-
Welcome to this forum . We are a worldwide group with a common interest in Birmingham and its history. While here, please follow a few simple rules. We ask that you respect other members, thank those who have helped you and please keep your contributions on-topic with the thread.
We do hope you enjoy your visit. BHF Admin Team -
HI folks the server that hosts the site completely died including the Hdd's and backups.
Luckily i create an offsite backup once a week! this has now been restored so we have lost a few days posts.
im still fixing things at the moment so bear with me and im still working on all images 90% are fine the others im working on now
we are now using a backup solution
war machinery
- Thread starter gingerjon
- Start date
John these old machines are amazing when you think what the used to produce .
and the simplicity of them and when they run on the old belts to make them spin
and the volume of work a man could turn out on production
I used to operate a lathe at a company call "Radex" , a big company , that used be down the road from the ICC on Broad Street ,it was at the corner of King Edwards Road and Edward St. facing Sheepcoat St
 back of the centre. and on the other side on the corner of Sheepcoat St facing.
which in fact his one of the car park exits now used to be a big coal wharf
and they used to bring up the canal and unload it on to the land .
and they used to deliver all around brum on lorries to business's and houses around.
John what year was this company there ? .
and the simplicity of them and when they run on the old belts to make them spin
and the volume of work a man could turn out on production
I used to operate a lathe at a company call "Radex" , a big company , that used be down the road from the ICC on Broad Street ,it was at the corner of King Edwards Road and Edward St. facing Sheepcoat St
 back of the centre. and on the other side on the corner of Sheepcoat St facing.
which in fact his one of the car park exits now used to be a big coal wharf
and they used to bring up the canal and unload it on to the land .
and they used to deliver all around brum on lorries to business's and houses around.
John what year was this company there ? .
gingerjon
GONE BUT NOT FORGOTTEN R.I.P.
a simple question HOW LONG well Astonian hour and half later scanning all the directories they where there in 1892 and gone between 1956 and 1964 no directory for in between, the advert shown they were using in 1895 hour and half research at £25 per hour you owe me £37. 50p O0 :2funny:
Oisin
gone but not forgotten
A lot of these machines were used well into the 60s. I can recall seeing them running in factories, connected through maze of pulley belts to a main drive shaft. I suppose they remained in service for so long simply because they did the job, or did the job simply. The only real improvement made in some case was for each to have its own power supply - independent electric motor.
Oisin is right; after the second world war British shops were operating tools that were 50 years old and continued on into the late 60s at least. German shops were refurbished with state of the art machinery of the time under the Marshall Aid plan. Being a youngster at the time who had to make the tea, this is what I learned from the older guys. The West Germans did seem to do well after the war though and we were merely told that we were less productive.
O
O.C.
Guest
Rupert if you go round the Jewellery Quarter today some of them machines are still in use.
I needed a die cut with a coat of arms on, so after doing a scale drawing took it the Jewellery Quarter
where a larger drawing was made onto a piece of plastic type material using a Pant o' Graph only a bit more sophisticated then the cutting machinery was used to finish the die before it was sent to be hardened when I asked how old the machinery was he said its been here ever since the building was built
and as it does the job why change it, but you could tell it was well maintained and looked after and to replace it would cost a fortune, but he did say that when he retired there was no one to carry the business on. I asked about hiring a youngster and getting a grant off the Goverment but he said the machine would be condemed and if I was to have the Health and Safety in here they would shut the place down,so when I go the place will go with me.......Sad aint it
I needed a die cut with a coat of arms on, so after doing a scale drawing took it the Jewellery Quarter
where a larger drawing was made onto a piece of plastic type material using a Pant o' Graph only a bit more sophisticated then the cutting machinery was used to finish the die before it was sent to be hardened when I asked how old the machinery was he said its been here ever since the building was built
and as it does the job why change it, but you could tell it was well maintained and looked after and to replace it would cost a fortune, but he did say that when he retired there was no one to carry the business on. I asked about hiring a youngster and getting a grant off the Goverment but he said the machine would be condemed and if I was to have the Health and Safety in here they would shut the place down,so when I go the place will go with me.......Sad aint it
Crom, this kind of thing is done on 3D CAD now and the data is fed directly into a machine that will mill out from solid to the 3D contour exactly as drawn in a fraction of the time. Whether the end result would be considered to have the same artistic content is not known.
O
O.C.
Guest
I had dealings with these machines Rupert and when they break down works maintenance cannot fix them as they are computer run and in the 90's they broke down more times than in use
Give me something that you can fix any day but its progress I suppose which has to move forward because no one makes the old machines.
Remember the Singer sewing machine ?once you bought it you had it for life and because of this Singer could not sell the latest model so they hit on quite a scam, give us back your old machine and we will flog ya the latest one half price .....and it worked.....and they smashed all the old models up......but even now in far away places like India I have seen them working .....they were a faultless machine
Give me something that you can fix any day but its progress I suppose which has to move forward because no one makes the old machines.
Remember the Singer sewing machine ?once you bought it you had it for life and because of this Singer could not sell the latest model so they hit on quite a scam, give us back your old machine and we will flog ya the latest one half price .....and it worked.....and they smashed all the old models up......but even now in far away places like India I have seen them working .....they were a faultless machine
M
mike-g
Guest
As late as 1982 two C.V.A. milling machines in a toolroom I was working in had brass plates on them saying war finish.
O
O.C.
Guest
Surely Mike they could not have been computer run, could they ?
M
mike-g
Guest
No Graham, bog standard universal milling machines.
O
O.C.
Guest
Mike as you are aware everything progresses, but the nicest sign I have ever seen was in the States
a name laser cut out in steel then placed on a massive treetrunk and then sandblasted the finished result was spectacular as the name flowed into the tree
a name laser cut out in steel then placed on a massive treetrunk and then sandblasted the finished result was spectacular as the name flowed into the tree
O
O.C.
Guest
Nice photo of a women munitions worker operating a vertical milling machine in 1918
