1921 Institute of Metals: Visits to Works
Note: This is a sub-section of the 1921 Institute of Metals
THE NATIONAL PHYSICAL LABORATORY.
AFTER the Annual General Meeting on March 10, the National Physical Laboratory was visited by about eighty members of the Institute, special exhibits having been arranged in the Metallurgical, Aerodynamic, and Engineering Departments. The National Physical Laboratory, which is situated on the borders of Bushy Park, Teddington, was opened just twenty years ago— in 1901— and consisted at first of a few rooms in Bushy House. The Metallurgical Department, for example, started with two rooms in this building. From these very modest beginnings the Laboratory has grown to the present large group of buildings covering 16 acres of ground, exclusive of the Director's Garden, Sports Field, &c. Fig. 1 (Plate I.) is a photograph, taken from an aeroplane, showing the Laboratory buildings in the foreground with Teddington and Kingston in the background.
The Department of Metallurgy and Metallurgical Chemistry is housed in two buildings. The main one consists of a single story wing, containing the Chemistry and Aeronautical Chemistry Divisions, together with a two-story building in which the greater part of the metallurgical work is carried out. On the ground floor are rooms devoted to the preparation of specimens for microscopic examination, and to the examination and photography of the specimens. In addition there are two rooms occupied by workers on optical glass and ceramics, and one for hardness testing apparatus.
The first floor contains the apparatus for taking thermal curves of metals and alloys (the gradient furnace described in the Journal of the Institute being used for this purpose), as well as various furnaces for heat treatments both of specimens for microscopic examination and of tensile test specimens, and also apparatus for measuring physical properties at high temperatures, such as electrical conductivity and magnetic susceptibility. The heart of this building is the potentiometer room, in which the temperature measuring and recording apparatus, including the plotting chronograph, are installed, and from which leads go to the rest of the building. On this floor are also offices, store rooms, and battery room. Adjoining this is a wing containing the workshop and foundry. In the former is housed - in addition to the work-shop tools - an Amster testing machine.
The foundry contains various gas and electric furnaces for metal melting, and two gas-fired recuperative furnaces for use in optical glass research.
The other building belonging to the Metallurgy Department contains an experimental rolling-mill, two power-hammers, and an hydraulic press (Fig. 2, Plate IL). This plant has proved exceedingly useful in the development of light alloys, on which subject a large amount of work has been carried out during the last few years.
In the Engineering Department various testing machines were on view. Of these the most interesting is the large impact machine, which is used, among other things, in testing of railway couplings. In this apparatus the hammer weighs 2 tons and the anvil 5 tons, and it is possible to give a blow having an energy of 5 foot-tons. There is also a 100-ton tensile testing machine, and a smaller one having a maximum load of 10 tons, together with apparatus for testing fatigue ranges of materials. The large 7 ft. by 14 ft. duplex wind tunnel and some of the smaller tunnels in the Aerodynamics Department were also inspected. In these tunnels models of complete aeroplanes and of their parts, or, in some cases, the actual parts themselves, are placed in a current of air, and the various forces on the objects are measured by means of a special balance.
At the end of the visit members were entertained to tea by the courtesy of the Director, Sir Joseph E. Petavel, F.R.S., in the building containing the duplex tunnel.
ALLDAYS & ONIONS LIMITED.
An Allday family was in business as bellows and tool manufacturers in 1780, and an Onions had been in the same trade so far back as 1650. The amalgamation of William Allday with J. C. Onions Ltd. in 1885 set up the present concern. There are three works, viz. the Great Western in Sydenham Road, the Matchless in Fallows Road, and the Waverley in Allan Road. The first deals with general engineering, bellows, blowers, fans, power hammers, drop-stamps, lifting tackle, furnaces, &c. The Matchless Works produce bicycles and motor-cycles. The Waverley Works are devoted to the production of motor-cars, lorries, and other vehicles.
