INDUSTRIES 



vinegar exist in Southwark, Bermondsey and 

 Camberwell. There were vinegar works at 

 Wandsworth owned by Messrs. Gattey in 



1792 and 1 81 1,' and the industry existed 

 there in recent times, but is now discon- 

 tinued. 



AERATED AND MINERAL WATERS 



The art of producing effervescing drinks 

 by dissolving carbonic acid in water under 

 heavy pressure is not of great antiquity, and 

 dates back barely a hundred years. Never- 

 theless the manufacture of aerated and so- 

 called mineral waters, in which, although they 

 do not properly belong to the subject, we 

 may include that of ginger-beer and such 

 temperance beverages as are produced by the 

 natural effects of fermentation, is now so 

 extensively carried on in Surrey that some 

 notice of the industry must appear here. 



In the manufacture of these waters Messrs. 

 Beaufoy & Co. have long held a leading 

 position, chiefly due to the absolute purity of 

 the water used by them. This water is 

 drawn from a well on the premises, 400 feet 

 deep, which gives an abundant supply of pure 

 water for all the requirements of the estab- 

 lishment. The well is carried down into the 

 substratum of chalk, in the bowels of which 

 the water is stored in such a state of purity 

 and crystalline brightness that the Geological 

 Society considered it advisable some years 

 back to publish a special memoir on this 

 source of supply, in which full details of the 

 strata passed through in the sinking of the 

 well are given. As some idea of the great 

 expense which the sinking of this well 

 entailed upon the firm, it may be noticed 

 that the cost of deepening it a few yards 

 recently was nearly j^ 1,000, but the outlay 

 has proved remunerative in saving a large 

 annual disbursement in the shape of water 

 rate and placing the firm in an exceptionally 

 favourable position in regard to the quality of 

 an article so extensively employed in the 

 business. 



The pipe through which the water is 

 pumped to the surface has a silver lining and 

 delivers the liquid direct into the silver-lined 

 tubes of the bottling machines without the 

 intervention of tanks, thereby obviating any 

 possible contamination by exposure to the 

 atmosphere. It then undergoes aeration, and 

 with the necessary additions is converted into 

 soda water, potass, seltzer, lemonade, or the 

 like, as required. These products are bottled 

 and xorked by machinery with astonishing 

 speed and precision. 



Owing to the great increase in this branch 

 of the firm's trade, the old premises set apart 



401 



for the purpose were early found to be 

 insufficient. Messrs. Beaufoy therefore re- 

 solved upon the erection of new buildings of 

 such dimensions as would suffice for all pre- 

 sent requirements and future expansion, at 

 least for some years to come. This work was 

 entrusted to the Riley Manufacturing Com- 

 pany of South Lambeth Road, and under its 

 direction the new factory was put up. It is 

 fitted with the most modern plant and 

 machinery necessary for each process of the 

 manufacture. A row often of the latest 

 pattern of Messrs. Riley's screw-stopper filling 

 machines forms the main feature of the fac- 

 tory. The machines are driven by a gas 

 engine through one length of line shafting, 

 and they are each capable of filling five gross 

 of bottles per hour. The fact that in the 

 summer season they are all kept well going 

 will give a good notion of the extent of busi- 

 ness. The action of these machines is one of 

 the greatest ingenuity. The empty bottle 

 with the stopper screwed home is placed in 

 the machine by a girl ; the machine removes 

 the stopper, fills the bottle under pressure, 

 and securely replaces the stopper, and is then 

 ready to receive the next bottle ; this process 

 going on with surprising regularity at the 

 rate of twelve bottles per minute. There are 

 other machines for filling corked bottles and 

 syphons, as well as a large plant for brewing 

 ginger beer, which has always been a 

 speciality of this firm.* 



Amongst the other principal manufacturers 

 of aerated waters in the metropolitan districts 

 of Surrey may be noted those of Messrs. Bar- 

 rett in Vauxhall, Messrs. Engster & Koert- 

 gen in Lambeth, and the Pure Water Com- 

 pany, Limited, at Battersea. Messrs. H. D. 

 Rawlings, Limited, who have been estab- 

 lished for over a hundred years as brewers of 

 ginger beer and makers of mineral waters, 

 have a factory at Camberwell. In the non- 

 metropolitan parts of the county Messrs. 

 Robert White & Sons have large works at 

 Croydon for the manufecture of ginger beer 

 and mineral waters, and have also factories in 

 other places, including Camberwell, Kingston 



1 Lysons, Environs of London (ed. i), i. 503 ; 

 (ed. 2), i. 379. 



2 Ex inf. Messrs. Beaufoy & Co. 



51 



