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15P Closer

Thanks to Cazander Bros. & Sis B.V., The Netherlands (cazander.com), for the photos of this Model 15P Closer, serial number 44.

The Goetz Model 15P closing machine has 4 stations, and is able to close between 50 – 250 cans per minute. Can heights 300 – 1008, diameter 401 – 702.

Hector Mitchell

Many thanks to Denis Mitchell for the following information regarding his father, long-time Goetz employee, Hector.

Denis writes ‘This is a photo of my father, Hector Andrew Mitchell who worked at Goetz his whole working life. I also worked there, starting as an apprentice in the tool room, Mick O’Brien was the foreman of the tool room at the time, my bench was in front of Alf Goetz’. Photos c1960

Below: Hector Mitchell’s apprenticeship certificate, dated 18th February, 1941, for the apprenticeship trades of Pattern Making, Brassfitting, Fitting and/or Turning, Blacksmithing (Engineerng), Machinist, Copper and/or Brass-smithing.

 

Computers at Goetz

In 1986, W. G. Goetz & Sons had a newly introduced Digital Equipment Corporation PDP11 computer system with three or four terminals connected to it, mainly used for basic orders and customer management – the sort of things that can nowadays be done in an Excel Spreadsheet!

Fresh from a Mathematics and Computing degree from what was then the Footscray Institute Of Technology, Ian Jones came to work in IT at Geotz in 1986. The work environment in the office section was one where everyone was known as ‘Mr.’, all the men wore ties and there was a nine day fortnight. The office telephone switchboard was of the style that featured patch leads, plugs and sockets – anyone wanting to call would have to contact the receptionist to get an outside line.

Part of Ian’s IT job at Goetz was to program a wirecutting machine and look after the company’s DEC PDP11.

Ian has kindly provided this typed sheet of duties for the operation and maintenance of the Goetz system.

Click image for larger view

The DEC PDP11/34A was a version of the PDP11/34, featuring an upgraded CPU, required to support the optional floating point unit and/or optional high speed memory cache.

Cover from the 1981 edition of the PDP11 processor handbook (not from Goetz, but they probably had one). The handbook wasn’t exactly ‘light reading’, and weighed in at  502 pages!

An example of a typical DEC PDP11/34

Photo used under Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported. Filename: P5182215.jpg Creator: unknown Source: wikimuseo.freaknet.org

Australian Canning Convention, 1951

Otto Goetz attended The Australian Canning Convention, which was held from Tuesday 4th to Thursday 6th of September 1951 at the Manufacturer’s Buildings, 312 Flinders Street, Melbourne (nowadays 300 Flinders St offices and carpark).

Dinners over the three consecutive days were held at the Menzies and Australia Hotels.

Below is a report about the convention from The Murrumbidgee Irrigator, Fri 5 Oct 1951, p. 1

Goetz at Harvester House Openeing 1939

On 22 May 1939, the new headquarters of the International Harvester Company of Australia
P/L,  was officially opened by the then Victorian Premier Mr. Dunstan.

On the corner of City Road and Balston Street, South Melbourne, it was a good thing that the site covered four and a half acres (1.8 ha), as there were 2,000 guests present! 

‘Representatives of Federal and State Governments, municipalities, and agricultural and business interests were present’. (The Argus, 23 may 1939, p. 10)

As part of the ‘business interests’, there was a presence from W. G. Goetz & Sons. In this photo taken at the official opening celebrations is L-R: Capt. J. H. Moss (age 56), E. M. McLean (not known if he was from Goetz or another business), Otto Goetz (age 42) and Albert Goetz. (age 54).


The Australasian, 27 May 1939, p. 32. According to the accompanying article, around 2,000 guests attended the opening!

Around the same time, International Harvester opened its assembly factory at Geelong. On 4 August 1950, the first sod was turned at its 23 hectare site in Dandenong, officially opening in August 1952.

Edgell and the 11PSV Can Closer

In the 24 August 1959 edition of the Sydney Morning Herald, there was a 7-page series of articles about canned food. Among the articles were entries congratulating Gordon Edgell & Sons Ltd. on the release of their new product – Edgell-Gerber Baby Food, manufactured at their new plant in Bathurst. Around the same time, in order to supply Edgell with cans for the baby foods section, Containers Limited opened a can making plant nearby.

The W. G. Goetz & Sons advertisement featured the 11PSV 4-head high speed automatic can closing machine, as used by Edgell.

 


Sydney Morning Herald, 24 Aug 1959, p. 14

 

Can seamer at the Containers Limited plant, near the Edgell factory, Bathurst. Difficult to tell in this photo, but perhaps another Goetz machine?