OutdoorKing Repair Forum Forums The History Forum Company Histories MARINO PRODUCTS - Who Were They?

Hi ODK members,

This is the story of a company and the man that created that company.
Marino Products Pty. Ltd. was a Brisbane-based company whose products
sold around the world.

The company founder - Dudley Russell Dowling (1894 - 1976) was an ANZAC, an engineer,
an inventor, a manufacturer, importer, and successful business man.

This series of posts explores his company.
Specifically, I make mention of Dowling's 'Marino Pumps', and the company's importation
of American Johnson outboards and generators, British Britannia outboards, Chapman inboards, the
distribution of early rotary mowers - the British 'Ladybird' and 'Rotoscythe',
and manufacture of the Marino Mowall rotary slasher.

My contention is that Marino Products' contribution to vintage machinery is important.
Dudley Dowling invented pump designs of World-wide importance and he promoted locally-made
and imported agricultural, horticultural, and marine products to a wide Australian audience.

THE COMPANY
Marino Products Pty Ltd was incorporated in 1930.
They started from small premises at 43 Creek Street in the Brisbane CBD, sub-let from
L. Dobell & Co., who were successful typewriter and calculator agents.

This was at the start of the Great Depression and business must have been ... challenging.
I have found no advertising from 1930. But, by late 1931 frequent and numerous
advertisements in rural newspapers reveal an emerging company with product diversity.

CONTENTS

[1] This post
[2] What's In a Name?
[3] Rabbits
[4] The Sea
[5] Let there be Light!
[6] Marino Moves To Barry Parade
[7] The Chapman Pups
[8] Marino & Mowers - The Ladybird
[9] Marino & Mowers - The Rotoscythe
[10] Marino Moves to Bulimba
[11] Marino Patents
[12] Britannia Outboards
[13] Marino Firefighter
[14] Marino Mowall
[15] Statement of Significance

What's In a Name?

Thinking about it, the Name 'Marino' could take on two quite different meanings:
the first (and obvious) that the company made products for sheep. They did ...

The Marino Jetter was probably Marino's first product.
And, of course, an extension of the word 'Marino' would also suggest that the company
made products for the rural sector generally. They did,
with a range of specialised and general-use pumps.

The Marino Jetter was a pump and drenching gun that was used to spray sheep with chemicals
that combated against blowfly in sheep. From the extensive advertising it is clear that
these were highly successful products. Here is an early advertisement from 1931:-



Here are advertisements from 1932 illustrating that Marino Products was expanding ...
securing important agents like the huge Moffat-Virtue Company and displaying their
products at exhibitions:-

Rabbits
Marino Products caught on to the idea of the 'multi-purpose product,'
or the product you could 'accessorise'.

One early example of this was the rabbit fumigator. Once again, Dudley Dowling
was making a killing [bad choice of words] because he combined efficiency
with low cost:-

The Sea
But there was something clever and prophetic in the name 'Marino'!
It's its closeness to the word 'marine'. Right from the early days, Marino Products
catered to products for the land and products for the sea.
Marino Products introduced and promoted Chapman inboard marine engines (UK),
Britannia outboards (UK), Johnson outboards and generators (USA).

Clearly, Marino Products was dealing with the American Johnson Company from early days.
What appeared to start with electric lighting plants (with Johnson Iron Horse engines)
and a one-off sale of a Johnson outboard turned into a profitable side of the business
- the sea. Here are some 1930s advertisements:-




And city folk were most welcome!
At this stage, Marino Products were clearly moving strongly into
the leisure market. In the early days, Marino was probably too ambitious.
. . . Why not dabble in boats and big motors:-

Let There Be Light!
It is hard for us to imagine a life without electricity.
Marino Products introduction to Johnson was probably in the meeting of the demand
in rural Australia for electricity. Many households were not connected to 'the grid'
and in the late 1930s many of these units would have been sold.

Move to Barry Parade, Fortitude Valley.
The company clearly outgrew its original CBD premises in Creek Street.
I can't believe that the Creek Street premises were ever a factory.

