Marshal Press Camera: Preston North from Foxton Forge stands next to the relocated Purdy Universal used at the Foxton Fizz factory to stick labels on bottles.
Marshal Press Camera: Preston North from Foxton Forge stands next to the relocated Purdy Universal used at the Foxton Fizz factory to stick labels on bottles.
By Jacob Brookie
It was the end of an era for Foxton as the Foxton Fizz factory machines were removed after decades making the town’s famous Fizz. While the old factory has been sold, some of the machines are still in town - MAVtech’s cameras had one last look atthe old bottling plant, and caught up with where one of the machines is now.
Foxton Fizz was first bottled by the Foxton Cordial Company- but this wasn’t the only Foxton maker of soft drinks, with a Mr R Murray making cordial on Main St in 1891.
Marshal Press Camera: The factory sign with a clever pun and a final update.
The Foxton Cordial Company was founded in 1918 and soon became very popular, with a 1921 advertisement in the local paper urging customers to place their orders before the factory closed for the Christmas season. The Foxton Fizz name came later as a response to overseas soft drinks entering the market.
Some parts of the factory are still in Foxton - including one very distinctive machine. The Purdy Universal is a mass of metal, levers and motors. It was made in London’s Prescot St at a time of steamships and biplanes.
It now resides at Foxton Forge - a local business on Duncan St that specialises in metal fabrication and welding - a perfect home for this metal marvel!
Marshal Press Camera: The old bottling machine at the factory.
The Purdy Universal had one job - sticking labels on bottles. Foxton Forge’s Preston North wonders about a simple job being done with such a big machine - “it seems a bit unnecessary!” he says with a laugh - and wonders why the machine couldn’t have been made smaller.
The Purdy Universal still has a perfectly labelled bottle of Foxton Fizz resting in its holder.
One person who knows all about how the Purdy Universal worked - and what it was like to fix. Murray Perreau is a former owner of Foxton Fizz and an engineer who did his apprenticeship at the former Woolpack and Textiles plant.
He maintained Foxton Fizz’s machines and shared a story about the Purdy Universal - it’s not the first one the factory had. The first Purdy was replaced by an automatic machine, but the new machine was unreliable and the second Purdy was bought shortly before Fizz bottling shifted out of town in 2008.
1940s Speed Graphic Camera - Murray Perreau once owned Foxton Fizz.
Murray recalls that “the machines were easy to fix- everything was external” and he remembers working on the first Purdy as a child. He would push his feet on the pedals “like a clutch” and the machine would apply the label to the bottle and use wipers to remove any air bubbles underneath the label.
You still had to be careful- the bottles had just been filled with Fizz and had condensation, meaning the labels shifted easily when the Fizz was being put into crates.
Murray also remembers installing seven layers of filtration to the factory’s water supply so the water in the drinks was pure. He also recalls some Foxton Fizz workers stacking the small pallets of Fizz eight-high on a trolley - but usually five was tall enough for him.
The factory was like a big family - even the sales representatives from flavour companies were included.
Lipca Rollop Automatic Camera - A view of the old factory.
“They would cash their expenses for a hotel and then stay the night with my family”. When Murray was a child, a salesman let Murray drive his Jaguar down the street, which became a very fond memory.
The factory may have closed but Foxton Fizz still flows from a bottling plant in Greerton. The company’s retro logo is appearing in cafes across the country and the future is full of Fizz. You can buy some from Foxton Forge - a nice refreshment after a blacksmithing workshop - and you can see one of the iconic machines.
Jacob used a 1966 Marshal Press and a 1956 Lipca Rollop Automatic to take the photos of the Foxton Fizz factory. A 1940s Speed Graphic with instant film photographed Murray Perreau. You can see more photographs taken with vintage cameras at www.mavtech.org.nz.
