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The Tundish

P

Peter Walker

gone but not forgotten
Every family had at least one tundish. They came in different sizes and were mostly made of tinplate then, but some were earthenware and when I was at Aston Grammar they had glass ones in the chemistry labs.
When I emigrated to London in 1959 I soon noticed that the locals couldn't understand what I was talking about, and for some time I would challenge people about what a tundish was. I have looked in a few old dictionaries and found nothing - even other provincials.
I am sure it was an everyday word. We have two plastic ones at home now, and jolly useful they are too.
Does anyone else know what I am talking about?
Peter
 
TUNDISH

Many years ago when I was a apprentice, my instructor gave me a drawing and told me to make a tundish.
After a few hours I produced the said item and it is still in use to this day.
Today, they are called funnells, and are used to pour liquids into containers, such as bottles or cans. :wink:
 
Fantastic post. I still use the word tundish although I left Birmingham in the '60s. My wife thinks I made up the word. I also say 'cow gown' for a white or brown cotton coat that butchers, store managers, wear and bread roundsmen and milkmen used to wear
 
I've got a cow gown Michael, it belonged to my late father-in-law. I use it for painting and restoring old furnitue. I wouldn't be without it. :D
 
Ar, the Cow-gown

I bought myself a cow-gown in London in the 1960s to keep soot and dust off my ordinary clothes when handling dusty old documents. I think it cost £2.9s.11d from Gamages. It was very serviceable, I used it quite a lot and was happy to wear it. I've probably still got it somewhere but it wouldn't fit me any more on account of late middle-aged spread and the rest.
The cow-gown was a symbol of office in many places, ironmongers' shops and electricians in particular. Also the reference libraries - I remember the Round Reading Room at the British Museum in London, where grumpy old blokes wearing their uniform would treat you like dirt before getting anything to the reception point an hour later.
Just thinking, wasn't the black thing that teachers wore at Aston Grammar below their mortar boards also called a cow-gown?
Peter
 
Cow Gowns

When I first started work on the shop floor in 1946 only Foremen wore Cow Gowns I think it was to signify authority, the rest of us wore Bib & Brace overalls.
 
Tundish

Strange but True ?
It appears that our American Cousins have taken "Tundish" stateside!
The word is claimed in their dictionaries as "English Heritage"
As a Noun;1, A Funnel & 2, A container for pouring molten metal into a mould having holes in the bottom to prevent splashing.
Well ain,t that luvverly Eh, "Our" Word hasn,t gorn its just emigrated.

Ok Peter, & in addendum the teachers at the aforementioned den prefered
Mortar Board & "Gown" although some of the wearers cud be udder name.

Yours in Infamy :roll: :wink: John :)
 
It's interesting how these Americans still speak early English, with words like "gotten", "please" and "thank you" which modern Brits can't understand. What's the odds that definition No 2 of Tundish in John's dictionary wasn't brought over by an emigrant Brummie.
On the cap and gown, I think John's probably right again. The black things teachers wore were probably not called cow gowns, but it's so l;ong ago I can't be sure.
On the real cow gown, I agree with Harvey that in some places it was only the top dog who exercised the privilege of wearing one. It was a symbol of status.
Peter
 
My dad was a foreman and he wore a cow gown it was brown.


He wore a white one when he was a teacher
 
My father-in-laws is, or was, white, its pretty paint splattered now. :roll:
He was works manager, and Brian's mom gave him a clean one every Monday morning, she would wash and starch it, then iron it. It almost stood up on its own. :D
 
Hey folks,
I must have been one of the chosen ones!! :lol:
As Toolroom & Maintenance Manager and later as Development Engineer I was required to wear a white cowgown, and only changed it when I spilt tea down it :lol:
Gave it all up in 1994 for the slippers and cardy :wink:
 
Hi I was reading the comments about tun dishes.
My family also used this term and I think it's origin is in the brewing industry.
A tun dish was used for filling, or making returns to casks in beer cellars, a tun being a beer or ale container.
A tripod that could sit on the top of a cask to hold the tun dish so that both hands could be used to hold the bucket while making returns, was called a freehand.
Regards Peter Keen :)
 
Sexist or what...!

