Huwood - Unique Opportunity

[onotoman]

I worked for Huwood in 1980s and was training to be a Service Engineer. As a Service Engineer was required to be able to work in any part of a mine, unsupervised I was required to be fully 'Coalface Trained' (not sure if this is the correct term)

So, even though I was not a miner as such I spent 3 months working at Seaham and Vane Tempest Pits.

The first week was spent in the classroom at the Seaham Training Centre, then a month of basic training in the mine.

The next 2 months were spent at Vane Tempest doing the more advanced training and I spent 2 weeks working with the Ventilation Team (again not sure of the correct term) and learned how to test for adequate air flow, use of a flame safety lamp for gas testing etc.

I now work in Web Marketing but I'll never forget those few months, I really enjoyed my time with great guys and in some really interesting places (not often you can see an underground pony stable not used for 40 years and still evidence of charred beams from an explosion that happened nearly 100 years previous)

I've even bought an old safety lamp to strip down and rebuild - just to see if I can still remember how it's done :-)

[John]

Any "outsider" that I've come across underground had to be supervised, if it was a tech from one of the companies that supplied us with equipment say electrical, usually a chargehand electrician accompanied him and stayed with him until the work was complete.
Same with the fitting staff on mechanical equipment.
Main reason being, The Manager had to authorize every person working at a colliery in writing what his job was and issue a job description.
In my case it stated I was authorized to test, Install and maintain electrical equipment, cables etc.. Under the relevant sections of the Mines Act.

When I worked at Angus Place Colliery in NSW Australia, the same applied, as leading hand on night shift I accompanied and stayed supervising Alex Downey. Even though he was a very experienced and capable engineer, I had to stay with him and check his work.

[onotoman]

Thanks for the information John,

As far as I can remember, when working with the Huwood Service Engineers out on the road, we had free access to any of the mines that we visited including Selby, Grimethorpe etc - He would just report in at the main office and that was it, down we went.

As I mention though - it was a great experience and I'm probably fortunate that at 19 years old I was able to go down so many mines before they closed a matter of months later.

[Sam from Kent]

Never really thought about the position of "outsiders" but I do remember walking with the Deputy Manager and one other person heading towards the development. All three of us were walking together, but we were not talking, until we got to a junction when myself and the D.M carried on and the "outsider" turned left into the face. The D.M said "Isn't he with you?" and I said "I thought he was with you" so we followed him into the gate and he was from Gullick's

[onotoman]

The Huwood guys seemed to come and go as they pleased - I worked with a Service Engineer called Mick Short from Sheffield and in the few days I spent with Mick, we must have visited around 10 mines including the 'Super Pits' he'd report in then we'd go to wherever he needed to be, then out again.

[dazbt]

I’ve worked at one or two pits as a visitor, both as an NCB / BC and private company employee and I can never remember being supervised per se and certainly never had any work that I had completed checked by a mine employee. The ‘monitoring and vetting’ of visitors to most NCB mines during the 1960s, 70s and into the 1980s was generally extremely lax, however all that changed dramatically after several incidents, some of which involved underground accidents and injuries to men working with contractors who weren’t qualified to be underground let alone authorised by anyone. A passport system was quickly devised and all ‘contractors’ including service engineers of all equipment manufacturers and suppliers had to be prove that they were qualified to be underground and identify the equipment that they were qualified to work with or on, in reality these original passports weren’t worth very much more than the paper they were printed on …. the MK2 style passports that were brought into being a little later required far more positive verification of qualification.
Not all private company engineers had completed underground or face training, the company representative that you mentioned working with in Australia John, had a factory based engineering background and was technically not part of the field service team and as such I would doubt very much that he had undergone underground or face training, that is taking nothing away from this man’s excellent engineering abilities ………… as you know I hold Mr Downey in high esteem.
Anderson Strathclyde like many other mining machinery manufacturers had experienced service engineers who had worked for many years on dozens if not hundreds of coal faces throughout the world and had never actually received any type of underground training, all that stopped in the UK when the MK2 passports were implemented, two ‘lads’ with over twenty years’ experience of working on coal face equipment actually had to start basic underground training, both aged 56.

