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Tube Drawer

T

Tri_Rich

New Member
Hi I was hoping someone could help me please about a job called a Tube Drawer?

My Great-Grandma was Ada Whitehouse who was born in Birmingham. Unfortunately that was a very common name at that time in Birmingham so I'm trying to be 99% certain I have the right person.

Here's what I have to go off...

Her marriage certificate (looks like she eloped to Lancashire to get married) says her fathers name was Harry Whitehouse who was a 'Tube Drawer'. It says she was 20 when married in 1910.

Looking at the census records I think I have found her but am not certain. In the 1901 census there was an Ada Whitehouse b.1891 and her Dad was Harry Whitehouse with his occupation listed as 'Brass Tube Maker'.

It seems to link up but how can I be certain? Anyone know what a 'Tube Drawer / Brass Tube Maker' job even was? Is it the same thing?

Any help would be greatly appreciated :)
 
In a nutshell, tube, as in pipes etc are often made by drawing them through a die. Highly skilled job.
 
The 1881 Census has quite a few tube drawers aged 14-15 so I doubt if they were all 'highly skilled'.

Of course tubes come in many sizes, some are just 'drawn down', reducing the outer diameter and letting the inside diameter look after itself, while some are pulled over a mandrel, when the inner diameter is critical.
 
Spargone said:
The 1881 Census has quite a few tube drawers aged 14-15 so I doubt if they were all 'highly skilled'.

Of course tubes come in many sizes, some are just 'drawn down', reducing the outer diameter and letting the inside diameter look after itself, while some are pulled over a mandrel, when the inner diameter is critical.
Click to expand...

Just because the 1881 Census has quite a few tube drawers aged 14-15 it is not indicative of skill level, labour was cheep. If you watch archive footage of tube drawers working or the quality of good they produced, the UK were world leaders in the production of seamless tubing.
 
Oh come off it! A young age is indicative of a low-skill job, what has cheap labour got to do with it?

The 'skill', the 'art', is getting the die profile right. All the drawer has to do operate the machine pulling the tube, pull, stop, pull, simple. It's a mechanised process.
 
Your argument is based on nothing. You said, “The 1881 Census has quite a few tube drawers aged 14-15”.

Quite a few, hundred, thousand, millions compared against what? Other trades, other workers, other industries?

How many in the other industries are you making a comparison by?

Have you sources that confirm your theory?

Are you making your comparisons with the technology of 1881 (your date) or technology form more recent times?
 
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