I do not know where it was manufacturing its pump components from,
but my best guess is that Dowling had his factory at the Brisbane suburb of Bulimba.
That site would, much later, become head office and showroom.

So, Marino Products moved into 'commodious premises' at 119 Barry Parade,
just on the CBD fringe at Fortitude Valley.





It was at 'The Valley' (as locals call it) that Marino Products expanded their range.
This was a two story building on the corner of Gotha Street and Barry Parade.
Below is the only photograph I have been able to find of their showroom and factory.
On the awning can be made out 'Products Pty. Ltd.' and 'Chapman Pup'.

The Chapman Pups
Marino Products were now offering a range of marine products for the leisure market.
Dud Dowling loved the sea, boats, and fishing.

The English Pups were a clever augmentation to their range of American Johnson outboards.
At this time, the market had still not quite 'accepted' outboards, and inboards in small
vessels were common. Here are two advertisements from this period:-

MARINO & MOWERS
Not only that, the company would cross the country/city divide in marketing products
to city folk too. Marino Products would become the main distributors for The
Ladybird electric rotary lawnmower (UK) and, most importantly, the revolutionary
Rotoscythe range of rotary lawnmowers (UK).

THE LADYBIRD
The Ladybird was a small British electric rotary mower that was sold here (Australia)
from early 1949, way before the Victa phenomenon.

For more information on the Ladybird click HERE.
It is my view that Marino Products should be credited with introducing this machine
to Queensland and Northern NSW.

These machines were heavily advertised by the company and probably sold well in city
and provincial centres. The earliest Marino advertisement for this machine dates
from July, 1949:-



Of course, this machine would have been up against Australian electric mower competition
by this time (Tecnico, Tasma, Mercury, Breville, etc.). Nonetheless,
it is surprising that this alien-looking machine was sold using advertising
copy that Victa (and others) would use to sell petrol-powered rotaries years later.

They were 'lightweight', would 'cut any length grass, ' would cut 'backwards and forwards,;
etc. What I find interesting in the following advertisement is that Marino not only had
country and provincial agents, it also had city agents as well by this time (in Brisbane).

MARINO & MOWERS - THE ROTOSCYTHE

The Rotoscythe is the more important machine in terms of vintage mower history.
For one thing, they sold here prior to WWII. However, it would be Post-War
that Marino Products would heavily market these revolutionary machines.

Marino Products started advertising the Rotoscythe for sale in late 1947!
They were an example of British post-war industry and Dudley Dowling played a significant
role in introducing this mower to an Australian audience.

These were heavily advertised in the Courier Mail and major rural newspapers throughout
the company;s agency's areas in Queensland and New South Wales.

Typically, Rotoscythes were shown with the Ladybird, or with other Marino products:-

MARINO MOVES TO BULIMBA
Marino Products were associated with three locations: Creek Street in the Brisbane CBD;
Barry Parade in Fortitude Valley; and then Bambil Street Bulimba.

Marino used the Barry Parade address as a showroom and warehouse,
but manufacturing was mowed to Bulimba.

Here is an extract from a small book, History of the Bulimba Electorate 1859-1959
[price 2 shillings]. It's a nice summary of the situation:-



This means that the final move to Bulimba occurred in 1948.
They continued operating at Barry Parade until early 1953. After this, Bambil Street
became the office, showroom and factory.




For the record, there is no longer a Bambil Street at Bulimba.
It disappeared in 'development' decades ago. I have never uncovered a photo of the factory,
but it was located off the now trendy Oxford Street, behind what was the Rheem factory.

MARINO PATENTS

Marino Products prospered at Barry Parade, Valley and Bambil Street, Bulimba.

This is the right place to mention that Dudley Dowling was an inventor of some importance.

In 1935 Dowling took out a US patent on his improved Drenching Gun for sheep spraying.
This was his first significant invention. Overseas rights were sold to the
British firm Coopers. Here is a typical advertisement:-



In 1945 Dowling took out a US patent for his self-priming device for a rotary vane pump.
This was an invention of World-wide significance. A simple, cheap pump could be marketed for
general and specialist purposes.