[John]

Must have been individual Managers then Daz, I recall an incident at my first pit when the manrider motor "threw dome bars" out of the rotor and damaged the windings.
The motor was changed out and the damaged motor was stripped down by some Wilson Ford Electrical fitters, the rotor sent back to their works to be rebarred and balanced, and two armature winders repaired the windings on site. At all times, one of our electricians supervised them. Mostly sat on his rear end reading newspapers etc... ;D

Due to the Coal Mines Regulations in NSW, didn't matter if you were skilled underground as a "visitor" either working or as Alex was doing, you had to be supervised at all times. The Manager would have had a baby if he thought they were working alone.

A longwall, can't recall the number now, either LW8 or LW9 had a roof problem that stopped the face completely for weeks. Eventually it was decided to drill holes in the face and up into the strata ahead of the face line and pump a new resin in at high pressure. Those contractors were supervised by a Deputy at all times. In fact the Manager was on the job for a good part of each shift on the back shifts. By the look of him, I think he was glad when we started cutting once more.

Even at BG's Marblaegis and CPL's Boulby, where we came under the Misc Mines Act, we were required to supervise folks doing work for us. PITA!!

[John]

Thinking back, the NSW one could have been due to insurance liabilities Daz, all none employees of the company, before going underground had to sign a waver card. On it it said the "visitor" had to obey all instructions given by employees of the company.
I still have one of those cards somewhere, I'll have to dig it out and scan it.

[dazbt]

Whilst writing the last reply I was struggling to think back, some things stand out clearer than others, but here's a few chilling facts that I do recall; the only time that I ever recall being questioned or challenged as to my working on face machinery was in New Mexico and the reason I was asked or rather questioned was based on trade union membership and the fact that as a non employee of the mine I was not allowed to work in any capacity other than as advisor. In the UK I have actually worked on a shearer on the face as a vistor when I was the only man on the district, the only other person in the whole of that pit was the deputy (who happened to be my relative) we rode in together and parted company at the face whilst he went about his various district exams and we met up back at the paddy board some six hours later. I have let myself into a pit in NSW by means of button operated 'cage' and worked on an AM500 unsupervised, albeit a full shift of faceworkers in the immediate vicinity but certainly unsupervised as such. I've rapped myself out of UK shaft mines, I've rapped myself in and out on paddy haulages dozens of times and once, but only once, I've ridden out of a deep shaft mine laid on the top of of a mine car full of muck at caol winding speed. I've repaired, installed shearers and then commissioned them without supervision and often with no colliery engineering staff present, I driven numerous types of shearers in production in the abscence of drivers (even at Barrow Colliery) pulled chocks, set props even used borers to drill shot holes, stemmed shot holes and believe it not spent a shift stone dusting all whilst employed as an Anderson Strathclyde rep.
Most pits in the UK provided a guide at least for the first trip underground to any particular face, but after that it wasn't unusual to be left to your own devices to find your way there ... and back, mostly riding with the shift but quite often travelling solo between shifts to attend callouts to shearer breakdowns.
I served a unique indentured appreticeship with the NCB, I have the only Apprenticeship Certificate for a Mechanical Engineer (Mobile), a title 'dreamed up' by my first employer, an NCB Central Workshop, manager at Shafton, but stopped immediately afterwards by the Divisional Training Dept, as a result of the confusion I did the standard underground training, the standard collier's face training and then had to do a further period of engineering face training, I later obtained a Mechanic of the Mine Cert via 'The Tech', I considered taking my Deputy's Cert but couldn't find enough rags and ended up with the balloon instead.

[John]

It's amazing how many apprentices did the "colliers face training" Mate of mine, same class at Tech, did his face training in the stable hole, chocking, ripping etc. That was at Cotgrave, I spent mine with one of the electricians, mostly alone!! While he carried out other jobs, mine was overhauling the face signal "keys".

