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Northern Aluminum (alcan) And High Duty Alloys

mbenne

master brummie
Dad kept the following newspaper clip of him driving a Yale fork lift truck at an open day at Northern Aluminum. I have no idea which paper it appeared in or when the event took place, neither I or Mom attended. I have an idea that it might have been late 50s as the company changed its name to Alcan Industries (or Alindustries) in 1960, to emphasise its connections with its parent company, Aluminum Ltd of Canada,being one of its subsidiaries. At that time they had a lot of work making propeller blades and aluminum sand castings.

He was made redundant from Alcan, possibly in the early 60s and then found a job in an identical line of work with another company,HDA (High Duty Alloys) who also manufactured Aluminum products and supplied to the aircraft industry, being part of the Hawker Siddley group. Occasionally he would bring home small test pieces from the metallurgy lab - one being a stress test piece from a concord component, two years before its first test flight, and the other was from a Scorpion tank, having two armor piercing bullets embedded in it. Although working on the shop floor he also did occasional technical photographs in an amateur capacity for the test lab.

I think HDA must have taken over the works in Middlemore road from Alcan, or had their own premises close by, because when I was studying Dad arranged for me to spend a couple of days in their costing department, working on a quote for tank wheels. This factory was by the Albion Football ground.

HDA Redditch seems to feature quite highly but the Birmingham operation doesn't seem to get a mention. It probably closed in the 90s when Dad was due to retire. At this time he was asked if he would move to Redditch for a short while to help train some of their machine operatives but declined.

Attached pictures: Newspaper clip, one of Dads photos of his friend Derik (no surname) who appears to be operating the same machine as in the newspaper clip, but some years later, and a couple of interesting old ads for Northern Aluminium and HDA.

Can anyone help with the newspaper article (or maybe it was a works magazine?) and confirm if HDA took over the Middlemore Road premises from Alcan?

400 Ton Press.JPG
 

Attachments

  • Derik Forging.JPG
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    NA_1926.JPG
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  • NA_1939.JPG
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  • HDA_1962.JPG
    HDA_1962.JPG
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A search for northern aluminium company together with illustrated pages in the newspaper archive gave 190 hits. Skimming through these, none seemed to contain that picture. It could be from a paper not in the archives , or a works magazine. Sorry I couldn't help further
 
My dad worked for Alcan in Middlemore Road for many years late 50s/early 70s. He used to bring home the bacofoil for cooking. He was a 'viewer'.
 
A search for northern aluminium company together with illustrated pages in the newspaper archive gave 190 hits. Skimming through these, none seemed to contain that picture. It could be from a paper not in the archives , or a works magazine. Sorry I couldn't help further
Thanks for looking.
 
Dad kept the following newspaper clip of him driving a Yale fork lift truck at an open day at Northern Aluminum. I have no idea which paper it appeared in or when the event took place, neither I or Mom attended. I have an idea that it might have been late 50s as the company changed its name to Alcan Industries (or Alindustries) in 1960, to emphasise its connections with its parent company, Aluminum Ltd of Canada,being one of its subsidiaries. At that time they had a lot of work making propeller blades and aluminum sand castings.

He was made redundant from Alcan, possibly in the early 60s and then found a job in an identical line of work with another company,HDA (High Duty Alloys) who also manufactured Aluminum products and supplied to the aircraft industry, being part of the Hawker Siddley group. Occasionally he would bring home small test pieces from the metallurgy lab - one being a stress test piece from a concord component, two years before its first test flight, and the other was from a Scorpion tank, having two armor piercing bullets embedded in it. Although working on the shop floor he also did occasional technical photographs in an amateur capacity for the test lab.

I think HDA must have taken over the works in Middlemore road from Alcan, or had their own premises close by, because when I was studying Dad arranged for me to spend a couple of days in their costing department, working on a quote for tank wheels. This factory was by the Albion Football ground.

HDA Redditch seems to feature quite highly but the Birmingham operation doesn't seem to get a mention. It probably closed in the 90s when Dad was due to retire. At this time he was asked if he would move to Redditch for a short while to help train some of their machine operatives but declined.

Attached pictures: Newspaper clip, one of Dads photos of his friend Derik (no surname) who appears to be operating the same machine as in the newspaper clip, but some years later, and a couple of interesting old ads for Northern Aluminium and HDA.

Can anyone help with the newspaper article (or maybe it was a works magazine?) and confirm if HDA took over the Middlemore Road premises from Alcan?

View attachment 124019
Im not sure if anyone can help me, but I am looking for information on my Great Grandad who I am led to believe worked here up until his Death in 1955. His name was Raynor Albert James.

Any help would I would be grateful for.

Thanks
 
A search for northern aluminium company together with illustrated pages in the newspaper archive gave 190 hits. Skimming through these, none seemed to contain that picture. It could be from a paper not in the archives , or a works magazine. Sorry I couldn't help further
HDA was in dugdale st Smethwick i worked there for 12years before it closed
 
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