| Lord Provost John Letford said he had received a letter from Mr John Rogers, of Malvern in Worcestershire, who had attended a conference at Forst, near Cottbus on the border between Germany and Poland.
The conference took place in a former textile factory and part of the building is used as a textile museum. Among the machines on display is a “Jutebrecher”, which was used to break down the fibres of jute.
Accompanying documentation showed that it had been made by Lee-Croll & Co in Dundee in the early 1870s and was still in use more than a century later, in 1990.
“I thought it was an extraordinary compliment to the quality of manufacture that, in such a changing technical age, the machine was in constant use for over 100 years,” Mr Rogers wrote.
The Lord Provost said he had been delighted to receive the letter from someone who had been moved to write because he was so impressed by something that had come out of Dundee.
“It is indeed a considerable tribute to the quality of work by the people who made this machine that it was still being used well over 100 years after it was built,” he said.
“I will be writing back to Mr Rogers to thank him for taking the time and trouble to draw this to my attention.” |