[onotoman]

I hunted in our loft for 3 hours last night (it's a mess up there) to see if I could find the two certificates that I received after the basic and coalface training I did as Seaham and Vane Tempest Collieries and I couldn't find them

I would very much doubt if any record would be kept of them if I wanted copies though, I presume?

I did find two old 'Coal Mining Theory' books, an old disarmed hand grenade and a bullet from a fighter jet that my dad gave though, so it wasn't a complete waste of time.

[John]

I'm not sure if any of the records were kept by the NCB/ BC after it was "wound up"
The Industrial Training Branch kept all records when I worked for the NCB in the 60's.
I have photo copies of my training records, as the training officer was a little lax at giving copies to us as he should have done. But that's in hind sight. I obtained mine from Area before I left the industry.

I have seen posts on other sites asking anyone where they can get employment records from, all have sadly gone the way the coal industry went.

The only records I know that are archived are mine abandonment plans, and borehole logging plans. The abandonment plans are kept at Berry Hill, Mansfield at the Coal Authorities offices.
And the borehole logs are kept at the BGS at Keyworth, they also have a collection of mine plans other than coal.

You may want to try the NUM, they may be able to point you in the right direction, other than that, my guess is all records pertaing to training, employment etc were destroyed after a set period after the industry was privatized.

[dazbt]

I think John's suggestion of contacting the NUM HQ is probably the best idea as to obtaining advice of where records might have been kept. I believe that all national training records available at the time were transposed to a central computerised database held somewhere in Sheffield, at least up until 1994. This was used to verify the passports issued to contractors so it did include training and certification records of men who had left the NCB/BC employ prior to that date. Many of the individual colliery held records had already been 'lost' at that time, the Yorkshire archives had been held at Acton Hall although hundreds if not thousands of those had been allegedly destroyed in a fire at Grimethorpe HQ, including my own.

[erichall]

The rules regarding ANYONE working on a coalface were simple.
If you were simply passing through a coalface as a visitor, you could do so if accompanied by a competent person.
If you were doing any work on the district, and would have to pass through the face for any reason, you had to have the 'short form' of face training (20 days).
If you were doing any work on or around the coal face (this was taken to mean around face entries or rippings) you had to be fully face trained. This applied as much to the Surveyors, who could be simply 'passing through', or doing face surveys, or even simply measuring up after accidents,as to Service Engineers. Service Engineers from any firm were required to be 'Fully Face-Trained' if they were to be working on any face or even development machinery.
It was actually the firm's responsibility to ensure this was complied with, but should be checked by the Training Officer before he issued a certificate to allow a SE to work underground.
Unfortunately, Training Officers were human and often tended to overlook this point. Most of the 'big' manufacturers, aware of this, used to send their Service Engineers to be trained. One thing to be born in mind was the fact that many SE's were ex-NCB/British Coal employees, and as such, had already undergone the training.
No Engineer holding a Statutory appointment at a mine worth his salt, would allow a SE to go into the mine unaccompanied, whatever the skills of the SE. This was no slight on the SE, simply a case of the Statutory Engineer covering his own back.
Another point to make was that the SE had to go through the same formalities as any workman on entering a Deputy's District, inthat they must wait until allowed to do so by the Deputy, who was the man responsible for the overall safety of the District. This even applied to the Manager of the Mine, in whose place the Deputy was acting. The HMI would also report his presence to the Deputy in charge of any district he was visiting.

