1930 Institution of Mechanical Engineers: Visits to Works
Note: This is a sub-section of 1930 Institution of Mechanical Engineers
Visits to Works (Excursions) in the Bristol and Gloucester area
Avonside Engine Company
THE AVONSIDE ENGINE COMPANY, FISHPONDS.
Avonside Engine Co
The company was formed in 1837. The works were then situated in Little Avon Street, St. Philips, but in 1905 the present site of seven acres having sidings on the L.M.S. Railway was acquired. The firm build steam-locomotives of all sizes up to about 60 tons' weight, the principal types being industrial engines for home trade and narrow-gauge engines for export. Internal-combustion locomotives, both petrol and heavy-oil engine, are also built for all purposes. The firm in addition undertake a large amount of general engineering and foundry work. The works, which employ about 300 persons, comprise all the departments necessary for the production of complete engines. The shops are well equipped with modern machine-tools and apparatus, amongst which the following may be noted as being of interest: hydraulic flanging press, oxyacetylene cutting machine, and an electric welding plant. Electricity, both a.c. and d.c., is used throughout the works for power and lighting.
Bristol Aeroplane Company
THE BRISTOL AEROPLANE COMPANY, FILTON.
Bristol Aeroplane Co
This was the first company in this country organized to make aircraft under production conditions. Established nearly twenty-one years ago, it is to-day probably the largest concern in the world engaged exclusively in the manufacture of aircraft and air-cooled aero-engines. These two branches of production are carried on in separate establishments situated nearly a mile apart and, with the exception of the administrative offices, each contains its own productive organization. The aircraft factory occupies an area of nearly twelve acres, and during the War as many as fifty machines a week were manufactured. The aircraft now produced are mainly constructed of rolled or drawn steel strip of high tensile strength by which lightness and strengths are combined. The best-known machine produced at the present time is probably the "Bristol Bulldog" single-seater fighter, which has been adopted as standard by the Royal Air Force and several other air forces. The Engine Department has been in existence for the past ten years, during which time it has been constantly developed to meet the increasing demand for aero-engines. The principal product is the "Bristol Jupiter" radial air-cooled engine, which is also manufactured under licence in sixteen other countries.
Bristol Gas Company
THE BRISTOL GAS COMPANY.
Bristol Gas Co
Coal-gas as an illuminant was first introduced into Bristol in 1811 by John Breillat, a dyer in Broadmead, who lighted his own premises, and part of the street in which they were situated, with gas. The first gas company was formed in 1816 with a capital of £5,000. Works were first erected at Temple Back, but they were transferred to Avon Street in 1819. In 1823 a rival company was formed with works at Canons' Marsh for the manufacture of oil-gas. In 1836 powers were obtained to manufacture coal-gas as well, and competition between the rival companies continued until 1853, when the two amalgamated under the name of "The Bristol United Gas Light Company," this being subsequently changed to "The Bristol Gas Company" in 1891. Gas is now manufactured both at Avon Street and Canons' Marsh, and at Stapleton Road Works which were opened in 1879.
At Avon Street the carbonizing plant consists of two benches of horizontal retorts, one bench of inclined retorts, and two sets of hand-operated carburetted water-gas plant.
At Canons' Marsh the carbonizing plant consists of three benches of horizontal retorts and two sets of automatically operated carburetted water-gas plant with self-clinkering generators.
At Stapleton Road Works the carbonizing plant consists of four benches of horizontal retorts and two benches of continuous vertical retorts.
The aggregate capacity of the three works is 20 million cubic feet per day, and the annual production of gas is 4,300 million cubic feet. The total length of mains is 480 miles, and the number of consumers is 97,888.
Bristol Tramways and Carriage Company
THE BRISTOL TRAMWAYS AND CARRIAGE COMPANY.
Bristol Tramways and Carriage Co
Motor Constructional Works, Brislington. — These works have been in existence since 1912 and are equipped to manufacture passenger carrying chassis, primarily for the use of the company. The General Offices form a two-story building situated almost in the centre of the works. The main machine shop has a floor space of 23,470 sq. ft., and an additional 11,787 sq. ft. are occupied by smaller machine shops. The view room is used entirely for the final inspection of finished components before they are placed in stock, and a Buckton testing machine is installed which is used for deflexion tests on road springs in addition to ordinary tensile tests. The various stores have a combined area of 17,598 sq. ft. and are most favourably disposed to minimize transport. The fitting and erecting shops are adjoining and together cover a total area of 28,488 sq. ft. They are well-lighted shops and are equipped with a compressed-air plant for removing all dirt, sand, etc., from inaccessible parts of castings. The works also include a pattern shop, tinsmiths' shop and blacksmiths' shop, a lofty hardening shop containing two coke-heated and three gas-heated furnaces, a sandblasting department, a press-tool shop containing three power presses and a large hydraulic press for fitting solid tyres to commercial vehicles, a tyre department equipped with a Harvey Frost vulcanizing plant and vulcanizing apparatus specially provided to deal with giant pneumatic tyres, and an experimental department. The engine test shop is equipped with three test-beds each fitted with a starting motor and Heenan and Froude hydraulic dynamometer. Provision is made in this department for the examination of each engine after a period of running and testing, and before final testing and passing. A laboratory and galvanizing plant occupy 500 sq. ft. and tests of all oils and lubricants are made.
The works plant is driven by electric motors mounted overhead and situated with a view to the possibility of sectional running. Current at 500 volts d.c. is obtained from the company's power plant at the Counterslip. The monthly consumption averages 43,500 units. The works are equipped with a sprinkler fire-protection equipment and there is a works fire brigade. Heating is by hot- water circulation from a boiler-house sunk 12 feet below works level to facilitate loading of the bunkers. There are four boilers and the approximate length of hot-water piping is 6 miles. Circulation is assisted by an electrically driven pump. A canteen is provided for the workers, who number 500.
Lawrence Hill Repair Works and Depot. — Most of the "Bristol" omnibus services operate from this depot, which has a ground area of thirteen-and-a-half acres. There are three large running sheds capable of accommodating 173 omnibuses and three additional running sheds for garaging the coach fleet of 125 vehicles. The repair shops are equipped for the entire maintenance of the company's fleet of vehicles and include a body-lifting machine and washing plant, both designed and made at the works. The number of persons employed at the depot is approximately 380.
Bristol Waterworks Company
THE BRISTOL WATERWORKS COMPANY.
Bristol Waterworks Co
The Bristol Waterworks Company was incorporated in 1846. Before that date the city was supplied by numerous springs and wells. Since then works have been undertaken from time to time, which give a daily average supply of 16 million gallons to a population of just over 400,000. The extension of the Cheddar works, now in hand, will when completed increase the supply to 19 million gallons per day. The consumption during 1929 was at the rate of 13½ million gallons per day.
The principal sources of supply with the dates of the inception of the various works are:-
1846. — Springs at and near Chewton Mendip, at the foot of the Mendip Hills (14 miles south of Bristol), from whence the water gravitates to the storage reservoirs at Barrow Gurney (6 miles southwest of the city). Springs were also tapped at Barrow Gurney.
1865. — Deep wells sunk in the new red sandstone at Chelvey (9 miles west of Bristol) from which the water is pumped to the filters at Barrow Gurney.
1846-82. — During this period three storage reservoirs of a total capacity of 870 million gallons were constructed at Barrow Gurney.
1882. — Sherborne Spring (13 miles south of Bristol) was tapped and conveyed to the city direct. This water is not filtered.
1889. — The Yeo reservoir of 1,692 million gallons capacity was constructed at Blagdon (12 miles south-west of Bristol); the water from this reservoir is pumped into the Barrow storage reservoirs.
1917. — The works at Cheddar (19 miles south-west of the city) were constructed to provide a supply from the Cheddar Springs just below their point of issue at the foot of the Cheddar Gorge. This water is at present pumped into Yeo reservoir and thence to Barrow.
The supply which is delivered at Barrow from the several sources gravitates after filtration to Bristol, where it is balanced by covered service reservoirs at Bedminster Down and Clifton of a total capacity of 12 million gallons. This zone of supply meets about two-thirds of the total demand, the remaining third being pumped in Bristol to high-level zones, over 90 per cent of which is supplied by the Oakfield Road Pumping Station at Clifton, where plant of a total capacity of 21¾ million gallons per day is installed. This plant comprises two beam-engines and reciprocating pumps each of a capacity of 2¾ million gallons; a triple-expansion engine and reciprocating pump of 5 million gallons; a turbine engine and centrifugal pump of 5¼ million gallons; and two Belliss and Morcom engines and centrifugal pumps each of 3 million gallons. The balance of the high-level supply is served by five district pumping stations to small isolated high-level zones.
