s and remained in continuous use right through until the middle of the twentieth century. While the earliest plates supported 'dry' and 'wet' collodion emulsions these were replaced with silver gelatin emulsions in the 1880s. Unlike earlier plates these were mass produced on a huge scale and were capable of fast speeds even at half and full plate sizes. One drawback of this process was that larger plate sizes required a correspondingly large camera to fit the plate. These were relatively cumbersome and when you take into consideration the weight of the glass plates it is no surprise to find they were mainly used for studio and commercial work. However they were still favoured by many professionals for a long time after roll film was introduced by Kodak in the late 1880s. This was because the large plates could be more easily worked on for masking and their contact prints provided better results than some of the early enlarging equipment Geoff Barker, Assistant Curator, Total Asset Management Project, February, 2008 References Gernsheim, H. and Gernsheim A., The History of Photography from the Earliest Use of the Camera Obscura in the Eleventh Century up to 1914. London, New York: Oxford University Press, 1955.
HISTORY
Notes
The Clyde Engineering Company photograph collection was acquired by the Powerhouse Museum in December 1987. The material was removed from Clyde Engineering when the offices were being relocated and appears to be only a portion of the original collection. Around 1350 half plate glass negatives and approximately 4000 triacetate negatives came to the Museum at this time. The triacetate collection is made up predominantly of copies of blueprints and plans of machinery dating from the late 1940s through to 1960s. These subjects may have referred to actual work carried out by Clyde but material appears to have also been used for research and copied directly from books. In 2007 the triacetate negatives were placed into cold storage while waiting to be catalogued. In the same year the glass plates were catalogued and digitised as a part of the Total Asset Management Project for the Museum's collection database and website and for Picture Australia. The subject matter contained in the half plate glass negatives covers over 60 years of the Clyde Engineering Company's activities in New South Wales. It starts in the 1880s when the company was still called Hudson Brothers and goes through to the late 1940s. Most of these images were taken at the Clyde Works in Granville, Sydney, New South Wales and many include interior and exterior images of the people and workshops at Clyde Engineering and on the banks of the Duck River. Some appear to have been commissioned to record the completion of particular Clyde projects such as locomotives, boilers and agricultural equipment at the Clyde works. A few have been photographed in other locations such as the aircraft photographs taken at Bankstown Airport and some works photographed after delivery. A few photographs are copies of original photographic prints, blueprints and pages from books and these are hard to accurately date. As most of the original negatives were taken over a long time period it is almost certain the photographs are the work of numerous photographers, unfortunately their identity is at present unknown. Some of the negatives have appeared in a Clyde booklet published for the delegates of the 'Seventh Congress of the Chamber of Commerce of the British Empire in 1909' and a Clyde booklet held by the museum which was published around 1945. These publications and the fact that some of the negatives have been masked make it clear that the while the photographers were cataloguing the accomplishments of the company they were also creating content used to advertise and promote the company's products. Two photographers who did photographic work for Clyde from the 1960s onwards were Charles French of 87 Yarram Street, Lidcombe in New South Wales and Jack Draper an employee and photographer employed by Clyde Engineering around the same period. Geoff Barker, Assistant Curator, Total Asset Management Project, February, 2008
SOURCE
Acquisition Date
2 March 1988
Copyright for the above image is held by the Powerhouse and may be subject to third-party copyright restrictions. Please submit an Image Licensing Enquiry for information regarding reproduction, copyright and fees. Text is released under Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivative licence.
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