by
Mildred Cookson, The Mills Archive, UK
Last month I introduced a series of articles in The Miller and Milling in the 1880s and 1890s that dealt with the British engineering firm ER & F Turner. The story, of course, continued as "ER & F Turner went on, over the following years, to manufacture roller mills of modern design to give years of efficient trouble-free service".
The next episode in their history, in 1902, was summarised in a headline at the time "The Irony of Fate: Too Much Water and Too Little". The opposing elements of fire and water caused catastrophes over which the successful firm had no control. An August issue of Milling reported a serious fire that struck just after midnight on the evening of the 16th of that month.
The fire at the Grey Friars works in Ipswich was stopped by a wooden partition that was full of wooden patterns. If the fire had reached the shed of the main woodworking shop the damage would have been enormous as it was full of wooden centrifugals, purifiers and reels, both finished or partly constructed.
The shed in the centre of the illustration escaped but, as can be seen, the damage was extensive and ran into thousands of pounds. The principal loss was the paint shop where milling machinery had been stored ready for delivery. The outbreak was distinguished by two features, the violence and rapidity which the flames spread and the difficulties which beset the Fire Brigade as a result of the inadequate supply of water.
Ironically, a few weeks later, the same journal was reporting serious flooding at Turner's other Ipswich site at St Peters, only 200 yards away from the site of the fire. The flooding, due to excessive rain, flooded the works on either side of the road shown in the photograph, to a depth of eight-and-a-half inches. Neither of these catastrophes deterred the owners of this busy firm and work recommenced shortly after both incidents.
By December of that year, The Miller was able to report on a visit to both of Turner's sites. They examined the erecting shop at Grey Friars, with its work in progress on all kinds of machines, centrifugals, chaff and corn mixers, along with all sizes of roll purifiers and inter-elevators. The workshop employed overhead, electrically-driven cranes and bogey tramlines which ran through the buildings, so that both machines and parts could be handled, with the minimum amount of labour.
Read more HERE.
 |
| Mildred Cookson |
Last month I introduced a series of articles in The Miller and Milling in the 1880s and 1890s that dealt with the British engineering firm ER & F Turner. The story, of course, continued as "ER & F Turner went on, over the following years, to manufacture roller mills of modern design to give years of efficient trouble-free service".
The next episode in their history, in 1902, was summarised in a headline at the time "The Irony of Fate: Too Much Water and Too Little". The opposing elements of fire and water caused catastrophes over which the successful firm had no control. An August issue of Milling reported a serious fire that struck just after midnight on the evening of the 16th of that month.
The fire at the Grey Friars works in Ipswich was stopped by a wooden partition that was full of wooden patterns. If the fire had reached the shed of the main woodworking shop the damage would have been enormous as it was full of wooden centrifugals, purifiers and reels, both finished or partly constructed.
The shed in the centre of the illustration escaped but, as can be seen, the damage was extensive and ran into thousands of pounds. The principal loss was the paint shop where milling machinery had been stored ready for delivery. The outbreak was distinguished by two features, the violence and rapidity which the flames spread and the difficulties which beset the Fire Brigade as a result of the inadequate supply of water.
Ironically, a few weeks later, the same journal was reporting serious flooding at Turner's other Ipswich site at St Peters, only 200 yards away from the site of the fire. The flooding, due to excessive rain, flooded the works on either side of the road shown in the photograph, to a depth of eight-and-a-half inches. Neither of these catastrophes deterred the owners of this busy firm and work recommenced shortly after both incidents.
By December of that year, The Miller was able to report on a visit to both of Turner's sites. They examined the erecting shop at Grey Friars, with its work in progress on all kinds of machines, centrifugals, chaff and corn mixers, along with all sizes of roll purifiers and inter-elevators. The workshop employed overhead, electrically-driven cranes and bogey tramlines which ran through the buildings, so that both machines and parts could be handled, with the minimum amount of labour.
Read more HERE.
The Global Miller
This blog is maintained by The Global Miller staff and is supported by the magazine Milling and Grain
which is published by Perendale Publishers Limited.
For additional daily news from milling around the world: global-milling.com
No comments:
Post a Comment