In fact, Marino advertising stopped between about 1942 and 1945.
In war-time production, Marino was supplying pumps to the US army!

The following advertisement is somewhat unclear, but it is a rare moment when Dowling
'blew his own trumpet' about an Australian invention. It says:

'During the war when it pumped petrol into aircraft, refuelled machines with crude oil
or kerosene, pumped fresh water for troops, de-watered sunken landing barges and
pumped salt water for fire fighting, this modern pumping unit was classed as an
unbeatable top performer by the U.S. Army.'



A final mention should be made in this section about Dowling's
embrace of new technologies, in the form of synthetic or plastic products.

Dowling also took out a patent in the late 1940s for his 'flexivane' pump
[18857/48], a pump that overcame problems with the variety of fluids that could be pumped.
I have not - as yet - uncovered this patent.

[NOTE: member Gadge has kindly located this Australian patent application - see below.]

Here is an advertisement for one from 1949:-

BRITANNIA OUTBOARDS

By the 1950s Marino Products had a range of products catering for agriculture,
horticulture and leisure. Here is an advertisement that nicely sums up the
range in late 1949:-




Marino introduced the British Britannia Outboard, possibly
because it lost agency for Johnson.

I do not know why this happened, but I suspect the recreational
market for outboards had 'exploded' by this time, and Johnson needed
wider exposure. I simply do not know.

THE MARINO FIREFIGHTER

Mention should be made of the Marino Firefighter Unit.
This issue of bushfires in Australia was so significant that Marino Products
saw a market in a light, cheaper unit that rural fire services could be
equipped with. It had to be self-priming, be able to withstand water sources of
various quality, and be cheaply repair. These would have sold in significant quantities.

Here is one of the very few photos of Dudley Dowling I have, seen here
at Kemp Place, Brisbane, in 1951 (near the Story Bridge).



Here is a 1952 advertisement. Notice how the 4-cycle engine is labelled
as a 'Marino'engine. I do not know whether Marino actually manufactured these. I do believe,
however, that the basis for the engine is a Johnson Ironhorse, given Marino's
close association with Johnson for many years.

THE MARINO MOWALL

I do believe that Marino Products did manufacture its own mower!
It was a slasher-type (suitable for rural Australia) and commercial
mowing of high grasses. It was the Marino Mowall.

These were introduced - best guess - in 1955.
Whilst I do believe Marino did manufacture these at Bulimba, I do not believe
they were produced to any Dowling design.

The thing that gives it away is the name - 'Mowall'
I suspect the name & design came from Masling Industries, a small company set up
as a 'decentralised' operation at 116 Parker Street,Kootamundra, New South Wales.
[NOTE: This is pure speculation on my part - because of the name - and we will have to wait,
should any new information come forward on Masling Industries.What it a Dowling design?]

Here are advertisements from 1956 and 1960.
Notice how Marino Products, by this time, clearly had interstate agents
doing the retail work. Also notice the Marino 'Blowamist'.

STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE

I wish I knew more about this interesting company, and its most-interesting
owner - Dudley Dowling. I lose the paper trail from the late 1950s, because
digitisation of newspapers post mid-1950s is sporadic (to say the least).

But, by the late 1950s Dudley would have been thinking of retirement...
He was Real and Vice Admiral at the Royal Queensland Yacht Squadron, he was a successful
businessman with friendships & connections to 'important people' in Queensland.




His wife was actively engaged with the 'social circuit' doing good charity work.


Having said all this, the significance to vintage machinery history must be
seen in its context. From my perspective, Marino Products were important in
introducing two significant vintage mowers - the space-age Ladybird, and
the revolutionary Rotoscythe. I was surprised to discover the Marino Mowall.

From a wider perspective, Dowling's impact really belongs with pumping technology.
He invented a superior drenching gun for the farmer who faced the blowfly problem in
sheep; he developed pumps to include self-priming and longevity in adverse condition
with synthetic (plastic) materials.

The rest is history.
---------------------------------------
JACK