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Newman Tonks - Newtown

i started work at william newmans and sons started 7th january 1963. i worked with stan haywood (foreman) harry fowkes, ken wingfield , hodson brothers,clarke brothers, and more. i started as machine operater and then became a toolsetter , i set all the machines producing briton door closer parts. 1966 transfered to wallsall apprentice. was at walsall till 1999 was made redundant when ingersoll rand took over i was the
 
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i started work at william newmans and sons started 7th january 1963. i worked with stan haywood (foreman) harry fowkes, ken wingfield , hodson brothers,clarke brothers, and more. i started as machine operater and then became a toolsetter , i set all the machines producing briton door closer parts. 1966 transfered to wallsall apprentice. was at walsall till 1999 was made redundant when ingersoll rand took over i was the works engineer
Hi
 
I worked in Newman Tonks from 1975 until 1977, I assembled the rubber doors, 2 people I remember are Dennis Hennessy and I think John Stringer... Those were the days. My name is Terence McKenna
 
Hi, my name when I worked at Newman’s was Wendy Dunn. I worked as Bill Hartland (Works Manager)
secretary, starting August 1963. My desk was in the drawing office on the top floor. I remember many of the names mentioned. I used to visit the workshops collecting stock figures etc. Mr Hartland was an imposing figure, remembered for his pipe and talking with his hands in his pockets. If there are any draughtsmen out there that remember our trips to the swimming baths at Lunchtime I would love to catch up.
 
Can someone please confirm if it was Tonks or Tube Investments that sent a smaller tube inside a tube back to the USA as they said they had made the smallest tube ever. Thanks
 
This is the story told on another forum:

I'm especially interested as my dad worked for A & P / Tube Investments in the 50s in Oldbury and he told me about when a US Co. sent A & P the ''smallest calibre tube in the world'' and they sent it back without a comment attached. Eventually a US engineer weighed it and found that it was a very small amount heavier than a piece of the same length of tube that the US Co. had not sent. Then in US, they put some sophisticated eqpt to work on the sample returned by A & P. To everyone's surprise, the calibre was now smaller but they could get no further...all the metal was the same, so they contacted A & P who told them ''after measuring the exact length of it, we put another tube inside your ''world's smallest tube'', then annealed them so there was no visible join''. .

And then the killer ''Please find loosely enclosed in a stoppered bigger metal tube, a section of the tube that was put inside your tube - inside that a still smaller tube..."
 
This is the story told on another forum:

I'm especially interested as my dad worked for A & P / Tube Investments in the 50s in Oldbury and he told me about when a US Co. sent A & P the ''smallest calibre tube in the world'' and they sent it back without a comment attached. Eventually a US engineer weighed it and found that it was a very small amount heavier than a piece of the same length of tube that the US Co. had not sent. Then in US, they put some sophisticated eqpt to work on the sample returned by A & P. To everyone's surprise, the calibre was now smaller but they could get no further...all the metal was the same, so they contacted A & P who told them ''after measuring the exact length of it, we put another tube inside your ''world's smallest tube'', then annealed them so there was no visible join''. .

And then the killer ''Please find loosely enclosed in a stoppered bigger metal tube, a section of the tube that was put inside your tube - inside that a still smaller tube..."
That was a story my dad told me too.
 
I worked for Newman Tonks since known as NT Door Controls, then taken over and incorporated into Ingersoll Rand Security Division and then sold as Allegion UK limited. The famous Briton Door Closers & Panic Bolts are still distributed by them although manufacturing in the UK ceased over 10 years ago in the Ingersoll Rand ownership when the factory was migrated to Turkey. I worked in IT from 1979 until May 2021 when I was made redundant. In the Newman Tonks era we had 4 sites in Newtown / Aston area at Hospital Street. Moorsom St, Sampson Rd & Allesley St plus Worcester Parsons in Kings Norton, Brassart in Stourbridge, NT Doors and Windows in Redditch plus NT Security in Maidstone Kent and eventually Martin Robert's Steel Doors in Sittingbourne Kent. There was also a site in Newcastle whose name escapes me. About 1984, Newman Tonks moved the Hospital St site to Walsall and the Moorsom St, Sampson Rd & Allesley St moved to Willenhall. About that time Legge Locks in Willenhall were also acquired.
 
Hi All great memories, I drove passed Hospital Street a few months ago, building work was in progress to build new flats on Ken Wingfield's shop floor, does anyone have any memories of Irene Harris I last saw her when I left my job in the sales office working for Paul Lynes and a tall guy was the assistant manager ( I have forgotten his name) but he always saw me alright for cigarettes and a pint.
 
Hi All great memories, I drove passed Hospital Street a few months ago, building work was in progress to build new flats on Ken Wingfield's shop floor, does anyone have any memories of Irene Harris I last saw her when I left my job in the sales office working for Paul Lynes and a tall guy was the assistant manager ( I have forgotten his name) but he always saw me alright for cigarettes and a pint.
Hi, Irene Harris was my aunt and whilst I don't have any Newman Tonks work stories, Irene was close to Barry ( don't know his surname but I believe was a general manager at NT). Think she left NT in the early 90s maybe when she would have still been in late 40s. Love to hear any stories but sadly Irene recently passed away.
 
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