[erichall]

With regard to Dazbt's second reply about working in New Mexico and the question of Union Membership, what very few people in the UK, and especially in the mining industry, seem to realise is that the NCB never operated a 'closed shop' policy. It was not a requirement that a person be a member of a Union, though this was looked upon with some distaste. I did my own full face training at the same Barrow Colliery, dazbt, whilst I was a Student Apprentice. I was officially employed at Area and salaried (paid monthly) and worked in the Survey, Wages, and Training Departments before starting my face training. Upon completing my F Training, I was moved to Rockingham Colliery 'for further experience in mechanised mining'. It wasn't until some 5-6 years later, when I was appointed Deputy Grade 2 (Shotfirer who can sign as a District Deputy) that I was finally approached by the NACODS branch Secretary and asked aboutmembership. I immediately joined, and after I had progressed to Senior Overman, and moved areas to become a Backshift Undermanager, I then was approached about transferring to BACM. On doing so, I retained all my 'perks' as a member of NACODS such as my Coal allowance (much better than the BACM allowance) but obtained the 'perks' of BACM. I was never a member of NUM or any other of the Mining Unions, and was never approached to join.
It was only when it cropped up in a conversation with the NUM Secretary at High Moor Colliery some 25-28 years later that I ascertained this fact from the NUM Secretary.
By the way, I am not, and have never been, 'anti-union'.

[John]

And remember, all electrical work, ie PPM/s, installation, repair and testing, had to be signed under the Act. The appropriate "forms" could only be signed by a duly authorized person, authorized in writing by the Manager.
So it would appear that at some collieries, the law was being violated.

At one stage I thought electricians and fitters required to have academic qualifications to be appointed. They don't, although it was preferred.
A Manager can appoint anyone he considers has the "necessary technical or "hands on"standards" to perform his duties safely and without danger.

Although that was circumvented by tradesmen from outside industries being sent for a "verbal" exam with the MQB panel. Took a fair amount of risk away from the Manager.

I'm talking hands on tradesmen here, not someone who could take charge, who was required to have certification under the Act.

[dazbt]

May 31, 2011 9:12:42 GMT -5 John said:

And remember, all electrical work, ie PPM/s, installation, repair and testing, had to be signed under the Act. The appropriate "forms" could only be signed by a duly authorized person, authorized in writing by the Manager.
So it would appear that at some collieries, the law was being violated.

At one stage I thought electricians and fitters required to have academic qualifications to be appointed. They don't, although it was preferred.
A Manager can appoint anyone he considers has the "necessary technical or "hands on"standards" to perform his duties safely and without danger.

Although that was circumvented by tradesmen from outside industries being sent for a "verbal" exam with the MQB panel. Took a fair amount of risk away from the Manager.

I'm talking hands on tradesmen here, not someone who could take charge, who was required to have certification under the Act.

You're certainly right there J, the many questions that arose relating to Anderson engineers being qualified to operate, work on, test and examine machinery within the requirments of M&Q compliance were raised on numerous occasions, the general answer was that most collieries turned a collective blind eye to all of it, some didn't and insisted that any work done mechanical or electrical had to be in compliance with M&Q requirement/compliance and resulted in 'our' having to fill in M&Q proforma ............. which then must have technically (or supposedly) meant that all Anderson field engineers were authorised in writing by the individual colliery managers. When the 'passports' were introduced all Anderson field engineers had to have written authorisation and confirmation that they were individually capable of operating, testing and repairing all or specific items of machinery, the certified evidence was provided by Anderson senior management and accepted as such by British Coal .............. which always seemed to me to defeat the supposed object of it all. There were many aspects of fault diagnosis and safety testing procedures relating to shearers and the day to day operation of them that were outwith the normal training of colliery engineering staff and were accepted as being within the domain of the manufacturer's field staff, so short of replacing machine units unnecessarily and suffering the related down time most collieries were glad to accept the 'unauthorised' use of manufacturer's field staff, in compliance with M&Q or not.
My personal experience of NCB unit training officers is pretty grim, I was once challenged by a colliery onsetter (of all people) as to why I wasn't authorised to work over and above the permitted working hours, at the first chance I asked the question of a training officer as to why I was asked this question and he just laughed and rubbished it, I later found out that the onsetter was the better educated, I have asked several training officers the same question and none of them knew the proper answer.