Barrow Filters. — The filters — all of the slow sand type — are situated below the storage reservoirs at Barrow. They are twelve in number, of a total area of 9.28 acres; ten are constructed of mass concrete and brickwork, and two (recently completed) of reinforced concrete. The sand is washed by two "Peebles" washers capable of dealing with approximately 3 tons and 10 tons of sand per hour respectively. Leighton Buzzard sand is used in the old filters and Holm sand from the Bristol Channel in the two new filters. The maximum permissible rate of filtration is 2 gallons per square foot per hour.
Yeo Reservoir and Pumping Station. — The Yeo reservoir has a capacity of 1,692 million gallons and an area of 450 acres, with a watershed of 8¼ square miles. In addition to the watershed of the Yeo, the supply is augumented by 27-inch and 21-inch pipe-lines from Rickford and Langford Springs respectively. The puddle trench of the dam is one of the deepest in England and its construction presented great difficulty as it was found necessary to excavate to a depth of 175 feet below the valley bottom before an impervious foundation in the red marl was secured. The greatest depth of water in the reservoir when full is 37 feet.
The pumping plant consists of four 170 h.p. Glenfield and Kennedy compound rotary beam-engines operating ram pumps, each of a capacity of 2,500,000 gallons per day under a static head of 221 feet. Steam is supplied by six Lancashire boilers. The water is pumped through a 30-inch main to the reservoirs at Barrow Gurney, 5 miles distant over a summit of 337 feet O.D. at North Hill.
Cheddar Supply. — The water of the Cheddar Springs is obtained from an intake pond formed on the stream just below the Cliff Hotel, whence it gravitates to the Pumping Station (52 feet O.D.) a mile away. The water is then pumped to the Yeo reservoir 9½ miles distant, through 6 miles of 33-inch pipe and 3 miles of 24-inch pipe, over a summit of 303 feet O.D. at Rowberrow, where it passes through a tunnel 225 yards in length. When the 33-inch main now being laid from Churchill to Barrow is completed the water will normally be pumped direct to Barrow.
The pumping plant consists of three Ruston and Hornsby horizontal cold-starting heavy-oil engines, each operating through Citroen gearing, a five-stage centrifugal pump of a capacity of 2,000,000 gallons per day. The compressed-air starting apparatus, workshop machinery and electric lighting plant are operated by Pelton wheels under the head of the pumping main, a 500,000-gallon service reservoir at Rowberrow providing a reserve for this purpose.
The extension contemplated for developing the Cheddar source to its maximum available yield includes the construction of a storage reservoir of 1,000 million gallons capacity, on the area lying between Cheddar and Axbridge, and eventually an increase in the pumping plant.
Chelvey Pumping Station. — The supply at this pumping station is derived from deep wells in the new red sandstone.
The wells are three in number and 160 feet in depth; two are of circular shape, 14 feet and 7 feet respectively in diameter, and one an oval well 13½ feet by 9 feet, all being connected by headings. From the 7-ft. well an 18-inch bore-hole extends to a total depth of 327 feet below ground level. The engines in use consist of two 160 h.p. Boulton and Watt beam-engines erected in 1890 and one 400 h.p. triple-expansion engine by Messrs. Lilleshall erected in 1924, the former having a capacity of two million gallons each per 24 hours, and the latter four million gallons per 24 hours. The water is pumped through 21-inch and 18-inch mains to the filter beds at Barrow Gurney, from whence it gravitates to the city. Use can also be made as circumstances permit of the new 33-inch Cheddar main, which passes the station.
J. S. Fry and Sons
MESSRS. J. S. FRY AND SONS, SOMERDALE.
J. S. Fry and Sons
Messrs. Fry's new factories are situated at Somerdale, about six miles from the Tramway Centre, Bristol, in the midst of some of the most delightful country in the West of England. The area of the site is about 350 acres, and is skirted on three sides by the River Avon. The development of Somerdale factories and village is remarkable since there are very few cases on record where a firm which has been in existence for 200 years on one site, transfers the whole of its productive and administrative organization to new surroundings and new factories. Until a few years ago about sixteen different factories belonging to the firm were situated within the Bristol city boundary, but since the advent of Somerdale eight of these factories, with their complete organization, have been transferred to the new works, leaving eight still remaining at Bristol. The scheme at Somerdale provides for the whole being transferred from Bristol, and the erection of new factories for the accommodation of the remainder is now proceeding; it is expected that within four years' time all manufacturing and administration will be at Somerdale.
The site comprises playing fields and every modern convenience for securing the comfort of the people employed and the quality of the goods produced. The district is full of archaeological interest, and during the excavations for the roads and factories many interesting relics of Roman occupation were discovered, all of which have been preserved by the firm in a specially erected Museum. The gardens surrounding the factories and the avenues leading to them are a special feature of the Somerdale lay-out, and should be at their best when the Summer Meeting takes place.
There are, at the moment, about 2,000 people actually employed in the various factories at Somerdale, where the firm's plain chocolate and cocoa products are now produced in their entirety. The confectionery products are still manufactured at the Bristol factories, but will be moved to Somerdale on completion of the extensions now in progress.
John Lysaght
MESSRS. JOHN LYSAGHT.
John Lysaght
St. Vincent's Works are situated on the Feeder Canal at St. Philip's Marsh and cover an area of 4½ acres. They are entirely engaged in the manufacture of galvanized plain and corrugated sheets for the export market, and at the present time are turning out from 1,300 to 1,400 tons per week. The works are equipped with modern appliances and most of the drives are actuated by electrical power, direct-current being derived from the Corporation power station in Feeder Road. About 600 men are employed, continuous working being provided by three 8-hour shifts. The output is dispatched to all parts of the world, the chief markets being Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Canada, Brazil and India.
The Constructional Engineering Works are situated at Netham. The output comprises bridge-work, steel buildings, steel roofing, tanks, etc., as well as timber-framed structures. The works consist of a constructional shop, 540 feet by 175 feet, divided into four bays commanded by nine overhead travelling cranes, also smiths', fitters' and carpenters' shops. Power is supplied by the Bristol Corporation at 500 volts d.c., supplemented by a three-phase a.c. supply at 365 volts. There is a private siding with a bridge across the river to the G.W.R. East Depot and a dock for waterborne traffic. This department has recently completed the Temple Meads Goods Station, the largest covered goods station in the world, the renewal of the steelwork supporting the swing bridges at the New Cut, Swansea, and at Sharpness, the latter incorporating a special ball-bearing centre pivot, and the steelwork for Portishead and Swindon power stations.
The Wire Netting Works adjoin the Constructional Engineering Works and include departments for the manufacture of tanks and cisterns, agricultural requisites, hollow-ware and other articles made from sheet iron.
The firm was established in 1857 and owns iron-ore mines, blast- furnaces, rolling mills, and other works in this country and abroad.
Peckett and Sons
MESSRS. PECKETT AND SONS.
Peckett and Sons
The present year marks the fiftieth anniversary of the taking over of these works by the present proprietors in 1880 from their predecessors, the late Messrs. Fox, Walker and Company, who founded the establishment in 1864. The works are situated about 2½ miles from the centre of Bristol and cover an area of approximately five acres. The firm has for a large number of years concentrated attention on the industrial type of locomotive and manufactures a variety of types with cylinders ranging from 5 inches to 18 inches in diameter, and with four or six wheels coupled. All locomotives are made to standard gauges, each engine thus being interchangeable with others of the same class. Flanging of boiler plates, etc., is done by hydraulic machinery at one operation, and riveting is also done by hydraulic pressure. Extensive use is made of pneumatic tools for tapping and screwing 'stay holes and for caulking.
The machine shop is 200 feet long and 70 feet wide and is divided into three bays with galleries extending over the side bays. Energy is supplied by a 300 h.p. compound condensing engine, driving by means of ropes. In close proximity is the boiler shop, 320 feet long and 50 feet wide. Two overhead electric travelling cranes, each of 15 tons' capacity, are employed for moving boilers, etc., from one part of the shop to another. Power is supplied to this department by a vertical compound condensing engine of 150 i.h.p. Compressed air and hydraulic accumulators are freely used throughout the works, and two electric generators are also driven by this engine for supplying power to the two electric travelling cranes, as well as numerous smaller cranes, grinders, etc., situated in various departments, whilst separate vertical engine generates electricity for the arc lamp lighting installation.
Pountney and Co
MESSRS. POUNTNEY AND COMPANY, FISHPONDS.
Pountney and Co
Bristol holds a high position historically in the ceramic art and still maintains that position. The origin of Messrs. Pountney's works can be traced back to the year 1683 when the Temple Pottery was built near the old Temple Church. The business passed through the hands of several proprietors and the name it now bears appeared in the title in 1813. The old premises were sold in 1886 and a new factory acquired at St. Philip's Marsh, where work was carried on for twenty years until an entirely new factory was built on the present site. The operations of manufacture are arranged to follow modern methods of progress through the different departments, which are all on the ground floor. The principal products of the firm are domestic earthenware, sanitary earthenware of high grade, and white glazed wall tiles. All glazes are free from raw lead. Materials are brought from the South of England—china clay and stone from Cornwall and ball clay from Devonshire and Dorsetshire, whilst flint is received from France in the form of boulders. All the glazes and some of the colours are made on the premises from the firm's recipes.
