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Advertisement for A. Simpson & Son's safes
Title : Advertisement for A. Simpson & Son's safes Advertisement for A. Simpson & Son's safes
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Source : Adelaide almanac and directory for South Australia, 1883, opp. p. 1 of advertisements
Date of creation : 1883
Format : Magazine
Contributor : State Library of South Australia
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Description :

Advertisement for A. Simpson & Son's Adelaide patent fire and thief proof safes.


Tinsmith Alfred Simpson went into business in Adelaide in 1853. In the 1860s he began manufacturing safes, which became well-known for their ability to resist attempts to blow them open with dynamite.
Alfred Simpson arrived in South Australia with his family in 1849. He had completed an apprenticeship as a tinplate worker, but had not worked in the industry in England. After trying various occupations and a stint on the Victorian goldfields, in 1853 he set up as a tinsmith on premises in Topham Street.

Simpson manufactured many products for agricultural use. As agricultural industries became more established in South Australia, his business, known as the 'Colonial Tinware Manufactory', correspondingly expanded. By 1862, his premises, now in Gawler Place, had expanded. Simpson's son, Alfred Muller Simpson, joined the business in 1864 when he turned 21.

In 1868 a major expansion of the Gawler Place premises took place. Alfred Muller Simpson and his wife travelled to the Paris Exhibition of 1878 and brought back ideas for labour-saving factory machinery, new products and methods of refining existing products.

Subjects
Related names :

A. Simpson and Son Ltd.

Coverage year : 1883
Period : 1852-1883
Region : Adelaide city
Further reading :

A. Simpson and Son. "Today not tomorrow": a century of progress, Adelaide: Simpson, 1954

A. Simpson & Son Ltd. Business records, BRG 9

Simpson, Alfred Allen. Personal papers, PRG 246

'Simpson's & Son's tin and iron works, Gawler Place', Adelaide observer, 9 May 1868, p. 9, col. d-e

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