[John]

To be honest Daz, I never once saw an Anderson Boyes rep, field engineer or anyone from a machine manufacturer.
Our own shop at my old pit used to burn all the pick boxes off a new drum and weld them back on at different angles.
We had a couple of very competent men who knew the haulage end of a 16/125 like the back of their hands, one was the nightshift chargehand electrician. He'd served his time as a fitter pre 1954 and like a lot of that time did electrical work. So when the new regs came in, he was issued with a "green ticket.

He admitted, he was "no electrician", he just knew enough to be safe around equipment, but fitting wise, he was one of the best I've ever worked along side.
I can still picture that first ABDECMT with the roof blown out for height, and the turret dismantled to gain access to the bottom bearing, which had crapped itself. Ken, the chargehand, Dave assistant chargehand, both Mech/Elecs struggling in a very tight spot reassembling the turret.

This was around 1967ish, so we had a lot of "Green Ticket" men still underground with a second generation of new tradesmen.

I also learned "The Nobel Method" of removing a drum that refused hydraulic methods of coming off. Jubilation on going back under the ripping lip and seeing the drum balanced on the end of the shaft!!

As I've stated, the only "outsiders" I saw back then was a couple of armature winders who were repairing the windings of our manrider motor. They were under CPS at all times, none had worked underground until that contract.

What were the max hours Daz??? 16?? and then must have 12 hours away from the pit??

I recall when at Boulby, max was 16 hours, I once did 24, and expected trouble from the main office. One of my mates did 32 hours!!! There was hell on over it, they split his hours up in case an Inspector got word of it. After that 24, I did 14 12 hour nightshifts covering for holidays. I milked that for all it was worth, ie quick turn arounds, worked through meal breaks, plenty of sump time, but not through my making, hated it down them places!! That 24 hours in pay, made me just over a weeks pay!!!

I used to get plenty of doublers and overtime as an apprentice, I was pretty well looked after on that!

[ericridley]

My dad also worked for Huwood as a service engineer in the Scotland coalfields from mid 1940- late 1970. He originally complete he apprenticeship as a engineer at Gateshead factory.
From what he told me he had cart-blanch to go underground at any colliery in Scotland. He completed basic training and ongoing self rescuer training, he was very well respected within the NCB at that time.
His name was George Ridley from Annfield Plain, he boss was called Jack Briton also from the Durham and worked with Jock Troop, and a couple of other men (Peter, and Neville). All four of them covered all of Scotland, and at that time there was over 350 pits when he died 1987 there was only 13 left in Scotland.

[John]

Casting no aspersions on the skill of anyone who worked for the manufacturers, but according the the M&Q Act, ALL personnel who worked or did work underground or the surface of colliery, had to be authorized in writing. That included anyone driving a loco, winding engine, banksman, onsetter, machine driver, haulage driver, manrider driver and guard etc etc...

ALL fitters and electricians were authorized in writing by the Manager to install, repair and examine all mechanical equipment and electrical equipment.
So any manufacturers reps, including Anderson Strathclyde, Huwood, Dowty etc, would have to be supervised. The man who supervised them would have to be duly authorized by the Manager in writing and sign for any equipment that was worked on.

I lost/left my old authorizations along with most of my Tech college stuff, manuals when I left the UK. In hindsight....well you get the drift.

I do still have my authorizations both as an Electrician and Leading Hand Electrician from Angus Place, I also think I have the one issued to me at Wongawilli Colliery, both under the CMA of NSW.

Just to give you some idea, Electrician.

Authorised to be the competent person to isolate power from underground.
I was also authorized to start the main fan up after a power outage.
To clean maintain, examine and sign for flame safety lamps and cap lamps as a Lamproom Attendant.
Authorized to examine, test Battery Locos and personnel carriers, and change batteries and have charge of sealing pliers. (Yep the Manager had to authorize you to have those!!)
Authorized to drive any diesel loco and or Bagshaw LHD's for test purposes only, including electric locos and battery personnel carriers.

Authorized to install, test, maintain and relocate any electrical equipment, carry out planned maintenance, isolate any circuit surface or underground.

