Charles Robertson
Charles Robertson (1880-1936)
1936 Obituary [1]
CHARLES ROBERTSON had been associated with the British Ropeway Engineering Company, Ltd., since 1933. He designed a large cableway plant for coke handling for the Consett Iron Company, Ltd., which is believed to be the only two-motor cableway operating in this country. His patents in this direction covered cableway load cars, grabs, and scraper buckets.
Mr. Robertson was born in Aberdeen in 1880. He was apprenticed in that city to Mr. John A. Sangster, and served for five years.
Between 1901 and 1909 he gained further experience as a draughtsman, first with Messrs. Stothert and Pitt, Ltd., of Bath, and later with Messrs. Cowans, Sheldon and Company, of Carlisle, and Messrs. J. M. Henderson and Company, Ltd., of Aberdeen.
For the next six years he held the position of engineer to various firms, including Messrs. Applebys, Ltd., of Leicester, and Messrs. Fraser and Chalmers, Ltd., of Erith. He then joined the Ministry of Munitions as engineer and took charge of the explosives department. After the War he was employed by the Wellman Smith Owen Engineering Corporation, and later by Messrs. Ransomes and Rapier, Ltd. In 1921 he patented a new system of level luffing gear for cranes, the manufacturing rights of which were acquired by Messrs. Alexander Jack and Company, of Motherwell. He devised and patented a variable-speed gear in 1922. Although not complicated in construction, its operation was found by many difficult to understand, and this led Mr. Robertson to submit his patent to the Institution, which verified the soundness of the principles involved. Later a successful demonstration took place with an experimental model in conjunction with a motor cycle engine. In 1926 Mr. Robertson was invited to inaugurate a cableway department with Messrs. Ropeways, Ltd. He carried out a number of contracts for this firm, with whom he remained until he joined the British Ropeway Engineering Company.
His death occurred on 16th September 1936.
He had been an Associate Member of the Institution since 1918.