ALEX DEN OUDEN
EINDHOVEN - NEDERLAND

The works in 1927

By 1927, Werf Gusto occupied nearly 30 acres. The Works then included a Shipbuilding Yard, Iron and Copper Foundries, a Carpentry Shop, a very large Engineering Shop, Turning and Fitting Shops, etc., etc. all of which were provided with modern machines and up to date equipment.

We have two very nice aerial photographs, taken in that year, and showing lots of interesting details.

The first photo is taken from the northwest. In the background we see the Nieuwe Maas.

The long building with two aisles, near the eastern boundary of the works (left in the photo) houses the shops for:

(i)	machining (lathes, shapers, boring mills, milling and drilling machines, grinding machines)
(ii)	fitting and test assembly
(iii)	tool making
(iv)	dressing of castings
(v)	foundry
(vi)	pattern making

The second such building, near the centre of the photo, houses the shops for:

(i)	ship plate preparation and bridge building
(ii)	blacksmiths' shop, steam hammers and steam presses

Directly to the west (right) of this second building we find a large flat-roofed shed of more modern design. This houses the recently opened steel construction department, where steel sheet, strip and rolled sections (such as angles, tees, channels and joists) are prepared for use in a variety of steel buildings as wall components, roof trusses, compound beams etc. Next to the latter building lies the steel park (of almost triangular shape), which is provided with a mobile tower crane and (on the southern side) an overhead crane running into two low-roofed rivetting shops, where sections are assembled.

Between the two first-mentioned aisled buildings we see the office building, recently enlarged; and in front of the three large sheds runs a stretch of ancillary buildings, also quite new.

The second photo is taken from the southwest.

In front of the blacksmiths' shop, in the centre of the photo, lie the two main slipways, both in use for the construction of quite large ships. The old woodworking shop has disappeared to make more room for the western slip. The new cluster of buildings further to the west (left) houses a powerhouse, a compressor house, a pump house with water tower; and a new, larger, woodworking shop. Further to the right, two floating cranes are used in assembly work around the slipways. To the extreme right we observe a floating crane under construction.