Strachan and Henshaw
MESSRS. STRACHAN AND HENSHAW.
Strachan and Henshaw
The firm was established in 1879 and specializes in the manufacture of paper-bag making and bag-printing machinery, electric telpherage conveying plants for transporting coal, coke or merchandise, screening plants, truck tippers, skip hoists, etc. The works were moved from Lewin's Mead in the city to the present site in 1905 and the shops now occupy an area of 300 by 160 feet. The old shop at Lewin's Mead is now used for repairs.
Christopher Thomas and Brothers, Soap Works
MESSRS. CHRISTOPHER THOMAS AND BROTHERS, BROAD PLAIN SOAP WORKS
Christopher Thomas and Brothers
It is almost certain that soap was first made in this country in Bristol and it seems evident that the Bristol soap-makers of early days realized the value of olive oil as a soap-making material. The action of Charles I, who granted a monopoly in soap-making to a number of courtiers and Londoners, practically ruined the soap trade in Bristol, and it was not until 1745 that its development was continued. It was about this time that the firm had its beginnings, and it still has in its possession at Broad Plain copies of partnership accounts dated 1771 and 1787. Many changes of style have occurred since then and it was in 1841, when the amalgamation of Messrs. Fripps and Messrs. Thomas Thomas and Sons took place, that the works were established on the present site.
The nature of raw materials used and the type of soap produced have undergone considerable change during the past half-century, although the methods of manufacture have changed but little except in the better design of factories and the introduction of scientific control. The firm commenced the manufacture of vegetable-oil soaps in place of the older tallow soaps in 1898, and made their own contribution to the progress of soap-making by the inclusion of olive oil.
The neutralization of an oil or fat (a glyceride of mixed fatty acids) by means of caustic soda yields soap and glycerol. The soap when formed is dissolved in the glycerine solution, and is precipitated by means of common salt, since soaps are not soluble in salt solution. The solution of salt and glycerine is separated from the soap and after purification and concentration the glycerine and salt are recovered. The latter is used again, whilst the former forms a by-product of increasing importance. The Broad Plain works have also long been associated with the edible trade, and in an up-to-date self-contained factory vegetable butters are manufactured.
The social side of the factory is under the charge of a Social Council and outdoor games and concerts and dances are organized by the employees.
W D and H O Wills
MESSRS. W. D. AND H. O. WILLS (BRANCH OF THE IMPERIAL TOBACCO COMPANY).
W. D. and H. O. Wills
Bristol has always played an important part in the development of the tobacco industry and it is now the headquarters of the combine known as the Imperial Tobacco Company (of Great Britain and Ireland), of which the firm of Messrs. W. D. and H. O. Wills is one of the four branches in Bristol, and the most important branch of the company. The first mention of the name of Wills in connexion with the tobacco trade in Bristol is in a notice in a local paper of 1789 which stated that the firm of Wills, Watkins. and Company was dissolved so far as Samuel Watkins was concerned and would be known in future as Wills and Co. The Wills referred to was Mr. H. O. Wills, who came to Bristol from Salisbury and founded the firm sometime between 1786 and 1788. The name of the firm was constantly changed during the following century as new partners joined and left it or as it incorporated other concerns. Its most important amalgamation was with the firm of Ricketts in 1833, a firm whose predecessors dated back to 1730. The formation of the Imperial Tobacco Company took place in 1901.
The factories of Messrs. W. D. and H. O. Wills are models of modern hygiene and the comfort of the employees is studied in every possible way. Each factory has its dining rooms, dental treatment is provided free, rest-rooms and nursing services are available, all kinds of welfare work have been adopted, and the company have provided one of the finest athletic grounds in the country.
The tobacco leaf is brought into the factory in hogsheads where it is unpacked, weighed, and sorted for quality. It is then put through a steaming machine for softening, and after the stems have been removed is sent to the cutting room. It is then opened out on wooden trays to cool, and stored away. From the storeroom quantities of tobacco are sent on trolleys to the packing-room as required, and there the tobacco is weighed and packed ready for dispatch to the retailers.
The production of roll tobacco is dealt with in a spinning department, where suitable tobacco leaves are spun into twist. The tobacco is later made into rolls of different weights, which are placed in hydraulic cool presses, and after a few days are transferred to hot-plate presses. After this process they are again placed under pressure until required for dispatch.
From a spectacular point of view cigarette-making is the most interesting department. Here there is a whole battery of machines which receive tobacco at one end and deliver the complete cigarette at the rate of hundreds a minute at the other. As they fall out of the machines the cigarettes are taken to the packing machines. The cigarettes are automatically counted and placed in their packets and a picture card is inserted, all by machinery.
Cigar-making may also be seen. It is a skilled handicraft, the inner or "filler" portion of the cigar being wrapped in a specially selected and cut leaf by hand. The completed cigars are sorted for colour and stored to mature, often for several years.
Port of Bristol Authority
THE PORT OF BRISTOL AUTHORITY.
Port of Bristol
The Port of Bristol, which includes the City Docks and the larger rivermouth docks at Avonmouth and Portishead, has a history extending back over two thousand years to the days of the Phoenician traders. The first engineering works were undertaken between 1239 and 1247 when the St. Augustine Trench was constructed by the diversion of the River Frome, which made a deep-water channel for ships and a quay at which they could lie. For centuries vessels were discharged and loaded at landing places along the banks of the tidal River Avon which flowed through the heart of the city. In 1809 a new course for the river was formed and the old waterway for a length of two-and-a-half miles was converted into a floating harbour, now known as the City Docks.
In 1877 the Avonmouth Dock (the first rivermouth dock) was constructed, and in 1879 the Portishead Dock on the opposite bank of the mouth of the river was opened. Both these docks were acquired by the City Corporation in 1884, and since that date the whole of the docks system of the Port has been owned and controlled by the Corporation of Bristol. The following are the dimensions of the various docks
| Royal | Avon- | City | Portishead | |
| Edward | mouth | Docks. | Dock. | |
| Dock | Dock | |||
| Depth of water on sill: | ||||
| H.W.O. spring tides, feet | 46 | 38 | 33 | 34 |
| H.W.O. neap tides, feet | 36 | 28 | 23 | 24 |
| Length of lock, feet . . . | 875 | 454 | 350 | 472 |
| Width of lock, „ . . . | 100 | 70 | 62 | 66 |
| Length of dock, „ . . . | 3,572 | 2,180 | - | 1,800 |
| Width of dock, „ . . . | 1,000 | 500 | - | 360 |
| Length of wharfage, feet . . . | 8,367 | 4,800 | 14,694 | 2,829 |
| Area of Dock Estate: | ||||
| Water Area, acres . . . . | 62 | 19 | 83 | 12 |
| Land Area, „ . . . | 747 | 95 | 86 | 64 |
| Total Area, „ . . . | 809 | 114 | 169 | 76 |
The Royal Edward Dock, Avonmouth, the most modern dock in the Port, was constructed by Messrs. John Aird and Company and opened by King Edward VII in 1908. It is connected with the Avonmouth Dock by a junction cut 85 feet wide. Both docks are equipped with extensive shed and warehouse accommodation for import and export traffic, and there are five large granaries (connected by travelling bands with discharging berths) capable of storing 360,000 quarters of grain; floating and shore grain elevators (pneumatic and bucket); a cold store connected with the quayside by escalator galleries; transit sheds, warehouses, timber sheds and storage ground; electric elevators for discharging bananas; electric, hydraulic, and steam cranes, and a large floating crane, etc. All sheds, warehouses, and tenants' premises are rail-connected. A railway station at the South Pier is equipped with every facility for ocean passengers and mails. A number of the large oil corporations have tank storage installations on the dock estate directly connected by pumping lines with the oil discharging berths. The installations cover an area of 80 acres and contain tanks of a capacity exceeding 80 million gallons. A graving dock of the same dimensions as the lock is entered from the Royal Edward Dock.
In 1928 H.R.H. the Prince of Wales opened the Eastern Arm extension of the Royal Edward Dock, constructed at a cost of nearly 1½ millions sterling. This arm, approximately 1,800 feet long and 400 feet wide, provides three deep-water berths on each side having a total length of quay of 3,600 feet and a water area of 21 acres. The wharves on each side of this extension are constructed wholly of reinforced concrete supported on reinforced concrete piles. The eastern side of the area is equipped with two treble-floor sheds, each 500 feet long and 150 feet wide built of ferro-concrete and equipped with large-radius cranes on the water side, and smaller cranes at the rear for assisting delivery of traffic to rail or road vehicles. Electric lifts, chutes, etc., further facilitate the handling.
