Corporate Body
Die Casters Pty Ltd (1926 - ?)
- From
- 1926
Richmond, Victoria, Australia - Functions
- Manufacturing industry
Summary
Die Casters Pty Ltd was established in Richmond in 1926. It produced excellent quality castings for vehicles, such as door handles, door locks etc., and also designed, patented and supplied the industry with window winding mechanisms, and windscreen wipers and blades. Directors Roy William Newton (1900 - 1951), Arthur Henry Powell, and Reginald Arthur Powell took a lead role in these new developments.
The firm developed and patented processes to enable moulding of plastic to metal which was an important breakthrough in the application of metal to plastic technology, and in 1939 formed a subsidiary company D. C. Plastics Pty. Ltd.
During the Second World War, Die Casters Pty. Ltd. manufactured defence products including components of bomb sights, machine guns and engine parts for aircraft. In 1944, post-war production of a small car was planned. After the war the company quickly repurposed production - making aluminium kettles out of shell noses, and converting machine gun tooling to making women's hair brushes and toothpaste tubes.
Later they developed and produced innovative overhead spray systems for irrigation.
Related entries
Published resources
Newspaper Articles
- 'Die Casters Subsidiary [D. C. Plastics Pty. Ltd. registered]', The Herald (Melbourne) (1939), 9, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article205979312. Details
- 'Die Caster's inventive leader dies at sea', The Herald (Melbourne) (1951), 6, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-page26570855. Details
Resources
- IP Australia, Commonwealth of Australia, 'Application: 19171/1934. Title: An improved windshield wiper motor', Australian Patent search database, Commonwealth of Australia, 2015, https://ipsearch.ipaustralia.gov.au/patents/1934019171. Details
- IP Australia, Commonwealth of Australia, 'Application: 50580/1964. Title: Improvements on or relating to latch operating mechanisms', Australian Patent search database, Commonwealth of Australia, 2015, https://ipsearch.ipaustralia.gov.au/patents/1964050580. Details
- IP Australia, Commonwealth of Australia, 'Application: 37004/1958. Title: Improvements in or relating to nozzles or jets for rotary sprinklers', Australian Patent search database, Commonwealth of Australia, 2015, https://ipsearch.ipaustralia.gov.au/patents/1958037004. Details
- IP Australia, Commonwealth of Australia, 'Application: 21292/1956. Title: Improvements in door locks', Australian Patent search database, Commonwealth of Australia, 2015, https://ipsearch.ipaustralia.gov.au/patents/1956021292. Details
- IP Australia, Commonwealth of Australia, 'Application: 14711/1952. Title: Improved plastic pipe fittings and method of making the same', Australian Patent search database, Commonwealth of Australia, 2015, https://ipsearch.ipaustralia.gov.au/patents/1952014711. Details
- IP Australia, Commonwealth of Australia, 'Application: 30224/1930. Title: Improvements in and relating to lavatory flushers', Australian Patent search database, Commonwealth of Australia, 2015, https://ipsearch.ipaustralia.gov.au/patents/1930030224. Details
- Trove, National Library of Australia, 2009, https://nla.gov.au/nla.party-1477134. Details
See also
- 'Costly fire at factory. Machinery lost', The Age (1944), 3, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article206777244. Details
- Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering, Technology in Australia 1788-1988, Online edn, Australian Science and Technology Heritage Centre, Melbourne, 3 May 2000, http://www.austehc.unimelb.edu.au/tia/index_d.html. Details
Ailie Smith; Ken McInnes
Created: 21 June 2001, Last modified: 21 January 2026
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