As leading Hand, (Chargehand) I was authorized to be in charge of the Colliery while nobody was underground. (Never asked, so haven't a clue....LOL)

To supervise electricians and apprentices.
Plus electricians duties.
Write accident reports out, only happened once, thank God....
To be in charge of the Colliery in the absence of an Engineer.


If I recall, that was three 8" by 10" sheets of paper listing everything....

Two copies were stuck in front of me to sign, one for the Managers files and one for my files...(I was supposed to have a copy with me at all times at work....Nobody adheres to that)


I created a bit of a flap at BG's Marblaegis Mine in East Leake once.
Day shift, walked down the drift, climbed onto the back of a landrover to ride inbye. Mine Foreman mining asked me to take the diesel manrider inbye as far as the workshops for him...OK said I, climbed in the drivers seat and one of the miners asked me if I was authorized, sure said I for maintenance only......All jumped out. I still drove it inbye.
Couple of hours later, Mine Foreman shouted for me in the workshop, "put your moniker on these two sheets of paper for me"

Authorization to drive the manrider carrying men... signed by the Manager.
Next morning, take the manrider in for me please John.....Men got out, Foreman told them to get back in, "he's authorized now"

Mines ran on paperwork, too bloody much at times!!!!!

Although for a Bolshie person like me, it did provide some interesting moments.. ;D

[dazbt]

Jul 16, 2011 14:54:01 GMT -5 John said:

Casting no aspersions on the skill of anyone who worked for the manufacturers, but according the the M&Q Act, ALL personnel who worked or did work underground or the surface of colliery, had to be authorized in writing. That included anyone driving a loco, winding engine, banksman, onsetter, machine driver, haulage driver, manrider driver and guard etc etc...

ALL fitters and electricians were authorized in writing by the Manager to install, repair and examine all mechanical equipment and electrical equipment.
So any manufacturers reps, including Anderson Strathclyde, Huwood, Dowty etc, would have to be supervised. The man who supervised them would have to be duly authorized by the Manager in writing and sign for any equipment that was worked on.

I lost/left my old authorizations along with most of my Tech college stuff, manuals when I left the UK. In hindsight....well you get the drift.

I do still have my authorizations both as an Electrician and Leading Hand Electrician from Angus Place, I also think I have the one issued to me at Wongawilli Colliery, both under the CMA of NSW.

Just to give you some idea, Electrician.

Authorised to be the competent person to isolate power from underground.
I was also authorized to start the main fan up after a power outage.
To clean maintain, examine and sign for flame safety lamps and cap lamps as a Lamproom Attendant.
Authorized to examine, test Battery Locos and personnel carriers, and change batteries and have charge of sealing pliers. (Yep the Manager had to authorize you to have those!!)
Authorized to drive any diesel loco and or Bagshaw LHD's for test purposes only, including electric locos and battery personnel carriers.

Authorized to install, test, maintain and relocate any electrical equipment, carry out planned maintenance, isolate any circuit surface or underground.

As leading Hand, (Chargehand) I was authorized to be in charge of the Colliery while nobody was underground. (Never asked, so haven't a clue....LOL)

To supervise electricians and apprentices.
Plus electricians duties.
Write accident reports out, only happened once, thank God....
To be in charge of the Colliery in the absence of an Engineer.


If I recall, that was three 8" by 10" sheets of paper listing everything....

Two copies were stuck in front of me to sign, one for the Managers files and one for my files...(I was supposed to have a copy with me at all times at work....Nobody adheres to that)


I created a bit of a flap at BG's Marblaegis Mine in East Leake once.
Day shift, walked down the drift, climbed onto the back of a landrover to ride inbye. Mine Foreman mining asked me to take the diesel manrider inbye as far as the workshops for him...OK said I, climbed in the drivers seat and one of the miners asked me if I was authorized, sure said I for maintenance only......All jumped out. I still drove it inbye.
Couple of hours later, Mine Foreman shouted for me in the workshop, "put your moniker on these two sheets of paper for me"

Authorization to drive the manrider carrying men... signed by the Manager.
Next morning, take the manrider in for me please John.....Men got out, Foreman told them to get back in, "he's authorized now"

Mines ran on paperwork, too bloody much at times!!!!!