A special feature of the Eastern Arm is the grain-handling system. It consists of a grain gallery equipped with travelling bands, which forms a direct connexion between floating and shore elevators engaged in discharging vessels, and the Transit Granary and Royal Edward Storage Granaries. The shore elevators traverse the whole length of the quay.
The City Docks are situated 7 miles up the River Avon in the heart of the city and are mainly used for Continental and coastwise traffic. Alongside the docks are public quays, transit and other sheds, a granary, tobacco warehouses, and many private wharves, factories, and timber yards.
Portishead Dock is equipped with a granary and sheds for grain storage, and a special wharf, sheds and stacking ground for timber.
In 1884 the tonnage of vessels entering the Port of Bristol was 1,244,537 tons; in 1908 it was 2,058,039 tons; and last year it had increased to 3,429,803 tons.
The docks are administered by a Committee of the Corporation under the style of the Port of Bristol Authority, of which Alderman Edward M. Dyer, J.P., is the Chairman, and Mr. Thomas A. Peace is the General Manager and Chief Engineer.
ENGINEERING DEPARTMENT.
Of special interest to mechanical engineers is the grab dredger "Clifton" which is fitted with what might be termed "water moorings," i.e. jets at bow and stern to hold the dredger up to her work and thus to avoid chain or wire moorings across the dock which would interfere with navigation. In addition to large and small bucket dredgers, the Port Authority has the two modern craft described below:—
(1) The Suction Dredger "Severn." — This vessel is a stern well, steel, twin-screw hopper dredger, delivered early in 1920. Her dimensions are: length, 200 feet; beam, 37 feet; depth, 17 feet. She is capable of dredging to a depth of 57 feet, and carries 1,100 tons on a 13 ft. 6 in. main draught. The vessel primarily works in the entrance to the Royal Edward and Portishead Docks and has a depositing ground near at hand, dredging from four to five loads per tide, depending upon the tides. The dredger is fitted with compound propelling engines, and has a similar type of engine coupled to the dredging pump. The craft loads at the approximate rate of 100 tons per minute and discharges at the same rate by means of the pump. The vessel is not fitted with hopper doors for discharging.
(2) Grab Dredger "Clifton." — This vessel is a single-screw grab hopper dredger, built in 1925. Her dimensions are: length, 175 feet; beam, 32 feet; depth, 14 feet. She has single-screw triple-expansion engines, with a carrying capacity of 720 tons on a 11 ft. 10½ in. draught. The vessel is fitted with three grabbing cranes with separate hoisting and slewing engines. The forward crane dredges around either side of the bow, and the other two cranes are fitted on either side, amidships. The grab buckets are of 80 cu. ft. capacity level, or 100 cu. ft. heaped up; the average time taken to load 720 tons is two hours from a depth of 35 feet. The cranes are designed for dredging below this depth if necessary. To avoid outboard moorings when clearing along the quay walls, the vessel is equipped with a pump designed to give 17,000 gallons capacity per minute output against a 15-ft. head, the discharge being regulated by means of a push-button controlled motor operating 18-inch sluices fixed one on either bow and one on either quarter.
Hydro Thermal Power
MESSRS. HYDRO THERMAL POWER, AVONMOUTH DEMONSTRATION PLANT.
Hydro Thermal Power Co
Messrs. Hydro Thermal Power have, through the courtesy of the Port of Bristol Authority, erected at Avonmouth Docks a demonstration plant showing the application of their system of obtaining a continuous supply of electricity from the intermittent power of the tides. The system is that invented by Mr. Paul Shishkoff and covered by the Shishkoff-Hallewell patents, which the company have acquired. Briefly the procedure is to utilize a part of the available hydraulic power for direct generation of electricity, to convert the balance into hot water under pressure by means of a specially designed friction brake of the Heenan and Froude dynamometer type, and to store the hot water in a Ruths steam-accumulator from which it is drawn when no hydraulic power is available (i.e. between tides) for use in a falling-pressure steam-turbine. At the time of change-over the two machines are run in parallel and thus a continuous supply of electricity is provided.
Each hydro-electric generating unit consists of a standard water-turbine coupled to an electric generator and also on the same shaft to a water brake similar to the type which has been used extensively and proved satisfactory for the testing of large engines. The water brake is to be used in conjunction with a thermal storage vessel as described below. When the water-power available exceeds the electric power demanded by consumers the surplus is absorbed by the brake, the latter being arranged to operate as the turbine governor in such a manner that as the load on the electrical generator falls off the quantity of water admitted to the brake is increased, thereby increasing the load thereon, the speed of the water-turbine being automatically controlled, thus permitting the use of alternating-current generators. This system of governing also permits of the use of simple propeller type water-turbines without the necessity for the usual complicated governor gear, and thus considerably reduces the cost of the hydro-electric generating sets. The water in the brake is heated by the churning action within the brake and absorbs the power. A novel feature of the system is to regulate the flow of water to the brake so that the surplus energy absorbed by the brake will be sufficient to raise the water to a temperature of 390° F. corresponding to a steam pressure of 200 lb. per sq. in. gauge. Owing to the pressure regulation system, however, the water in the brake remains water, and is withdrawn from the brake at this high temperature and stored in the "steam-accumulator."
When the electric power demanded by consumers exceeds that which can be directly supplied from the available water-power, due to the peak load exceeding the average flow, or, in the case of tidal power, to the conditions of water level, the reserve of energy stored in the steam-accumulator is called into action. By allowing the pressure in the accumulator gradually to fall, a part of the water is converted into steam, the heat necessary to produce vaporization being given out by the remaining water which is slightly reduced in temperature. This is the principle of the falling pressure accumulator, of which a very large number have already been in operation for years. The steam so obtained is used for driving ordinary steam turbo-generator sets designed to work under varying pressure. The hydraulic turbine is designed to operate over heads varying from 10 to 30 ft at a constant speed of 500 r.p.m.
The unit is intended to reproduce on a small scale, all the features required for a large installation and to provide data from which the efficiency and economic factors of large installations can be calculated. The plant is designed to operate on a 50 per cent load factor with a peak of 32 kw. and to demonstrate that a typical power station daily load curve can be produced irrespective of the daily variations of the tides.
Sewage Pumping Station, Bath
BATH CORPORATION SEWAGE PUMPING STATION, TWERTON.
The pumping plant at this station was installed three years ago by the Pulsometer Engineering Company in a portion of the old buildings which have been adapted as a modern pumping station. There are four Stereophagus pumps, each capable of delivering 80,000 gallons an hour, while a fifth pump of smaller capacity is installed to deal with night flow in times of dry weather. The whole of the plant is electrically driven and is equipped with automatic float control which up to the present has given entire satisfaction. The total amount of sewage pumped during the last financial year was approximately 1,800,000,000 gallons at a cost of 26s. per million gallons.
Sewage Disposal Works, Bath
BATH CORPORATION SEWAGE DISPOSAL WORKS, SALTFORD.
These works were constructed and opened in 1914 and are of interest on account of two processes in use. One is the method of sludge disposal by what is known as the double-stage digestion process in which Stereophagus pumps are used. This installation has proved a great success. The other process is the purification of sewage by the use of free chlorine for the treatment of tank effluent to prevent aerial nuisances from the sprinkler filters.
Stothert and Pitt
MESSRS. STOTHERT AND PITT, BATH.
Stothert and Pitt
The company commenced operations in the early part of the last century, and in the year 1883 was converted into a limited liability company. The works have from time to time been extended and now consist of the principal or Newark Works, and the branch or Victoria Works, both situated on the Lower Bristol Road. Both works are on the riverside, and the Victoria Works are connected by a siding with the London Midland and Scottish Railway. The Newark Works contain the main offices, machine shops, erecting shops, stores, foundries, pattern shop, smiths' shop, tool room, electrical fittings department, power house, and a yard for the erection of finished work. During the War, a large shop was built at the west of the yard for munition work. This shop is now used as a fitting shop for cranes, conveyers, and patent rotary pumps, the last two having now become a very important part of the firm's productions.
The Victoria Works comprise a large structural shop, stockyard, fitting shops, stores, power house, erecting shops and yards for erecting finished work. The design and manufacture of concrete mixers and modern road-making machinery is an important branch of the firm's productions at the Victoria Works.
The main offices form a modern building and include on the second floor a well-lighted drawing office, 54 by 45 feet, for the cranes and mixer departments. The upper floor contains a modern photographic department.
The first heavy machine shop on the right of the entrance has a floor area of 150 by 48 feet, with upper galleries for small tools and electrical fitting work. The second heavy machine shop is 160 by 52 feet with an upper floor at the east end for light machines. A third machine shop at the east end of the works adjoining the smiths' shop is approximately 165 feet by 49 feet. In the first machine shop some very large tools are employed; whilst the upper floor of the second machine shop contains several special tools, including those for cutting the rotors of the firm's rotary pumps, and a special tool for turning, boring and facing conveyer idlers. Electric overhead travellers serve the machine shops.