W. & T. AVERY LIMITED.
The Avery business is one of the oldest in the city, and began at Digbeth in 1730 ; its present locale is the famous Soho Works of Boulton, Watt & Murdoch, started by the first named in 1762. The original Avery firm set out primarily as manufacturers of steelyards, and in the course of years all types of weighing instruments, including testing .r and counting machines, have been added to their manufactures. They appear to have been the first to introduce agate bearings. In 1854 new buildings were started ; in 1894 the company became a 'public company under its present title ; in 1896 the Soho Works were acquired. The present works function in a living continuity with the old Soho. Many original workshops are still used : the erecting shop, Boulton's coining mint and strong-room, some workmen's cottages (in one of which William Murdoch dwelt), the old clock, James Watt's office, and some old plant, &c., are still used for various purposes. Growing out of all this is a modern works new and active. The present productions include weighbridges, capable of carrying loads up to 200 tons, automatic grain weighers, all types of ordinary weighing machines, scales, &c., down to finest balances ; testing machines for tension, compression, torsion, and shearing tests ; counting machines ; machines for weight and counting calculations ; machines for the use of inspectors of weights and measures, &c.
BELLISS & MORCOM LIMITED.
This business was established in 1852, and the late George E. Belliss, M.I.Mech.E., was joined in 1884 by the late Alfred Morcom, M.Inst.C.E. Incorporated as a limited company in 1893 when the business was transferred to G. E. Belliss & Co., Ltd., and subsequently became Belliss & Morcom Ltd. in 1899. Among the manufactures are patent forced lubrication quick revolution steam engines for electric lighting, power, and traction ; for mill driving, either direct or by belt or ropes ; for driving mine ventilating fans, pumps, &c. ; also air and gas compressors, pneumatic hose couplings for air services, steam turbines ; condensing plants ; paraffin engines and heavy oil engines (Diesel land type). The system of forced lubrication was originated and fitted by the firm in 1890, since when they have applied it to some 7000 engines of a total of about 2,000,000 h.p. With the development of high-speed engines for various purposes, the system of forced lubrication is adopted all the world over. Numerous inventions have been patented relating to these manufactures.
BIRMINGHAM SMALL ARMS COMPANY, LIMITED.
During the Crimean War of 1854-56 the Government of the day needed to make large calls upon the Birmingham gun trade for the supply of arms, and in order further to increase the supply and to get the advantages of mechanical production the Enfield Works were commissioned, first producing guns in 1858. Mainly as a result of these events the Birmingham gunmakers formed in 1861 the Birmingham Small Arms Company, Limited, for the mechanical production of guns. Many times since have the works been enlarged, and of course enormously so during the recent war. In about 1873 the ammunition works of John Abraham, at Adderley Park, were taken over ; these were held until 1896, when they were disposed of to another company; during those years the B.S.A. Co., Ltd., was known as the Birmingham Small Arms & Metal Co., Ltd.
The Eadie Manufacturing Co., Ltd., of Redditch, was absorbed in 1907, and in 1910 the Daimler Co., Ltd., of Coventry, was brought in.
The manufactures include : Military rifles—The company has produced each type of British service rifle, from the muzzle-loaders of the date of its origin up to to-day's pattern ; also rifles for foreign governments. Sporting and target rifles—Manufacture commenced 1890. Miniature rifles—Started a short time later. Air rifles—About 1905 and later. Lewis machine-gun—Commenced shortly before the war of 1914. Early bicycle and tricycle—Going back to 1880 or little earlier. Cycle fittings generally. Modern bicycles, motor-bicycles, motor-cars, &c. &c.
CADBURY BROTHERS LIMITED.
