RETURN TO ENGINEERING 1




I re-entered the engineering trade in 1944 in a works catering mainly to the agricultural industry. The war still had two years to run and imports were severely restricted. The existing fleet of pre-war farm tractors needed constant maintenance and repairs. By 1946 when the first of the British built Fergusson and David Brown tractors started to appear versatile workshop technicians came into their own. The Fergussons were a success from day one but the David Browns showed a propensity for shattering their differential gear carriers and it fell to me to fabricate and machine new replacements. The first models had no provision for front end attachments such as high lift platforms, loader buckets or grader blades so an exercise handed to me was to find a way to accommodate these essential attributes. With this resolved many David Browns that would not otherwise have left the show room were sold. Sales of new tractors meant that well used American tractors such as Internationals and Fordsons were traded in. Parts were difficult to obtain so many bits and pieces including sets of pistons were machined from locally produced castings. Also onto the market came a flood of imported powered row-crop cultivators for market gardeners. These presented an opportunity to scheme out and make up sets of high pressure spraying equipment that could be fitted or dismounted as required thus increasing the versatility of the machines.

As the war drew to an end some ex-service men with agricultural backgrounds chose to pick up rehabilitation business loans and set up as earth moving contractors. They purchased mainly second hand Caterpillar and International crawler tractors and had them overhauled and fitted with bull-dozer equipment. In those times winch operation was becoming outmoded and hydraulic actuation was taking over. Sets of this equipment were not imported so had to be locally manufactured to fit each application. I had a keen interest in this work and over five years made up many sets of hydraulic rams, control valves, pressure relief valves and gear pumps. I was head-hunted and offered a remuneration inducement to work for an automotive engine reconditioning firm. My first year’s wages for the same hours went up by 60%. My main work was operating a newly installed crankshaft journal regrinding machine as well as being given experience on cylinder reboring, piston finishing, engine block main bearing line boring, connecting rod bearing machining and fitting. Sandwiched among this was making engine components for vintage and veteran automobiles. The design and production of specialised single purpose machine tools to facilitate refurbishing of components was another sideline. On the way I added a trade certificate in automotive machining to my engineering turning and fitting certificate.

In answer to a job advertisement for a works foreman for a road transport equipment manufacturing company I took up employment that turned out to be totally out of my tree. Management’s appreciation of engineering was seeing sparks flying from electric welders and portable grinders. The firm was under equipped and under financed with disillusioned share-holders withdrawing. On my appointment I was charged with the task of guiding the works to manufacture freight trailer chasses as fast as possible. The managing director and his sales team would match the output. So after two months there were trailer chasses stacked to the roof and few sales contracts. Stop, stop went up the cry and we catered more and more for repair work that held no interest for me.