The centre block between the second and third machine shops is occupied by tool rooms, stores and works management offices. The firm make their own milling cutters, double helical gear-cutters, broaches and gauges.
The structural shop at the Victoria Works has a floor area of approximately 270 by 110 feet in two spans, and is surrounded by a stockyard with steam-derricks fixed at suitable points, the largest lifting 15 tons with a jib 110 feet long. The fitting shop is 24 feet by 50 feet wide and a 60-ft. extension on the river end is now in progress. An erecting yard, served by a 21-ton steam-crane mounted on a travelling gantry 40 feet high and several small runabout cranes, lies between the two shops.
Considerable alterations and extensions to the works are now being carried out. The foundry is being moved from the Newark to the Victoria Works, and the old foundry building is being converted into a fitting shop. A new high erecting shop is in course of construction, about 80 feet to the ridge of the roof, and 170 feet long by 65 feet wide. The building is to be fitted with sliding doors 50 feet high along one side, so as to enable dockside cranes to be completely erected under cover and pushed out into the yard for test. This will add a shop area of 21,000 sq. ft. to the Newark Works.
Westinghouse Brake and Saxby Signal Co, Chippenham
THE WESTINGHOUSE BRAKE AND SAXBY SIGNAL COMPANY, CHIPPENHAM.
Westinghouse Brake and Saxby Signal Co
The factory stands on an area of ten acres adjoining the Great Western Railway. The original shops were built by Messrs. Evans, O'Donnell and Company in 1895. In 1903 Messrs. Saxby and Farmer acquired the factory and removed their works from Kilburn, London, to Chippenham. In 1920 this firm amalgamated with the Westinghouse Brake Company of London, and Messrs. McKenzie and Holland of Worcester, the latter removing their works from Worcester to Chippenham. Advantage was taken of this amalgamation to reorganize, extend, and re-equip the buildings, which are, therefore, up-to-date as regards plant and equipment.
The following are the chief departments: foundries, iron and non-ferrous, with pattern shop, and stores, etc., 52,000 sq. ft.; smithy and drop forging, 18,000 sq. ft.; machine shop, 39,000 sq. ft.; fitting shop, 21,000 sq. ft.; instrument shop, 15,000 sq. ft; rectifier shop, 15,000 sq. ft.; woodworking shop, 14,000 sq. ft.; iron signal shop, 13,500 sq. ft. In addition there are smaller departments such as the bakelite moulding and electro-plating departments, sheet metal and tinsmiths' shops, test rooms, packing sheds, stores, etc.
The products consist of a large variety of articles used in railway signalling, both manual and power operated, together with electrical instruments, air-compressors and air-brakes, vacuum brakes, automobile vacuum servo brakes, metal rectifiers in many sizes, interlocking frames, single-line token instruments, colliery decking plant, etc. The various departments are motor driven, the current being obtained through the Western Electric Supply Company from the Bath Corporation Station, the current being transformed from 11,000 volts, 50 cycles, three-phase to 400 volts at the factory substation. Approximately 1,300 people are employed.
Bath and Portland Stone Firms
THE BATH AND PORTLAND STONE FIRMS, MONKS PARK QUARRIES, CORSHAM.
Bath and Portland Stone Firms
Bath stone was used by the Romans for the construction of the massive buildings at the hot mineral springs in Bath which are still in good preservation after 2,000 years, and at Box, about three miles from Monks Park, the Saxons excavated large quantities for the erection of Malmesbury Abbey and other monastic buildings. The Monks Park stone mines are situated about eight miles from Bath and are in the principal area from which the Oolite or "Bath stone" is quarried.
The mine is reached by a slope shaft, 1 in 2, about 90 feet below the surface of the ground. Unlike the coal-miner, who under-cuts his coal which may fall and break, the freestone quarryman must commence operations at the roof of the stone. This "picking" operation is effected by means of long-handled picks, and the men make their "driving" a distance of 6 or 7 feet into the rock. The width or span of the workings must of course depend on the soundness of the rock, but at Monks Park they can be driven a width of 25 to 30 feet without danger. The removal of 8 or 9 inches of the rock immediately under the ceiling deprives the strata above of the support of this area of stone as effectually as its removal throughout from roof to floor would do, but any tendency to settle or drop is at once detected and any risk to life thus guarded against.
The next process is the cutting of the rock into blocks of random dimensions, and for this a one-handled saw is used. These saws are worked in lengths of 4, 5, 6 and 7 feet, and are made broad and deep at the head or extreme point, so as to ensure the saw sinking to its work at that point. When the rock is opened down to the next natural parting and the block thus separated from the parent rock, levers are introduced into the bed or parting at the bottom and are weighted and shaken till the block is forcibly detached at the back. It is then drawn out and the broken end and beds are dressed with the axe so as to make the block shapely: it is then placed upon a trolley, pulled up the shaft and taken to the loading wharf. After the first block has been removed the workmen have access by that opening to the back of the bank of stone, and they avail themselves of this to work the saw transversely, which renders all further breaking off unnecessary.
The extent of the workings in the mines of this company is about 60 miles. The ceilings are 12 to 15 feet high and there is no inconvenience whatever in traversing the roadways as the air is good.
John B. Champion and Sons, Dursley
MESSRS. JOHN B. CHAMPION AND SONS, DURSLEY.
John B. Champion and Sons
The firm has been established for over 100 years. The works are devoted principally to the production of reversible wool carpets and rugs and were re-equipped with modern plant about six years ago.
Hunt and Winterbotham
MESSRS. HUNT AND WINTERBOTHAM, CAM MILLS NEAR DURSLEY.
Hunt and Winterbotham
Cloth-making at Cam Mills dates back to the year 1532 and the earliest title-deeds in the possession of the firm bear the date 1687. The works are devoted to the manufacture of fine West of England cloths of various qualities, such as billiard and scarlet cloths, white flannels and dress coatings. The different processes in the manufacture of cloth are as follows: sorting raw fleece into various qualities and blending; scouring, which frees the wool from grease and dirt, followed by carbonizing to remove all traces of burr and other vegetable impurities; after teazing the wool is ready for the carding process, whence it is wound on to spools ready for spinning either on a mule or on a spinning frame.
In the next process the yarn is warped and prepared for weaving in the loom. The weft is wound on to special bobbins, all faulty yarn being removed in the process. In the weaving shed the Northrop looms are of special interest in that they are entirely automatic. If a weft or warp-end breaks the loom stops; and just before the weft in a shuttle is exhausted, the shuttle is automatically changed for a full one without the machine stopping. After the cloth is mended and repaired it is ready for various finishing processes, the nature of which depend on the quality of the cloth. The principal processes are: scouring, in which the cloth is cleaned in washing machines; felting, which, when required, is carried out by passing the cloth through continuous fullers; dyeing; a process by which the surface of the cloth is raised by natural teazels and the "cover" cut in shearing machines, whereby all long hairs are removed; and steaming and pressing which is the final process before the goods are sent to the warehouse.
The power plant of the mills consists of three 8-ft. Lancashire boilers, an air-heater in the flues of which supplies sufficient hot air for the wool-drying machinery. A large proportion, amounting to about 400 kw., of the electrical power required is supplied from generators driven by pass-out engines exhausting steam at 10 to 20 lb. per sq. in. for use in the various drying and heating processes. Steam for process work, power, and heating passes round a closed circuit, returning as hot water to the boiler feed-pumps.
R. A. Lister and Co
MESSRS. R. A. LISTER AND COMPANY, DURSLEY.
R. A. Lister and Co
The firm was founded in 1867 on the site occupied by the present Lister cream separator factory and is engaged in the manufacture of appliances for agricultural and industrial purposes. The most important products of the firm are petrol-driven trucks of one-ton capacity embodying a patent turntable which enables the vehicle to be completely reversed by swinging the steering unit through half a circle; tractors of hauling capacity up to 24 tons, built specially for operation on narrow-gauge rails; petrol engines of 11 to 20 h.p.; cold-starting solid-injection Diesel engines including the smallest type of vertical Diesel engine in the world, of 5 b.h.p.; electric-light plants of 500 watts to 27 kw. capacity; and hand, power and electric cream separators. A recreation and social club is run in connexion with the firm of which the employee-members are shareholders. The club has excellent headquarters with a hall having a seating accommodation of 900, and playing fields covering nearly twenty acres. About 2,000 people are employed at Dursley and elsewhere by the firm.
Fielding and Platt
MESSRS. FIELDING AND PLATT, GLOUCESTER.