The history of this company dates back to the eighteen-thirties, when John Cadbury carried on business as a manufacturer of cocoa and chocolate at Bridge Street, Birmingham. In 1861 he transferred it to his sons Richard and George, by whom its modern development was successfully carried out. In 1879 the business was moved to Bournville, then a delightful bit of country some miles outside Birmingham, and which still retains very much of its rural charm although now included in the city. At that time there were only about 230 employees, and the extension of the business is best measured by the fact that there are now upwards of 8000. Visitors were shown such departments as creme-running, marzipan-making, chocolate-covering, chocolate-boxing, wood-box making, printing, and the central power station. As is well known the welfare work at Bournville is in itself a thing of extreme interest, and visitors were shown the recreation grounds, recreation rooms, baths, &c. They also had an opportunity of seeing the picturesque grounds in which the works stand and whose beauty the company has so well retained, to the benefit in mind and body of their workpeople.
EARLE, BOURNE & COMPANY, LIMITED.
This business was established by the late John Earle and George Bourne in the year 1874 at works in New Summer Street, where some 30 people were employed. Seven years later larger works were taken in Hooper Street, Spring Hill, where ultimately about 200 people were employed. The next move (about 1884) was the purchase of works in Heath Street South, which have been continually added to 388 Visits and Excursions at the Birmingham Meeting and now cover an area of approximately five acres, giving employment to over 600 workpeople. The works are modern, the motive power being electricity, and some fifty motors up to 700 h.p. each are installed. The annealing is by means of gas muffles, which are fitted with pyrometers. The laboratory is well arranged, and completely fitted with all the latest mechanical and scientific instruments for the testing of metals and the materials used by the company. The principal manufactures are : cold-rolled brass and copper for use in the electrical, automobile, and engineering industries, &c. ; solid-drawn brass and copper tubes for the locomotive and engineering industries and for general purposes. The works are provided with a canteen, giving accommodation for some 500 people, and on the social side there are recreation rooms, works library, a social club, and sports ground.
ELKINGTON & COMPANY, LIMITED.
The story of the origin of electro-plating, and the consequent foundation of a new and important industry, has been many times told ; but it may not be uninteresting to explain that the late Mr. G. R. Elkington was the original inventor and patentee of the process, and that he obtained his first patent for electro-deposition in the year 1838, this having been preceded by a patent for a gilding process by immersion in the year 1836, followed by sundry improvements in gilding and plating by his cousin and partner, Mr. Henry Elkington ; and these were finally supplemented by a complete process, patented and secured in 1840, by Messrs. G. R. and Henry Elkington. At first the Messrs. Elkington intended to permit the use of their processes to the trade and granted licences, not contemplating becoming manufacturers. This, however, proved unsatisfactory, and ultimately they decided to make electro-plated goods themselves, with the result that they established not only the first business but also the largest in the trade, which position is still maintained by the company. In the machine-shop all sizes of presses and other machinery are engaged in producing articles ranging in size from a tea-strainer to a soup tureen. The plating departments, with their modern appliances, are also of interest. The artistic side of the business is not lost sight of, and in the modelling rooms and silver department numerous artistic pieces were noticed in course of production.
ELLIOTT'S METAL CO., LTD.
The Selly Oak Works were established in 1853 by W. Elliott & Sons, when that firm moved out from the centre of Birmingham, and in 1862 the company was first incorporated. In 1866 the business of Charles Green, original inventor and patentee of solid-drawn tubes, was taken over and included.
The company was re-incorporated in 1874, and there have been other considerable and later extensions and developments. The manufactures include copper and brass plates, sheets, rods, tubes, and wire ; condenser plates and tubes ; and "yellow metal" in all forms. Copper plates for locomotive boilers have engaged the company's particular attention. H.C. copper wire is produced in quantities. The equipment includes oil-firing for boilers, oil muffles, oil furnaces, and other most modern plant.
ALLEN EVERITT & SONS, LIMITED.
