Dogger at tube works

[davidfowler]

While checking the 1911 census for the place where I (and a lot of my relatives) were born, I discovered a family with a super name - PINGO - and one of the sons, 14 years old, was down as a "Dogger Up" at the Tube mill. It's amazing how many types of manufacturing had such specific names for certain operations.

 

[davidfowler]

Searching our Forum I came up with this post from Tim Wood in 2009

"i worked at yorkshire imperial metals in rabone lane as a tube drawer,both in copper and brass,plus they did other mix types of tubes...
i worked on a multi bench called the 45 tonner,it pulled 3 tagged copper shells about 6 foot long and 2 and half inch diameter,through plugs and dies with special oil coated onto them,,,drawn by a huge machanical dog by chain,,and depending on the plugs and die combination,,it was drawn to thickness diameter and to leghnth.
Was a facinating place to work for,i did a variaty of jobs their,and even shaving brass down to special thickness on a single draw bench.
tim wood"

 

[dek carr]

As an electrician I remember watching this fascinating process at a Delta metal factory in Winson Green opposite the Hospital the factory was in poor condition with all the machinery being old and to me very dangerous condition the factory had no proper electrical earthing rods and when it came to drilling any steel girders an electric spark was set up between the drill tip and the steel due to the different potential.Dek

 

[Rupert]

I possibly saw the same bench Dek and seem to think that the Delta copper tube division was Earle Bourne. I think they made another modern plant north west of Brum somewhere with bullblocks that pulled the shells, around a drum presumably, into a coil which was upended onto a hook system overhead conveyor. I think the coils were then annealed in an annealing furnace to soften for further drawing into straight smaller dia. sections. It possibly still exists but maybe not British owned or the same name anymore. In the late fifties domestic water tubing was changing over to harder thin wall drawn copper tubing and corners were achieved with soldered drop formed elbows and not formed or bent anymore. New houses that I helped build recently used plastic tubing with compression fittings, I seem to remember, so it seems like it is changing again. I prefer copper...I know for a fact that it lasts a half century without a problem anyway. Love the way the solder gets sucked in to the hot metal conection.