Fielding and Platt
The first machine to which hydraulic pressure was applied was a riveter, and gradually other hydraulic machine-tools were evolved for plate-flanging, bending, stamping, punching, shearing, etc.
Messrs. Fielding and Platt were pioneers in their manufacture and built the largest riveter in the world in 1925, this machine having a gap of 26 feet and a capacity of 125 tons pressure on the rivet. In 1890 the firm commenced the manufacture of gas-engines and in 1914 produced an internal-combustion engine for working with crude oil. This branch of the business is now regularly dealing with an output of 15,000 horse-power per annum. The normal number of employees is 600.
Gloster Aircraft Company
THE GLOSTER AIRCRAFT COMPANY, HUCCLECOTE.
Gloster Aircraft Co
This company were the pioneers of steel wing construction for aircraft in England. Their experience, combined with that of their subsidiary, the Steel Wing Company, dates back to 1915 when their first efforts in the construction of wings from corrugated metal strip were made. To-day more metal wings are being manufactured in the Gloucester works than in any other factory in the country. No less than 200 sets were produced in 1929. The Gloster Company have only recently transferred their works to the new factory at Hucclecote, which has been laid out on modern lines for the economic production of aircraft in metal. The workshops and buildings cover 400,000 sq. ft. while an aerodrome of 150 acres is attached.
The company has produced many notable machines which have been supplied in quantity to the Royal Air Force, e.g. "Grebe," "Gamecock," etc. Recently the company produced the first machine to be specifically designed and built for aerial survey work. It is now being used for a large air survey contract in Rhodesia. The company has also won fame for its production of high-speed machines for the Schneider Trophy and other races, the latest of which was the "Gloster VI," which established a world's record of 336.3 m.p.h. on 10th September 1929.
Gloucester Electricity Works
GLOUCESTER CORPORATION ELECTRICITY WORKS.
Gloucester Electricity Works
The Gloucester Corporation Electricity Undertaking was established in 1899, using the three-wire low-tension direct-current system of distribution, the late Mr. Robert Hammond, a Member of the Institution, acting as consulting engineer. The original generating plant consisted of two small reciprocating sets and subsequent additions of similar type and larger size, and later of steam-turbine driven plant, increased its capacity to 6,200 kw. The limitations of the site rendered further extension impracticable and a contract was concluded in 1928 for the purchase in bulk of additional requirements from the West Gloucestershire Power Company. This supply is delivered at 33,000 volts and the switch-house and main substation for its control and transformation to 11,000 volts adjoin the generating station. The step-down substation contains two 3,000 kw. transformers with space for a third and 33,000 volt switch-gear for three transformers.
An 11,000 volt ironclad switchboard controls and distributes the general supply, in part through a system of high-tension cables to seventeen substations serving an area of about 60 square miles, and in part through motor-generators to the network in the more central portions of the city, supplementing the power produced by the Gloucester Electricity Generating Station. The suburban substations are of three types containing high- and low-tension switch-gear and one or more transformers, and may be considered good examples of such structures.
Gloucester Railway Carriage and Wagon Company
THE GLOUCESTER RAILWAY CARRIAGE AND WAGON COMPANY, GLOUCESTER.
Gloucester Railway Carriage and Wagon Co
The company was formed in 1860 for the purpose of building railway coal wagons, and originally occupied only five acres of land rented from the Gloucester Corporation. On this ground shops were erected which covered about an acre, and these sufficed for the business of the company until 1877 when the first addition was made. The present works cover thirty-two acres and are devoted to the manufacture of railway stock for home and abroad. Dining and sleeping saloons built of steel or timber are manufactured, as well as steel and wood wagons, pressed-steel bogies and under-frames, pressed-steel goods wagons of high capacity, wheels and axles and heavy forgings of every description. The company controls a modern foundry for the production of malleable iron and grey iron castings, wrought-iron pulleys, and conveyer drums. The works are situated on the Gloucester and Berkeley Ship Canal and have direct access to the sea.
The carriage shops cover a large area, and are capable of constructing carriages 80 feet long. A special section is allotted to pressed-steel work. This is fitted with hydraulic plant suitable for the manufacture of pressed-steel under-frames up to 50 feet in length, pressed-steel bogies, doors, sides of wagons, and parts for steel coaches. The company also has extensive saw-mills, and converts a large quantity of the timber used direct from the log.
The erecting shop is 69,200 sq. ft. in area, and is served by four electric overhead travelling cranes, two of 10 tons', one of 8 tons' and one of 5 tons' capacity. It also contains eleven swinging, counterbalanced, beam cranes carrying hydraulic riveters of various sizes up to 8-ft. gap, machines for roofs, etc., the work being moved into the radius of such cranes on special roller-bearing trestles. The machine-shop covers an area of 48,100 sq. ft. and is served in the portion where the heavier articles are machined by a 3-ton overhead electric travelling crane. There are some 120 machines in the main portion, consisting of up-to-date turret lathes for buffer work, etc., radial, fixed-head and gang drilling machines, also milling, straightening, screwing, broaching, punching and shearing, planing, grinding, key-seating and slotting machines driven by forty-two electric motors totalling 752 h.p.
The coach-body paint shop is approximately 13,800 sq. ft. in area, and is steam-heated to keep an even temperature during cold weather. The body shop covers an area of 37,800 sq. ft. and contains twelve roads, each 160 feet long, for the accommodation of coaches under construction.
The woodworking mill is 38,250 sq. ft. in area, and contains sixty-eight machines of the usual types. Each machine is connected to a dust-collecting plant which deposits the dust and chippings in the boiler-house some 400 yards away. The machines are driven by fifty-nine electric motors of a total of 526 h.p. The log-converting mill has an area of 10,800 sq. ft. and is served by an electric overhead travelling crane of 5 tons' capacity. It contains two large "Ransome" band saw-mills, one horizontal and one vertical, together with eight rack, cross-cut, and circular saws driven by electric motors totalling 265 h.p. These machines are connected to an overhead system of dust-exhaust piping.
W. Sisson and Co
MESSRS. W. SISSON AND COMPANY, GLOUCESTER.
W. Sisson and Co
These works are situated about two miles from Gloucester near the main Gloucester and London Road and adjoining the L.M.S. Railway, Derby and Bristol line, and were established in 1904, when the firm was incorporated as a limited liability company to take over the private company of the same name with works in Gloucester near the river and docks. The present establishment covers an area of over three acres and the buildings consist of five bays, each about 170 feet long by 30 feet wide, and a foundry for iron and brass, a mess-room for employees, garage and pattern stores. The five main bays have roofs of weaving shed type, the stores, tool room and lavatories are on the ground floor of the first bay, and the whole of the offices, drawing office and pattern shop are on the first floor. The second and third bays contain the machine-tools. The fourth and fifth are used for assembling and erecting engines and machinery. The test department for steam-engines is at the end of the fourth bay adjoining the boiler-house and is equipped with surface condensing plant, Froude dynamometer and absorption appliances for steam consumption, brake horse-power and electrical tests respectively. All the bays except the first have travelling cranes and electric pulley-blocks. All machining is done under the Newall limit-gauge system and all parts pass through the inspection department on their way to assembly and erection.
The productions include: vertical high-speed enclosed self-lubricated steam-engines in sizes from a 2-inch stroke single-cylinder splash-lubricated engine to a 12-inch stroke double-cylinder forced- lubrication engine of the partially superposed cylinder type; enclosed self-lubricated twin-cylinder reversible steam-engines, completely dust-tight, for hoists and other similar purposes; marine type, open, compound and triple-expansion engines, both fixed direction and reversible, for use requiring heavy duty and high economy; marine screw and paddle engines up to about 600 i.h.p.; light frame compound and triple-expansion marine screw engines for launches.
Williams and James
MESSRS. WILLIAMS AND JAMES, CHEQUERS BRIDGE, GLOUCESTER.
Williams and James
These works comprise machine and fitting shops employing 140 men and are engaged in the manufacture of cylinders, pistons and cam-shafts for internal-combustion engines, small air-compressors, mechanical tyre pumps, car-washing plants and air and water service towers.
Avon India Rubber Company, Melksham
THE AVON INDIA RUBBER COMPANY, MELKSHAM.
Avon India Rubber Co
The company's original factory was situated at Limpley Stoke near Bath, but the works were transferred to the present site in 1888. All manufacturing methods have been reorganized and a large extension made to the factory recently. The service mains have been reconstructed and a considerable amount of new rubber-making plant has been installed. The apparatus which has been added during the past year includes: a 100 h.p. breaker; a new line of four 84-inch mixing mills driven by a 600 h.p motor; a new four-bowl calender for double topping fabric or weftless cord driven by two 125 h.p. variable speed a.c. motors; an 8-inch extruder for the manufacture of solid tyres; a new tread profiling calender; a 66-inch autoclave for vulcanizing having a capacity of fifteen giant tyre casings in moulds; two new 84-inch warming mills; besides collapsible cores and other plant for the manufacture of giant cases. In addition to the manufacture of solid tyres and of pneumatic tyres and tubes of all sizes, the company make tennis and golf balls, football bladders, sports sundries, vacuum hose connexions and general mechanical rubber goods. A high quality is maintained and improvements effected in the firm's products and developments made in the processes of manufacture through the services of a large research laboratory. A smaller factory at Bradford-on-Avon, employing about 300 people, is engaged on the manufacture of rubber footwear and sports sundries.