This firm are manufacturers of solid-drawn copper and brass tubes for locomotives, surface condensers, steam pipes, and general purposes, also copper and brass plates, sheets, strips, and rods. The company was established in the year 1800, and was incorporated in the year 1890. For many years their works were in Liverpool Street, Birmingham, but in 1893 they removed to their present factory at Smethwick, where they have built up a modern plant for the manufacture of their specialities. The various processes involved in the making of copper tubes, including melting the metal in an electric furnace, piercing the cast billets, drawing down the pierced billets on heavy hydraulic benches, and finishing the tubes on high-speed chain benches, were seen by the visitors, who also saw the special arrangements made for manufacturing condenser tubes to the British Admiralty specifications, including casting the shells, boring and turning same, drawing, finishing, and inspecting the finished tubes. Of Admiralty condenser tubes the company claims to be the largest makers, and their output for and during the war was of the utmost importance. Copper refining, casting billets, rolling condenser plates, copper plates, brass strips, sheets, copper and brass bars, &c., are other operations which were in progress.
KYNOCH LIMITED.
The history of Kynochs dates back to 1851, when it was established by George Kynoch in Water Street. In 1862 buildings were first erected on the present site at Witton for the manufacture of military small arms ammunition. It was reconstructed and extended in 1884, and again in 1897. Later the production of sporting cartridges was taken up and the works developed into the largest private ammunition factory in this country, culminating early in 1918 in an output of 29,750,000 rifle cartridges, 700,000 revolver cartridges, 5,000,000 cartridge clips, and 100,000 18-pounder brass cases per week. In addition to the manufacture of munitions other important allied departments have been developed, including The metal department for the casting and rolling of non-ferrous metals and alloys, and for the manufacture of finished metal articles ; the engineering department for the manufacture of machinery required at the company's different works, and also for general engineering business ; the foundry for the production of iron castings ; the soap and candle department ; the cycle department ; and the printing department. The metal department includes two earlier metal businesses, the Eyre Street Mill of Hadley & Shorthouse (founded 1851) and the Lodge Road Mill. The laboratory deals with the chemical, metallurgical, and physical work necessary for maintaining a high quality of production. To aid the technical staff in their work, an intelligence department exists for abstracting and filing matters of technical interest appearing in scientific journals and periodicals, a resume of which is published weekly in the form of a printed private review.
METROPOLITAN CARRIAGE, WAGON AND FINANCE COMPANY, LIMITED.
Birmingham was one of the first towns in the country to develop the manufacture of railway carriages and wagons, as the industry was taken up about 1838. The Metropolitan Works at Saltley were established by Messrs. J. Wright & Sons. Subsequently the business was sold to the London & North Western Railway Company, who constructed their rolling stock there prior to removing to Wolverton. Out of Wright's Works sprang the present Metropolitan on land adjoining the London & North Western Railway property. The business developed very rapidly, until it became one of the largest firms manufacturing rolling stock and railway carriages and wagons in the British Isles.
In 1902 the company, under the guidance of Mr. F. Dudley Docker, was amalgamated with the Patent Shaft and Axletree Works at Wednesbury, the Oldbury Carriage Works, the Ashbury Carriage Works, and other concerns, while later on Docker Brothers, varnish makers, were linked up with the combination. The works at Saltley cover an area of about 50 acres, and it may be said that the company produces at first hand every article required for the construction of every kind of railway vehicle, from a Royal saloon for an Eastern potentate to a cattle wagon for the Argentine. During the war, a heavy output of Tanks was obtained. The company's workpeople manned, and the company itself equipped, a battery of heavy artillery, which did much valuable work with the Territorials in France.
MUNTZ'S METAL COMPANY, LIMITED.
The works of this company, situated at Smethwick and known as French Walls, were acquired in the year 1842 by Mr. G. F. Muntz, the founder of the firm, for the purpose of manufacturing his patent yellow metal sheathing and rods, which had been produced for some ten years previous to that date at temporary works in South Wales and Birmingham. Since the year 1842 the works have been considerably extended and now cover an area of about 12 acres, and in addition to the manufacture of Muntz's patent yellow metal sheathing and rods, the company is actively engaged in the production of non-ferrous articles referred to below. Sir Gerard A. Muntz, Bart., Past-President of the Institute and Chairman of the Reception Committee for the Birmingham Meeting, a grandson of the founder of the concern, is a member of the Board of Directors. The chief manufactures of the company are as follows: solid-drawn copper and copper-nickel tubes for locomotive boiler and super-heater flue tubes ; solid-drawn copper pipes for all purposes ; solid-drawn brass tubes (in all alloys) for locomotive boilers, marine and land condensers, &c. ; bars, rods, plates, pump rods, bolts and nuts, &c., in Muntz's metal, naval brass, ordinary brass, &c. ; Muntz's yellow metal sheathing (48 in. by 14 in.) and composition nails ; aluminium castings for motor-car work, &c. ; copper locomotive fire-box plates, stay rods (speciality " Nicro "), and copper rods generally ; copper, brass, and bronze sheets and strip, hot-rolled and cold-rolled ; brass, copper, and bronze wire.
