大象传媒

As a Millwright George repaired and installed machines and equipment, and within the 鈥�0鈥� Shop there was a highly specialised Swiss made machine used for high precision jig boring. This machine was considered an extremely valuable piece of equipment and during the Second World War it became invaluable to the war effort. It had a brick and glass building built around it where it stood in the workshop to ensure a steady temperature to maintain measurement accuracy. The windows were needed for the operator to see, as the lighting power wasn鈥檛 guaranteed.
George had the pleasure of stripping this machine down and organising the repair/ manufacture of the replacement parts. Consider that there were no manufacturer assistance or advice. Nor what the materials consisted of, for these parts or heat process required. It is understandable that he was left alone to get on with it apart from 鈥渨hen will you be finish?鈥� Although a few minor initial glitches were encountered the machine worked perfectly for many years after.
On his retirement this machine was still in use and required repair shortly afterwards. To the works management鈥檚 alarm the contractor called in representing the Swiss Manufacturer, wanted to charged (I believe) in excess of 拢30,000 to carry out a similar repair that George had carried out those years before.

The Thread Grinding machines were also very valuable asset to the war effort in producing thread taps of all sizes and types e.g. Imperial and Metric threads. Most important of all were the thread gauges used for inspection of production work affecting a great many applications. Although there were several Thread Grinding machines there was never a lack of work during the dark years of the war. George operated one of these machines and later carried out repairs to these machines.

Another of the highly specialised work projects was the producing of surface plates that required three at a time to be worked on. This meant that three casting plates, with a moulded lifting handle on the one side and opposite the surface plate face was poured then rough machined and finally surface ground on a surface-grinding machine.
Then the very patient and skilled work began by using a hard metal tipped flat scrapper (like a flattened screw driver blade) of differing tip widths to suit. By using a red lead paste in the initial stages and then engineers blue paste (finer than the red paste more like paint) to coat the surface of the ground faces. Then by rubbing the coated faces in alternate order the high spots were distinguished and scrapped down until all the faces were the same without high spots and as near perfectly flat as possible. The flatness achieved was such that if two of the scrapped faces were left in contact for any length of time they would ring i.e. molecularly weld themselves together. Parting them would destroy them and the whole process had to be gone through again.
This high level of accuracy was required for gauging work on flatness of manufactured parts faces also for laboratory work in science projects requiring a vacuum to be held or projects of this sort. Sizes of the surface plates varied and were often no more than eight inches square but took many months of persistent and diligent work. The largest ever made were for the Military College of Science at Shrivenham and these were twenty-four inches square! They took nearly six months to work up to the required standard and drove several apprentices into complete boredom in the initial stages and were relieved when George and or one of his work
mates took on the work. George often as in this case finished the finer touches besides earlier efforts in instructing the apprentices. The resulting faceplates were the last ones supplied to the Military Collage in about 1969 and it was said that replacements were prohibitively expensive if obtainable at all!

The setting up of the 鈥淴鈥� shop 鈥� Points and Crossings machinery was a major project undertaken by George, requiring the assistance of 鈥淭he Heavy Lifting Gang鈥� a specialised group of men and machines, used for moving heavy machinery and loads within the works.
This new machinery was specialised for the manufacture of points and crossings for most of the BR rail tracks. Alignment and setting up this type of machinery required experience and acumen with it. To ensure firmly fixed to the ground and meeting the requirements of the specification鈥檚 needed to achieve the manufacturing accuracy desired/quoted by machinery manufacturer. Also to meet the guarantee requirements given with the machinery.
The size of the machines were in excess of 60 feet long which can be easily be related by comparing sets of points and crossings in use on the rail tracks. Welding, metal machining and bending processes was employed in the manufacture of these points and crossings.
The closure of the 鈥淴鈥� shop in the late sixties required the installed machinery to be removed and dismantled for transport to another site. Therefore it was necessary to employ experience and acumen once again and in some ways it was even more challenging, as each section had to be identified and ensured in good order before crating and despatching.
During the World War 11, George like many of his work-mates were exempt from military services due to the importance of the work they were doing for the war effort. However like many more men in this situation he was eligible for Home Guard duty, and was stationed in the Anti-aircraft Battery at Stratton. His unit manned the Rocket guns, a new concept at that time.
One of the better kept secrets was that at the back of the 鈥淕鈥� Shop there was a huge steam hammer, mounted over a 60 foot deep pit filled with cross laid sleepers to absorb the vibration it made when forging connecting rods. During the war Merlin engine crankshafts for the Spitfire fighting plane, were forged and the only other place at one time was in Coventry.

Information kindly supplied by the Steam Museum, Swindon from their Wall of Names archives

John Bryan Owen-Jones
I only managed 14 months erecting as my apprenticeship came to an abrupt end 6 months early as I was called to Military Service on 2nd September 1939, apprentices not being reserved.
I joined the RAOC/REME for maintenance of Anti-Aircraft guns and instruments. With my garage experience I joined as a motor mechanic, and very soon after when there was a shortage of instrument mechanics I volunteered for the position on the strength of handling loco speedometers. It was fascinating working on the state-of-the-art 鈥榗omputers鈥� (called Predators) for tracking aircraft and the remote control of AA guns.
Information kindly supplied by the Steam Museum, Swindon from their Wall of Names archives

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