:D The white ones we girls wore in the bakery were called 'Overalls', but the men wore a Brown, or White 'Cowgown'.
 
Sexist COWgowns ? Naaah!

Pom Christine yer bloods rushed to yer bonce again :lol:
Cow gowns origin fom Cow milking therefore more feminine with milkmaids (eg Hot & Cold running Barmaids?)
Whereas Us blokes (Grrrh) have Bull gowns to prevent any returning Bulls sh ss shine reflecting back (Sorry for sssstutter, oops)

Nice One Peter M8, good explanation of Tundish/Brewing etc
Me dad used to work at Ansells but he nearly drowned in a giant Vat of Mild, they pulled him out Twice ? but he kept jumping back in so he got the old tin tack, :roll: Ok John
 
:D Thanx for the history lesson john, but it really wasn't needed even if I am a blound :!: :lol: :lol: :lol: . I was just pointing out the use of the two words (Overall & Cowgown) for the same item of clothing, one for men and another for wimmin. Now what were you trying to say :?: That all the men were wearing ladies clothing, how qu qu qu quaint. :D

Christine :)
 
:D God I really must be blonde with that spelling.
Grandson number 3 (12yrs) was doing the typing for me and I didn't think to it check first :oops: :oops:
Well at least he's got two new words that he knows the meaning of 'Tundish & Cowgown) even if his spelling needs a little work. 8)

Christine and Tim 8) :D
 
COW/BULL GOWNS

YEAH POM, BUT IT WAS A FUNNY PLACE TO WORK IN , WUNNIT :wink:
DO YOU REMEMBER, WHEN YOU PUT CLEAN OVERHAULS ON, HOW YOU HAD TO FORCE YOUR ARMS INTO THE SLEEVES, SUMMAT TO DO WITH THE STARCH, I THINK :shock:
 
Ar, Postie, for most of the year, but when you (or her) took it off the line on a frosty day it was frozen stiff. And how about the milk which expanded as it froze and pushed the top off the bottle?
Peter
 
My lads could never call it a Tundish they used the word Funnell, my family always used the word. :)
 
I remember my father taking me to a shop close to Moor Street Station in 1960, that specialised in working clothes.

He bought me two brown cow-gowns before I started work as an apprentice compositor.

They lasted ages, until I went to work in the typecasting room. If the mould on the machine got blocked it would spray out hot lead and you had to walk up to the machine to turn it off, finishing up with a shiny horizontal crust of lead across your stomach.

Nylon overalls wouldn't have lasted a week.

I also remember walking round Scarborough, where I lived for a time, trying to explain to various shopkeepers what a tundish was.
 
Our Milkman & Baker always had a Cowgown in the 40s & 50s

Most Formen had Brown and Managers had White in Factories mind you only did 3 years in factories so what do I know :)
 
My father was an engineer. He worked at Brooke Tools in Greet and later at Alfred Birds in Deritend. He would always use the term Tundish. Funnels, he would say, where found on ships !!!! I remember he also wore a brown Cow Gown.
 
When I worked (sort of) in the tool room at GEC witton, The men wore a cow gown aka brown gown and the foreman wore a suit.
As for the Tundish, it was often called a funnell but pronounced incorrectly. Instead of your top teeth (goofers) going over your bottom lip to say FFFF, the bottom teeth should go over your top lip so it sounds like PHHH. Try it.
Phillip the phunnell was a bloke I worked with who unfortunately spoke like that. Phillip the Phunnell was his nick-name.
 
Yes, I know what a tundish is too, we had one at home I think!
My Dad worked in engineering and he used to wear a brown cow gown :)
 
I think it was clothing originally worn by farmers and those working on the land, not just those with cows.
Incidentally, here is an example (among many) where Google got the wrong end of the stick:
ScreenHunter 6019.jpg
 
wow them there ladies would not look like that after a hour on a dairy farm
i had try'd google it aint got a clue about cow gowns. i know they were used as a coverall for milking

ps blondy can come and work with us any time:grinning:
 
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