SHEFFIELD SMELTING COMPANY, LIMITED.
The exhibition at the Sheffield Smelting Company's Birmingham branch, 191 Warstone Lane, was an interesting illustration of the various stages in the recovery of precious metals from all kinds and conditions of waste materials, ores, &c., there being a complete collection of specimens showing the refining process of gold, silver, and platinum from beginning to end. The refined metal, and the numerous ways in which it is alloyed and prepared to meet the requirements of the manufacturer, were also shown. The smelting and refining exhibit included a series of samples illustrating the process adopted for the recovery, from the fume and smoke produced during smelting operations, of the lead and precious metal contents. The results of the latest electrolytic process for the recovery of silver were also shown. The many ways in which the refined and alloyed metals are prepared to suit the convenience of the manufacturer were shown in a wide range of samples of wires, seamless tubing, stamped and pierced mounts, spoon and fork blanks, and silver sheets of all dimensions, including a piece 70 in. long, 44 in. wide, 0.0625 in. thick, and 1066 ozs. in weight. There was also an exhibit of standard silver specially prepared for spinning, including circles ranging from 0.5 in. diameter to one 44 in. in diameter, 0.048 in. thick, and weighing 470 ozs.
TANGYES LIMITED.
The Cornwall Works were established in 1859 by the five brothers Tangye, natives of Cornwall, who migrated to Birmingham and started business as tool manufacturers on very modest lines, in a room rented at 4s. per week. The first experience the brothers had of the work which was to make the name of Tangye so widely known, was gained at a little engineering works in Birmingham, owned by Mr. Thomas Worsdell, whose father made the first railway coaches for the London & North Western Railway. Later, with the growth of the business, it became necessary to remove to larger premises, and it was then the Cornwall Works were built and equipped. To-day they cover about 30 acres of ground, of which the foundries alone occupy 7 acres, and find employment in normal times for considerably over 2000 workpeople. The manufactures comprise pumps, gas and oil engines, gas plants, steam engines, lifting appliances, &c. &c. Tangyes were the original manufacturers of the Weston differential pulley block. The use of their hydraulic jacks in launching the Great Eastern was an interesting incident in the history of engineering.
HENRY WIGGIN & COMPANY, LIMITED.
The firm of Henry Wiggin & Co., Ltd., was established in Birmingham in 1835, succeeding to the business of Messrs. Evans & Askin in the refining of nickel and cobalt. The manufacture of "nickel-silver" was very early added to the firm's activities, and the business has appreciably developed during recent years in high-class nickel alloys for electrical and general engineering purposes. At the present time, in addition to the refining of nickel and cobalt, there is carried on the regular production of rolled sheets, drawn wires, and cast and turned rods, Re., in upwards of thirty different nickel alloys.
The company also manufactures the various salts of nickel and cobalt, e.g. sulphate, chloride, carbonate, phosphate, &c. ; red lead for glass making ; tin oxide for the enamel trade ; pure nickel laboratory ware ; spoon and fork blanks, &c.. An interesting recent development is the manufacture of compound rolled metals, e.g. copper-on-steel, cupro-nickel-on-steel, nickel-on-steel, &c. The principal works are in Wiggin Street, which include the rolling mill, wire mill, casting shops, and the wet refinery (for the separation of nickel and cobalt and manufacture of salts).
