The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-08-23
CURIOUS BUSINESS EXTENSION.
From Cartridges to Soap, Candles
and Bicycles.

Some remarkable facts which have
just come out in the annual report of
one of the oldest manufacturing COM
psnies in Birmingham are just now ex-
citing some attention, as illustrating
the surprising straits to which the
managers of some of our old-estab-
lished concerns are finding themselves
put to to keep their works going and
provide a dividend for shareholders,
and the amazing departures they are
making with this object, says a writer
in the American Manufacturer.
The concern in question is that long
recognized in-this country as Messrs
been reconstructed. The original and
fundamental business of the concern
was the manufacture of ammunition
for military and sporting purposes
Keynocks cartridges, of course, are
still known all the world over, but they
are by no means the only product of
the company which have attained
worldwide renown. and it seems not
unlikely that in the early future the
company's name will be carried to the
ends of the earth in connection with
articles of different character
AS manufacturers of gunpowder,
nitro-glycerine and other explosives,
Keynocks' are compelled to handle
chemicals on rather extensive scale,
and incidental to the cultivation of
this industry the company finds itself
in possession of a number of valuable
by-Droducts. which it has now been
prompted to utilize for commercial
purposes. Thus, during the last year
complete works on an extensive scale
have been erected at Birmingham for
the manufacture of soap, candles and
glycerine. The glycerine department
has been at work for some months
supplying all the company's own re-
quirementS for the manufacture of
ro-glycerine, at Arklow, on the Irish
coast. Some additions are now being
made to the distilling plant, and when
these are completed the company, it
is announced, will supply chemists and
druggists with chemically pure glycer-
ire, for which a large and increasing
demand exists
The manufacture of candles, also. has
been carried on for the last eight or
nine months, the company having
bought an established connection An
other new development, which dates
only from the beginning of this month,
is the manufacture of soap, for which
keynockS possess the only large works
in the neighborhood of Birmingham.
Soap and candles and glycerine, how
ever, do not exhaust the list of Key
nocks' new metamorphoses. Works
tor the manufacture of cycle compo-
nents have lately been erected and
the manufacture of these fittings will
be commenced almost Immediately.
Keynocks apparently aim at becom-
ing the Whiteleys or universal pro-
Viders of our manufacturing industry,
and, if the company continues to ex-
pand on its present lines, it should
soon number among it's customers as
many grocers and druggists and cycle
makers as it now does gunsmiths, mine
owners and ammunition dealers. AS
cartridge makers, of course, the compa-
ny have long been accustomed to roll
their own metal strips and sheets, and
1 should not be surprised to see a con-
siderable development in this depart
ment by and by, when the manufac-
ture of brass and copper tubes and
wires, and the various finished goods
of which tubes and wire are constit-
uents show little broader margin OF
profit. 1t remains yet to be seen, Of
course, if manufactures so various, not
to say diSsimilar, can be successfully
conducted under one management in
these times of keen and intelligent
competition, and whether this policy
of attacking new branches may not
provoke reprisals.