Plainer Slate

[Bournvilleboy]

Good Morning Everyone
My Great Grandfathers occupation in 1921 was a "Plainer Slate", he worked at S.E. Bullock and Co.
Elect. Slate Switchboard, Highgate Square, Camp Hill.
Does anyone know what a "Plainer Slate" person would have done, or have photographs of the factory?
Thanks in anticipation for your help.

 

[Morturn]

Putting two and two together and possibly getting five I would guess that if he was working for S.E. Bullock and Co. Elect. Slate Switchboard he would be involved on the manufacture of slate backed industrial switchboards.

Slate backed switchboards were quite commonplace years ago before modern insulation and were beautiful looking objects. I know of one at Claymills Victorian Pumping Station in Burton.

State is a good insulator and reasonably easy to work

Image source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/...Angeles,_Clallam_HAER_WASH,5-POAN.V,3B-24.tif

Lowe, Jet, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

 

[Bournvilleboy]

Thank you for the information, it is the first time I have heard of a slate backed switchboard.
I went to the Claymills Victorian Pumping Station in Burton website, they have a self guided walk,
which was very interesting, it showed the slate backed switchboard, they knew how to make things
back then.

 

[pjmburns]

Interesting.
If you Google "plainer slate" two things happen.
First of all google insists you mean PLANER (no"i").
Secondly it turns the order of the words round and gives "slate planer" . You then get pictures of machines and information about machines which, as far as I can tell prepared slabs of slate for use. Did he work with similar machines?
For example.

 

[Bournvilleboy]

Thanks for information, the videos are very informative.
I could not be certain he worked with the same type of slate planer machines, but a good guess would be that he would have used them.
I did not realise how accurate that slate could be manufactured to, especially billiard tables.