The principal features are the mills, which both include modern plant for the rolling and working of nickel alloys. The rolling mill erected in 1905 now consists of four bays. One of these is the power-house, which contains two heavy compound horizontal steam engines and a Belliss & Morcom engine, direct coupled to a Siemens electric generator, giving 300 kw., three-phase, A.C. These provide power for 16 pairs of rolls and one hot-rolling mill for slabs, also a three-tier rod rolling mill for wire rods, and various slitting and shearing machines. The wire mill covers two floors 100 ft. by 60 ft., connected by an electric lift. It is fitted with a wide range of wire-drawing machinery, and includes a tool shop. The casting shops contain about forty pit furnaces, coke- fired, for crucible melting, and three Brayshaw type gas-fired furnaces. The company's other works are at 55 George Street (offices, laboratory, &c.), and Vittoria Street, Smethwick (ore smelting, &c.).
WOLSELEY MOTORS LIMITED.
Wolseley Motors Limited is one of the pioneer firms in the motor industry. The first Wolseley car was built in 1897, and a Wolseley car won the award for voiturettes in the R.A.C. 1000 Miles Reliability Trials in the year 1900. The present company was founded in 1901 by Messrs. Vickers Limited, who took over the Wolseley cars and established the present works at Adderley Park. Originally the works extended over but a small part of their present area, covering only 4 acres in 1904. By the year 1914 they had grown to 33 acres, but since that time they have been rapidly extended. After the war a large new factory was acquired at Ward End, and the total area is now nearly 100 acres, employing under normal conditions about 8000 to 9000 hands. Three types of Wolseley car have been standardized—small, medium, and large—and the company is now producing high-grade cars in large quantity with very marked success.
There are four foundries— iron, steel, aluminium, and gun-metal and kindred alloys. The first Stock oil-fired steel converter was installed in 1912, thus anticipating present fuel developments by nearly ten years. In the aluminium foundry coke furnaces have been superseded, gas-firing having been used for five or six years. A new forge and stamp department contains six compressed air-power hammers and two steam hammers, ranging from 2 cwt. to 20 cwt. capacity. Material for forging is heated in the usual smith's coke fire hearths, but for repetition forging four large Revergen furnaces have been installed, using town gas fuel and air. Six similar small, furnaces are also used for the stamp battery. The drop-stamps range from 400 to 3000 lb. capacity. The pyrometric control for casting temperatures and heat treatment is very complete. The physical and chemical laboratories are most up to date, and are fully equipped for chemical control and research work.
CITY OF BIRMINGHAM GAS DEPARTMENT.
Members were first of all shown round the physical and mechanical testing department of the laboratory by the engineer-in-charge, Dr. C. M. Walter, afterwards various new methods of dealing with the heat treatment of small articles in quantity in inert gases were explained.
A special furnace exhibited was the gas sealed tubular furnace, which is now being used for hardening and tempering components of various kinds, and such work as needles, springs, fish-hooks, and a variety of other similar classes of work, where it is absolutely essential that the surfaces should be as free from scale as possible. It is quite possible, of course, with this method to obtain results absolutely free from scale and, incidentally, to obtain more uniformly hardened work with an ideal structure. Other apparatus inspected included general metallurgical and testing apparatus, and one of the latest types of photomicrographic apparatus for the rapid production of micrographs. Other interesting methods which were described included recent work on carburizing light steel stampings by means of a coal-gas atmosphere saturated with ammonia, and also special methods of testing carburizing compounds generally, with a view to ascertaining rate of penetration, type of case, and also for testing the suitability of different grades of mild steel for case-hardening purposes. Another interesting exhibit included the Eden-Foster repetitive impact test- ing machine. A description was also given of the latest methods of obtaining, graphically, the freezing points of metals and alloys, and also critical points of steels. The calibration and standardization of thermocouples by potentiometric methods was also demonstrated, and some of the latest forms of optical instruments demonstrated.
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