Excellent British Post War Shop Photos

Like the title says (or I think so)


Sunderland Industry | Flickr

Nice pics! Esp love the well thought out lifting gear.

Lack of safety glasses in that era makes me cringe. Have had too many surprise hits to the glasses by good sized chips...

L7

Very cool. Like the surface plate right there in the assembly area for checking parts.

I recall reading the Sunderland name in connection with ship building, including some of the steam trawlers. In the photos of the generator erecting floor, there are some steam driven smaller generators towards the back of the photo. These are driven by vertical enclosed steam engines. I do not know the dates of the photos, but it looks like Sunderland was still building steam engines in the post WWII era.

The fact that Sunderland was a complete works was quite evident by the photos of their pipe shop aside from the other photos. Sunderland was fabricating welded and hot-bent piping, and doing full-furnace stress relieving on it.

While I had read of the Sunderland name in connection with ship building, I had no idea they were so heavily into the manufacturing of generators and switchgear. From those photos, they would appear to have been more of a heavy manufacturing concern or engineering works rather than just a shipbuilder. Of course, I also noticed the complete lack of any safety glasses or goggles on people running the grinders and other machine tools. I do not know what their secret to eye protection was. I learned a long time ago that even my prescription eye glasses with safety lenses are insufficient protection. Chips and popped weld slag seem to find their way up and over the top of my eyeglasses even with the side-shields on. I've had a number of ER visits to have small chips and popped weld slag (stainless steel welds being about the worst in this regard) removed from my eyes. I never do shop work without putting on real safety glasses, with a shield across the top over the bridge of my nose. Even when doing welding, I wear safety glasses under my shield. Those machinists and fitters at Sunderland either were blessed with keen enough eyesight to be able to stand well back from the path of chips, grit and slag, or else were a hardier breed than me.

I also liked the fact the machinists wore shop coats. For whatever reason that never really caught on in the USA. The one shop I worked in where we wore shop coats was at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Research Hospital. Otherwise, it was "work clothes" and shop aprons. Sunderland's shops look spacious and well laid out and well lit. The machine tools appear to be recent for the times of those photos. What became of Sunderland ?

Great photos and thanks for posting them.

It's still there,as far as I'm aware,Joe.

Joe Michaels said:

What became of Sunderland ?

Great photos and thanks for posting them.

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As Ted said Sunderland (the place ) is still there, (and apart from Nissan cars, alas barely a shadow of it's former self) as for Sunderland Forge & Engineering Ltd

Bit of Graces guide here Sunderland Forge and Engineering Co - Graces Guide

From a quick scan of this John Lynn & Co Ltd, Sunderland [Archive] - Ships Nostalgia it looks like it closed in the early 60's


A footnote to the original photos the 2 from Hepworth and Grandage, ..who were the manufacturers of the world famous ''Hepolite'' Pistons & Rings (now part of AE Group or whoever owns them) anyway Graces Guide ref Hepworth and Grandage - Graces Guide

Joe Michaels said:

I recall reading the Sunderland name in connection with ship building, including some of the steam trawlers. In the photos of the generator erecting floor, there are some steam driven smaller generators towards the back of the photo. These are driven by vertical enclosed steam engines. I do not know the dates of the photos, but it looks like Sunderland was still building steam engines in the post WWII era.

The fact that Sunderland was a complete works was quite evident by the photos of their pipe shop aside from the other photos. Sunderland was fabricating welded and hot-bent piping, and doing full-furnace stress relieving on it.

While I had read of the Sunderland name in connection with ship building, I had no idea they were so heavily into the manufacturing of generators and switchgear. From those photos, they would appear to have been more of a heavy manufacturing concern or engineering works rather than just a shipbuilder. Of course, I also noticed the complete lack of any safety glasses or goggles on people running the grinders and other machine tools. I do not know what their secret to eye protection was. I learned a long time ago that even my prescription eye glasses with safety lenses are insufficient protection. Chips and popped weld slag seem to find their way up and over the top of my eyeglasses even with the side-shields on. I've had a number of ER visits to have small chips and popped weld slag (stainless steel welds being about the worst in this regard) removed from my eyes. I never do shop work without putting on real safety glasses, with a shield across the top over the bridge of my nose. Even when doing welding, I wear safety glasses under my shield. Those machinists and fitters at Sunderland either were blessed with keen enough eyesight to be able to stand well back from the path of chips, grit and slag, or else were a hardier breed than me.

