Interesting site Colin. I noticed a pic half way down the page which had the title 'light engineering shop' featuring scores of quite large lathes, but I guess that 'light engineering' is a relative term and compared to some of he heavy stuff at Doxfords it was 'light'!
None of the men were wearing eye protection or ear defenders and I dare say the noise was horrendous. One chap was cutting a huge con-rod with a profile cutter which look like it would drop on the floor when the cut was complete. Different attitude to health and safety back then, namely: 'this is dangerous work, watch out for yourself or you could have a serious accident which would be your own fault'. No wonder heavy industry had such an appalling accident record.
Some years ago I toured a factory in Brittany that made gas boilers. The copper heat exchangers were immersed in a vat of molten solder, then came out on a conveyor across a gangway where employees had to walk and had to bend down to get beneath the hot heat exchangers swinging above them. I asked the manager if they had factory inspectors, and he said 'of course'. I said 'what would he say if someone walked into one of these heat exchangers and was seriously burned?' he replied 'The inspector would say that would be a very stupid thing for someone to do'.
How sad that a firm such as William Doxford and others survived the 1930s depression, was working flat out in WW2 and into the 1950s, when Sunderland was still the largest shipbuilding area in the world, then it all fizzled out as the Koreans et al stole the march. Could say the same about Woolworths I guess - how come they were asleep at the wheel and went bust, when outfits such as Poundland, The Range, Poundstretcher, Wilko et al are all doing well in a recession?
None of the men were wearing eye protection or ear defenders and I dare say the noise was horrendous. One chap was cutting a huge con-rod with a profile cutter which look like it would drop on the floor when the cut was complete. Different attitude to health and safety back then, namely: 'this is dangerous work, watch out for yourself or you could have a serious accident which would be your own fault'. No wonder heavy industry had such an appalling accident record.
Some years ago I toured a factory in Brittany that made gas boilers. The copper heat exchangers were immersed in a vat of molten solder, then came out on a conveyor across a gangway where employees had to walk and had to bend down to get beneath the hot heat exchangers swinging above them. I asked the manager if they had factory inspectors, and he said 'of course'. I said 'what would he say if someone walked into one of these heat exchangers and was seriously burned?' he replied 'The inspector would say that would be a very stupid thing for someone to do'.
How sad that a firm such as William Doxford and others survived the 1930s depression, was working flat out in WW2 and into the 1950s, when Sunderland was still the largest shipbuilding area in the world, then it all fizzled out as the Koreans et al stole the march. Could say the same about Woolworths I guess - how come they were asleep at the wheel and went bust, when outfits such as Poundland, The Range, Poundstretcher, Wilko et al are all doing well in a recession?
Regards, David.
BVWS Member.
G-QRP Club Member 1339.
'I'm in my own little world, but I'm happy, and they know me here'
BVWS Member.
G-QRP Club Member 1339.
'I'm in my own little world, but I'm happy, and they know me here'