The social welfare of the employees, who number over 1,000, has by no means been neglected. In 1920 the company purchased Melksham House standing in twenty-five acres of ground, which has been laid out as playing fields for various sports.
Spencer (Melksham)
MESSRS. SPENCER (MELKSHAM), MELKSHAM.
Spencer (Melksham)
The present works of the company were erected about twenty-five years ago and occupy a site of about eleven acres bounded on one side by the Great Western Railway and on the other by the main road from Melksham to Chippenham. The offices face the road and the private rooms of the directors are so placed that they command a view of the general office and the main workshops. The drawing and tracing offices are on the first floor and provide accommodation for sixty draughtsmen and twenty tracers. They are connected through double fireproof doors with the pattern shop and joiners' department, and a fireproof drawing store and a photographic department are connected with the office.
The main shops consist of seven bays, each 50 feet span and 260 feet long. Of these six form one large open shop containing machine-tool, fitting, erecting and constructional steel departments, while the other, which is partitioned off by a brick wall, forms the principal moulding shop. In an annex of the latter small machine-moulding and brass casting is done, and the cupolas are placed there. Each bay is provided with 10-ton electric travelling cranes. In addition to the main shops, and adjacent thereto, are a large template shop, and another building for experimental and special work and the electrical and plating departments. The machine department is equipped with a modern tool room. The workshops are lofty and well lighted, and a system of heating and mechanical ventilation is provided. The steel constructional yards are served by travelling steam-cranes. The machine-tools throughout the works are electrically driven by sectional motor drives, the current being obtained from a central generating station.
An extensive pattern store, 30 feet by 250 feet, in two stories has been built at some distance from the workshops. A mess-room is provided for the employees. The firm manufactures elevating and conveying plant for grain, coal, ore, cement and other materials, and mechanical handling plant and labour-saving appliances. The average number of employees is about 600. Well laid out recreation grounds adjoin the works, including bowling green, tennis courts, etc., and arc managed by a Sports Committee.
Bristol Electric Generating Station, Portishead
BRISTOL CORPORATION ELECTRIC GENERATING STATION, PORTISHEAD.
Portishead Power Station
The new generating station at Portishead has been erected to meet the anticipated demand of approximately 100,000 kw. by the year 1938 in the Corporation's area of supply. The station is situated close to the River Severn, from which an unlimited supply of condenser cooling water is available, and adjoins the Great Western Railway and the Portishead Dock. The buildings are divided into a boiler-house, turbine room, and low-potential switch-house, a separate building accommodating the high-potential switch-gear. The buildings stand in tiers down the hillside.
One of the features of the station is the novel arrangement of the condensers, the bottom of the pump pit being 54 feet below ordnance datum; the condensers are at datum level, and the vertical-spindle pump motors just below the turbines well above the highest recorded tide level. The maximum range of tidal variation is 51¼ feet. The four culverts conveying water to the station are at such a depth as to maintain sufficient water over the top of their sea ends at the lowest recorded tide. The system has been designed to allow of the flow of water being reversed. The coal-handling installation consists of two travelling quay cranes, each of 60 tons per hour capacity, which deliver the coal into a receiving hopper operating in conjunction with a series of belt conveyers crossing the railway lines, and delivering to drag-link conveyers running over the bunkers in the boiler-house. Rail-borne coal is dealt with by two 20-ton side-discharge wagon tipplers and two bucket elevators. The ash-handling plant is composed of two lines of water sluicing troughs below the boiler-house basement floor, specially designed elevators, and belt conveyers. The electric motor control of the coal and ash-handling plant is interlocked throughout to ensure that each section of the handling equipment is started and stopped in correct sequence.
The steam-raising plant consists of four "Vickers Header" straight-tube boilers, each having a normal evaporative capacity of 80,000 lb. per hour at a working pressure of 325 lb. per sq. in. and a temperature of 725° F. The stokers are 24 feet wide and are the widest now in commission in this country. A comprehensive set of instruments is installed.
The two turbines of the two-cylinder impulse type are each of 20,550 kw. maximum continuous rating, and a 550 kw. non-condensing turbine set has been installed for emergency house-service duty. The main turbines operate at a steam pressure of 300 lb. per sq. in. gauge and a total temperature of 700° F. The condensers, which are installed in a pit 45 feet below the turbines, are of the central-flow type and the high condensate temperature, approximating to that of the exhaust steam, de-aerates the condensate in the condenser itself. The system operates on a closed circuit; the condensate is withdrawn from the condenser by either one of two extraction pumps and delivered through two main and two auxiliary feed-heaters to the boiler feed-pumps. The main feed-heaters are supplied with steam diverted from two low-pressure stages in the turbine, while the auxiliary heaters utilize exhaust steam from the steam-operated air-ejectors and leakage steam from the high-presssure turbine gland, respectively. The temperature of the condensate is thus raised from 80° to 197° F., with a corresponding gain in overall efficiency. A constant head is maintained on the system by a surge tank which absorbs fluctuations in the output of the extraction pump and the demand of the boiler feed-pump. Make-up water is added to the system from evaporators operating with sea-water and supplied with steam diverted from a low-pressure stage of the turbines.
An alternator of 25,000 kva. capacity at 11,000 volts is directly connected to each turbine, and each generating set is connected to a bank of transformers stepping up to 33,000 volts. The main switch-gear is of the metal-clad, compound filled, draw-out type incorporating full interlocking features.
The station is being extended to accommodate two 50,000 kw. turbo-alternator sets. For the purpose of the South West of England and South Wales portion of the national "grid" scheme, Portishead is to be by far the most important seat of generation, the Central Electricity Board having scheduled the station as one to be used up to its installed capacity. Its development under the scheme is to be very rapid, as by the year 1943 the installed capacity will be not less than 240.000 kw.
G W R. Swindon Works
GREAT WESTERN RAILWAY COMPANY, LOCOMOTIVE CARRIAGE AND WAGON WORKS, SWINDON.
Swindon Works
General. — These works comprise one of the largest railway establishments for the construction and repair of locomotives, carriages, and wagons in the world, and cover an area of 323 acres of which seventy-two are roofed. Power for the works is bought from the Corporation, whose new station has a capacity of 11,000 kw. of which the company takes about two-thirds. In addition to the construction and repair of locomotives, etc., a large amount of miscellaneous work is carried out for other departments of the railway, for example the manufacture of castings and forgings for, and repairs to pumping and hydraulic machinery. The total staff employed in the department of the Chief Mechanical Engineer exceeds 41,000, of whom over 12,000 are employed at Swindon.
THE LOCOMOTIVE WORKS.
These are situated on the north side of the main line and include fitting, erecting, boiler-making and machine shops, iron and brass foundries, smiths', stamping, tinsmiths' and coppersmiths' shops. The works have steadily increased in size and in the last few years have been completely remodelled, whilst the equipment has also been improved. The "A" Erecting and Machine Shop has an area of 503,000 sq. ft. and is planned for progressive operation of erecting, fitting and wheeling. It is divided into three sections: erecting shop, machine and fitting sloop, and wheel shop. The annual capacity of the works is 1,000 locomotives repaired and 100 new engines built.
Erecting Shop. - To systematize the work and reduce the time occupied at the engine pits all parts such as frames, cylinders, motion, etc., are prepared in the fitting shops and delivered practically ready for use to the erectors. The mechanical equipment of the older part of the shop includes two electric traversing tables serving eighty pits and four overhead electric travelling cranes of 50 tons' capacity each. An electric traverser is also provided for taking engines in and out of the shop. The new portion was completed in 1921 for dealing with the largest engines. There are sixty pits, each 100 feet long, served by an electric traverser and four electric cranes having a span of 75 feet and 100 tons' capacity. With the new plant about 400 large engines can be dealt with annually. An engine-testing plant is installed in the erecting shop by means of which the draw-bar pull, water and fuel consumption can be determined under laboratory, conditions at all speeds up to an equivalent train velocity of seventy miles per hour. An interesting feature in the boiler repair bay is a powerful hydraulic riveter having a 23-ft. gap for dealing with long boiler barrels and large cylindrical tanks.
Machine and Fitting Shop. — This is devoted to the repair and manufacture of parts such as motion, connecting- and coupling-rods, piston-valves, solid and built-up cranks. A feature of its equipment is the modern grinding plant.