I also liked the fact the machinists wore shop coats. For whatever reason that never really caught on in the USA. The one shop I worked in where we wore shop coats was at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Research Hospital. Otherwise, it was "work clothes" and shop aprons. Sunderland's shops look spacious and well laid out and well lit. The machine tools appear to be recent for the times of those photos. What became of Sunderland ?

Great photos and thanks for posting them.

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Most of us wore blue boiler suits Joe. When I was an 18 yr old apprentice I was sent to be measured for some new boiler suits as my old one were looking tatty. When she'd done measuring me the woman in charge of the overall stores asked me " What colour would you like ?"

This was real news to me because everybody wore blue. So I said " What colours are there "
She said " Blue, Brown or Green ". Being a daft teenager I said " Green please ".

When the green boiler suits arrived and I wore them in the shop it was like I had two heads. The shop foreman went mad, he never liked me anyway and the feeling was mutual. " You're a bloody engineer, not a bloody wagon driver " he ranted at me.

I was exiled then to a department that everybody hated working in for being a bad lad but I really liked the green boiler suits.

Regards Tyrone.

Tyrone Shoelaces said:

I was exiled then to a department that everybody hated working in for being a bad lad but I really liked the green boiler suits.

Regards Tyrone.

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What department would that be"?

oughtsix said:

What department would that be"?

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Yes, quite the tease, isn't he.

I was ordering my new red cap uniforms and I saw shop coats were available, so I ordered a couple. I'm a fan and will order more this fall. Too darn hot in the summer in Kentucky.

oughtsix said:

What department would that be"?

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''That place'' is not spoken of.

Great industrial photos.

This guy:

Aiton & Co Ltd: Southwick Pipe Works, about 1950 | Aiton & C… | Flickr

Needs to go to hospital to have his hammer amputated IMO. Everything on his turret is battered.

oughtsix said:

What department would that be"?

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Ok, you asked.

The department was called " Spirit Recovery ". The company I worked for used a lot of benzine in the production process which evaporates very easily. So the benzine vapour was removed from the atmosphere by a very powerful fume extraction system and passed through a series of about 12 large vessels to be used again. These vessels were like large boilers up ended.

Inside the boilers they were lined with perforated metal sheets. 13 sheets around the outside and 8 around the central core. This space between the central core and the walls was filled absolutely solidly with charcoal granules. You could walk around inside the space between the wall and the central core and you could just about turn around so it would be about 2ft 6" wide and it was about 7ft tall. The vapour was passed through the granules and by some process that involved steam, I think, was returned to benzine to be used again. These vessels were made by a company called " Sutcliffe & Speakman " who also made gas masks etc during the 1939-45 War.

The process was very wearing on the metal screens so they had to be changed regularly. It was bit like painting the Forth Bridge. By time the last vessel had been sorted out it was time to start on the first one again.

The job entailed whoever was to change the screens going down to the recovery plant on the Friday and removing a series of inspection plates on the top of the vessels and to loosen one access plate on the bottom to allow the staff who actually worked in the plant to remove all the charcoal granules over the weekend.

On the Monday morning you would go down and get inside the vessels and remove all the screens and take them outside. You would then superimpose the old screens on the new ones and carefully make them like the old ones. Cutting fitting slots into them etc.

When you'd cut them all to size you had to refit them inside the vessels. When you removed the screens quite often the studs holding the screens would shear off because of being weakened by process so these had to be drilled out and replaced. There were hundreds of studs and plenty broke. When the job was finished there hadn't got to be the tiniest holes anywhere that were big enough to let the charcoal granules escape. I'd say the job took between 7-10 days to complete. It was very painstaking. The plant foreman would come inside the vessel and inspect your work with a torch ( flashlight ), he was extremely thorough.

As you can imagine it was a very hot and dirty job that nobody liked. You had to wear large dust masks like the old gas masks. If you were claustrophobic it wasn't the job for you. I can recall guys being sent down to remove the covers on the Friday and knowing they were down for the job and not coming in on the Monday morning so they didn't have to do the job. Somebody else was sent down in their place in that instance. Next day there'd be a row between the two blokes !