Although for a Bolshie person like me, it did provide some interesting moments.. ;D

I suspect that is absolutely correct J.

[ericridley]

Hi John yes you are correct in what you as saying. I worked as a deputy, I like you kept my certificates, and authorization for all my training, I was handed these when the pit shut (Biltson Glen), I also managed to get my flame lamp as well. The point that I was trying to make that way back the H&S and M&Q act didn't hamper my dad and his work mates as so much in the latter's years. But I do agree with you, I too had full change of district coal face main roadways etc... as the title says deputy ( for the manager in his absence).

Good chatting to you.

[John]

Rule breaking was part and parcel of the work... I can recall a question some us posed at Tech during a Mining Legislation class...

"As apprentice elecs, why do we have to learn all of the M&Q Act"

"Simple, so you know when you're breaking the law" was his answer....

I've done a few things I wasn't authorized to do, I'm not 100% clean... ;D

[pitsparky]

Hi, Talking about Huwoods, Their huge factory on Team Valley Trading Estate at Gateshead ( near Newcastle ) L O L.
is now just a large patch of waste ground.

[John]

Nov 21, 2011 16:06:02 GMT -5 pitsparky said:

Hi, Talking about Huwoods, Their huge factory on Team Valley Trading Estate at Gateshead ( near Newcastle ) L O L.
is now just a large patch of waste ground.

Have they gone out of business? What about their electrical division??? Spent many a happy hour with my head inside a Mk1A control box fault finding on the draw out chassis.

[ken]

I remember going on a visit to the Huwood factory when I was an apprentice electrician. This was my first experience of factory work. Their was an assembly line making conveyor rollers. Two things have remained for ever in my memory. Long pipes were sawn off to length on a grinding wheel and this boy had the job of cleaning the grinding remains by stuffing this flue brush thing up the pipe and pulling it back out again -ALL DAY. Another man had the job of pressing the bearings into the end housing of the roller. This was a hand press mounted on a bench like a vice. However it was at right angles to a normal vice and the handle cold not be turned because of the bench! So the operator had to slide the handle through the press spindle to clear the bench, Turn the handle 90 degrees, pull it out, press the bearing in and then reverse the process to get back to the beginning. I could hardly believe what I was seeing as time and motion study was well known at the time. I would rather work down the pit!!!
Ken

[John]

Mind numbing......More than I can say with fault finding on one of their Mk1A's ;D

[garryo]

Huwoods

Drove past the old Huwood site in October this year (2011), now as flat as a pancake. Great site for a distibution centre, supermarket, call centre in fact anything as long as it not allowed to make anything. We wouln't like to take jobs from China, Poland, Turkey, Korea of anywhere else now would we!
Talking about Huwoods, very innovative for their time, remember their conveyors TB40 and much larger, Huwood Loaders or "ski-hi's" as they were called in the North East and the Huwood conveyor control systems. A little bit of trivia, Huwood built the first plough to be used in the UK long before UMM was established, they were given a licence from the original German makers in 1947 to make a slow speed plough for the Morrison Busty colliery.
They also made 100Hp diesal locomotives in conjunction with Hudswell of Leeds.

[John]

Such a shame Huwood have gone!! First time I came across their belts was at Cotgrave, they used the TB120's, then BG used them and of course Boulby, including their MK1A controls.

[John]

I still have an old Huwood notebook with ads of their products, it's dated by the calender in the inside front cover to 1963.
It shows drawings of their ML/6 loader, the Slicer Loader, their Concentric Cable Signalling System, TCR Prop,Care of the TCR Props. Plus in the back, threading of the various belt drives they made, TB200, TB80, GTB60, GTB 40, G 40, TB15 and 30, TB16/6, TB7,GBB 40, and the BB and SL range of drives.