Wheel Shop. — This section is engaged solely on the turning, tyreing, quartering, balancing, etc., of engine and tender wheels and deals with some 6,000 pairs of wheels in a year. Wheel centres are purchased as steel castings, which are first bored to receive the axle. The wheel centres are forced on to the axle hydraulically and secured by keys. The rims of the wheels are then turned ready for the tyres to be shrunk on. A gas furnace is employed for expanding types. An interesting piece of apparatus installed in this shop is the wheel-balancing machine by means of which adjustments can be made to wheels so that in service they run smoothly and consequently lessen wear and tear.
Iron Foundry. — The yearly output of the foundry is between 20,000 and 25,000 tons of finished castings, and the largest casting in one piece which has been produced in it weighed 65 tons. An interesting example of the moulder's art may be seen in the combined cylinder and saddle casting for a "King" class locomotive. The mould for this is in four separate parts and there are twenty cores.
Cylinder Shop and Machine Shop. — These shops are set apart for cylinders, frames, boiler foundation rings, smoke-box doors, etc. The equipment consists of boring mills, planing machines, radial drilling and tapping machines. The frames are slotted in batches of up to ten on a special machine.
Boiler Shop. — Machinery has figured largely in boiler construction in recent years, and this shop has been equipped with modern apparatus to keep abreast of recent developments. Worthy of notice is the large hydraulic flanging press.
Other departments of the locomotive works of interest are: the new gas works; the drop-stamping plant; the boiler-testing plant in which steam at high pressure from a "master" boiler is admitted to the boiler under examination; the inspection, testing and research department; and the heat-treatment shop.
CARRIAGE AND WAGON WORKS.
The Carriage Works are situated on the south side of the main line and the Wagon Works on the north-east side. The yearly output of the former department is 250 passenger vehicles of various types built and 5,000 coaches repaired; the Wagon Works have a capacity for dealing with the construction of 4,500 and the repair of 8,000 wagons per annum. About 5,300 men are employed in the works, which comprise the following shops: saw mill; new body; carriage body; repair; finishing; painting; polishing; trimming; wheel; lifting; stamping; electrical fitting; smiths'; wagon frame; wagon repair; road wagon; oil and grease shops; and the laundry.
Carriage Body Shop. - The use of steel in carriage construction has necessitated a complete change in design and methods. The floors of coaches are of corrugated steel sheets filled in with fireproof composition. The sides and roof are of sheet steel attached to a timber framework. The coaches are thus largely fireproof. Interiors are panelled in wood and upholstered in the usual way.
Finishing Shop. - In this shop most of the interior woodwork is prepared. Such parts as doors, seat frames, panelling, luggage racks, and woodwork for electric lighting, are treated in the paint and polishing shops ready for assembly and erection in the coach bodies.
Trimming Shop. - The work of this section consists principally of upholstering of coaches, the manufacture of cushions, blinds, window straps, bedding, etc., and general leather work.
Fitting Shop. - The products include the manufacture and repair of vacuum brakes; axleboxes; self-contained buffers; regulating gear for auto-trains and trailer cars; draw-gear; underframes for carriages and rail wagons; metal fittings for coaches; steam-heating apparatus; gas lamps, etc. A complete system of jigs and templates enables work to be carried out rapidly and accurately.
Wheel Shop. - This shop has recently been re-equipped with modern machinery, for example a double-ended machine for grinding journals of carriage axles; machines for boring, facing and turning wheel centres and wheel lathes with attachments for grinding the treads of worn and brake-hardened carriage wheels.
WELFARE AND RECREATION.
A description of Swindon Works would be incomplete if mention were omitted of institutions which have been planned for the welfare of the employees. The establishments are maintained largely by contributions from the employees, but some financial assistance is afforded by the directors. The management of them is in the hands of representatives of the employees and the various properties and funds have been vested in trustees.
Mechanics' Institution. - This was founded in September 1843 as a Library, but now comprises reading rooms, recreation rooms, lecture hall, and a large hall for entertainments, etc. A comprehensive technical educational scheme is a function of the Institution.
Medical Fund Society. - This dates from 1847. It was established to provide medical attendance for members and their families. In addition to the accident hospital, a well-appointed dispensary and dental department, the society now controls washing, Turkish, and swimming baths.
Locomotive and Carriage Department Sick Fund Society. - This was founded in 1844 by the employees as an independent society for the provision of allowances during sickness and on retirement.
Kemp and Hewitt, Trowbridge
MESSRS. KEMP AND HEWITT, TROWBRIDGE.
Kemp and Hewitt
This old-established firm has been greatly extended in recent years, and the mills are now about three times as large as is pre-War days. Woollen and worsted cloths, hunting cloths, breeches cloths, coatings, suitings, livery cloths, officers' uniform cloths, etc., are manufactured from wools of the best quality. Coloured goods are made at the Innox Mills and white cloths, e.g. tennis ball Meltons, flannels, worsteds, and doeskins, at Silver Street Mills.
Palmer and Mackay
MESSRS. PALMER AND MACKAY, TROWBRIDGE.
Palmer and Mackay
The woollen trade first came into prominence in the reign of Edward III, who invited weavers from Flanders to show Englishmen how they could make their own cloth instead of buying from overseas. These weavers settled in the West of England at Bradford-on-Avon, three miles from Trowbridge, and in the Stroud valley. At one time there were, it is believed, fifty or sixty mills in Trowbridge or within a radius of a mile or two. Now there are only five. Messrs. Palmer and Mackay have records dating from 1729, and the present family have carried on the business for the last seventy years. During the War they were honoured by a visit from the King and Queen who saw the various processes of cloth-making as applied to the production of khaki and shirting flannel. All the processes of manufacture are carried out in the mill and the finest of West of England goods are produced.
Petters, Yeovil
MESSRS. PETTERS, WESTLAND WORKS, YEOVIL.
Petters
The engine business of Messrs. Petters was founded in 1895, when the brothers Petter (Sir Ernest W. Petter, now chairman of the company, and Mr. P. W. Petter, vice-chairman) became interested in internal-combustion engines, particularly with a view to their use for road-carriage propulsion. Those were the days of the red flag signal, and the first car which they made in 1895 was only allowed to run without that safety precaution by special permission of the police between the hours of six and eight o'clock in the morning. This particular car was one of the first, if not the first, motor-car with an internal-combustion engine made in Great Britain. The manufacture of motor-cars was continued for some time, but the business in stationary engines developed more rapidly and ultimately the manufacture of motor-cars was discontinued.
The business having outgrown the original Nautilus Works, a large site was purchased in 1912 on the outskirts of Yeovil and the first buildings were erected on the land now known as the Westland Works. The whole site, which includes the aerodrome, exceeds 100 acres in extent, and the actual area covered by the buildings is approximately ten acres. Up to 1910 engines of the four-stroke cycle only had been manufactured, but in that year the first Petter two-stroke cycle engines were placed on the market, and in 1915 the directors were so convinced of the superiority of the two-stroke cycle that they determined to discontinue the manufacture of four-stroke cycle engines altogether.
The engines now manufactured are divided into three classes; (1) small engines with magneto ignition, made in sizes from 1 to 5 h.p., largely used for agricultural work, pumping, etc.; (2) hot bulb, or as they are preferably called, surface-ignition engines, in sizes from 5 h.p. to 36 h.p. (formerly engines of this type were always started with a blow-lamp of the Swedish type, but in 1923 the patented method of cartridge ignition was introduced which considerably helped the development of the company's business); and (3) airless-injection engines of the Diesel type, which are now being manufactured in sizes from 25 h.p. to 400 h.p., with from one to six cylinders. The heavy-engine department in which the larger size engines are made was erected in 1928.
The Westland Aircraft Works, commenced in 1915, owed their inception to the demand for service machines in the War. The factory adjoins the engine works and has an extensive aerodrome immediately attached, enabling tests to be carried out with great facility. Numerous types of aircraft have been produced from these works, including "Westland Wagtails," "Weasels" and "Westburys," the "Wizard," the "Widgeon " for private owners, the "Westland Wessex" limousine for passenger work, the "Witch," a short-range day bomber, the "Westland Interception Fighter," etc. To-day quantity production is centred on the "Wapiti," a general-purpose war machine with "Bristol Jupiter" engine. Experimental work is being vigorously carried out on special types of machines, such as the "Pterodactyl," a tailless pusher monoplane, very original in design and possessing special features of controllability and unobstructed vision.
About 2,000 workers are employed at Westland in the engine and aircraft departments. The Westland Aircraft Society, which is a branch of the Royal Aeronautical Society, is a very vigorous body and during the session lectures on subjects of aeronautical interest are given by leading experts in the aeronautical world. Various sports clubs are in existence and part of the aerodrome is used by these. A well-equipped canteen is provided for the use of the workers, and there is a surgery with two trained nurses attached to the organization.
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Sources of Information