Nobody was detailed to do the job more than once at a time, it was done in strict rotation.

Anyway I was sent down there permanently after another row with the foreman. I'd be about 19-20 years old by them and reasonably capable. I did one vessel after another. After the initial dislike I found the job wasn't that bad. You got left alone by management because they didn't want to get dirty and you were given time at the end of the shift to have a shower. The guys in the plant were OK to work with and I got to enjoy the independence.

After about 4 months it dawned on the foreman that I was actually enjoying the " punishment " and I got moved to another job.

Two funny stories from my time on " Devils Island " as it was known.

I was working with a really old labourer who must have just about been old enough to have fought in the 1914-18 war. He had a huge " Kitchener " moustache. Think Corporal Jones in " Dads Army ". You weren't allowed to smoke within 20 ft of the actual building because of the fire risk, benzine is very flammable indeed.

One day we were both working inside the vessel, me on one side and Walter behind the central core out of sight. All of a sudden I noticed a flickering light. When I went around to see where the light was coming from I found my mate lighting his pipe with some smokers matches !

It was my job to loose the nuts on the bottom access plate for the plant guys. They had to remove it. The plate was lozenge shaped and big enough for a man to climb into the vessel. The vessels stood off the ground on central pedestals about 5 ft high. Obviously this was a tricky job because once the plate was off the charcoal came flooding out like an avalanche. This particular Saturday morning the guys were struggling to get a couple of the nuts off so I was sent down to give them a lift.

I did my bit and then stood well back to watch the fun. They got the nuts off and gently started to prize the access plate off. There were three guys crouched one behind the other in a line, each watching over the others shoulder. All of a sudden the plate fell off and the torrent of charcoal came pouring out. As the last guy turned to run away he slipped. The other two tripped and fell over him and all three disappeared in the avalanche of charcoal that poured out of the vessel !

It was hilarious, I wish I could have filmed it.

Regards Tyrone.

Great photographs! I was especially interested the 'erecting shop," most of my friends specialize in that kind of work.

Peter. said:

Great industrial photos.

This guy:

Aiton & Co Ltd: Southwick Pipe Works, about 1950 | Aiton & C… | Flickr

Needs to go to hospital to have his hammer amputated IMO. Everything on his turret is battered.

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BOTOH Peter, everything on that turret had probably been hanging around and in use since the 14-18 war, …………………….if not the very lathe itself

I hear you but his packing shims are mushroomed all to hell. The top one looks like a wedge so instead of using the tool clamp screws he's hammering a wedge in to hold it down.

Did you never hear why British Manufacturing went down the tubes?

Labour Party, I would guess. I do like the hats worn in the shop.

Tyrone, tha cud write a book. Great imagery. Curly, Larry and Mo come to mind.

Tyrone's post brings up the overall "code". Maybe 20 years ago it was commonplace with work uniform providers.
White bibs for painters
White boiler suit and white gumboots for meat, dairy and process workers
Bright blue boiler suits for mechanics, coats for toolmakers and fitter/turners
Dark blue boiler suits for fabrication and boiler shop, dirty trades
White coats for scientists and elite toolmakers

I've never liked boiler suits as workwear but coats are comfortable and practical when machining wood.

Greenwud said:

Tyrone's post brings up the overall "code". Maybe 20 years ago it was commonplace with work uniform providers.
White bibs for painters
White boiler suit and white gumboots for meat, dairy and process workers
Bright blue boiler suits for mechanics, coats for toolmakers and fitter/turners
Dark blue boiler suits for fabrication and boiler shop, dirty trades
White coats for scientists and elite toolmakers

I've never liked boiler suits as workwear but coats are comfortable and practical when machining wood.

Click to expand...

Wagon or truck drivers wore the green boiler suits but who wore the brown boiler suits - mechanics ?

I wore a boiler suit most of my working life.

At one place the work was extremely dirty, they made rubber mixing machinery. So the Managing Director decide to kit us out in black boiler suits. The ones he ordered had coloured stripes running down the sleeves.
He was touring the shop one day and he asked one of the old cranky, outspoken guys what he thought of the new boiler suits.

The old guy replied - " Well you treat us like clowns so we may as well dress like clowns " !

That didn't go down too well

Regards Tyrone.