The direct
employment of scientifically trained personnel on
technical research is an innovation of no long standing
in many branches of industry but it has been established
for many years in engineering. In all its branches,
modern engineering has stemmed from the scientist and is
sustained by the technician. This may not always be
apparent. For example, there are no outward signs of the
researches of the scientific worker in the small jobbing
iron foundry but, nevertheless, he is active behind the
scenes in controlling the production of the pig irons,
the coke, the grinding abrasives, the oils, the core
compounds, and other raw materials. The scientific man is
little in evidence in the machine shops: nevertheless,
modern production rests largely on the achievements of
the metallurgist. The mere mention of one item alone,
high-speed steel, brings home to us what we owe to
decades of laboratory workers and to the present day
technicians: without it, and its associate tungsten
carbide, production would fall to a small fraction of its
present value. The firm of
Mather & Platt Ltd has long been in the forefront in
the quality of its various manufactures but, more than
this, it has an outstanding pioneering record - the
fruits of the efforts of virile business men and capable
engineers who have been ever ready to take advantage of
what science has had to offer through the years. Some of
the scientists who collaborated with the Company, notably
Osborne Reynolds in the creation of the turbine pump and
John Hopkinson in the evolution of electrical machinery,
are world famous: others could be named of little less
distinction. The manufactures
of the Company cover an extraordinarily wide range. They
include some standard lines which lend themselves to
repetition production but by far the greater part of the
output consists of special machines to serve specific
purposes — each machine being designed to meet some
precise requirement. It is not always realised that the
more industry turns to mass production, the greater is
the demand for high-output machines of special - even of
unique - design. It is to meet this important and ever
growing demand that the Company devotes a big percentage
of its total efforts. The furtherance of such a policy
demands as a primary essential the employment of
scientific personnel in a high degree. Machinery for
the bleaching, dyeing and finishing of textile fabrics
covers a big field and calls for exact knowledge of the
intricate chemical and physical processes involved. In
recent years the problems confronting this industry have
broadened materially following the invention of new
synthetic fibres: each of these has its own
characteristics and limitations which have to be closely
studied by technicians devising the appropriate equipment
for processing it. The anti-crease resin finishes have
brought their special requirements, as have also the
delicate crepe materials in vogue at the present time.
Special machines are at present being made to enable
manufacturers to meet the public demand for pre-shrunk
fabrics. Dyeing, which a few years ago
had settled down to a somewhat standard procedure, is now
being revolutionised by methods calling for plant of an
entirely new type. The design of appliances for drying
cloth is constantly being modified to meet the need for
still greater speeds of drying, employing the higher
steam pressures now available in modern works. There is
similarly constant evolution in the centrifugal pump
department, notably in ‘the production of feed pumps
for the present-day boilers, with pressures up to 3000
lb. per square inch, and of pumps to deal at high
pressures and high temperatures with the corrosive fluids
encountered in the modern oil refinery. New materials
have been developed by the Company for use in pumps
dealing with the corrosive and abrasive liquors and
waters of chemical works and mines. The maintenance
of the fire engineering department in its leading
position in the realms of fire fighting rests on the
constant activities of technical men in devising new
features and ensuring high quality in established
products. Mention could be made specifically of the
inventions of the Quartzoid Bulb sprinkler, the Mulsifyre
System for extinguishing oil fires and ‘Fyretron
equipment employed in the protection of aircraft
hangars - all pioneered by members of the research staff
at Park Works. It is an inherent feature of inventions of
the kind in question that trained technicians play an
indispensable part in planning their practical
applications. A similar story
could be told of the Food Machinery department which has
to make a wide variety of machines for the processing of
the various foodstuffs handled by the present day Canner. Designers
have to be constantly at work on the task of devising new
features and in taking advantage of what the advances in
metallurgy and physics have to offer. In the
production of electrical machinery progress would be
impossible without the highly trained designers to lay
down the proportions of the magnetic circuit as well as
the details and insulation of the complicated windings.
The essential materials used for the purpose, the silicon
steel for the laminations, the magnet steel, the
high-conductivity electrolytic copper, the insulating
varnishes etc, are all the outcome of a wealth of
scientific labour. Behind all this lies the fundamental
discoveries and inventiveness of laboratory geniuses from
Michael Faraday downwards - each contributing his quota
to the evolution of the present day appliances which the
user of today is so apt to take for granted without
pausing to reflect how they were derived. Much of the
electrical machinery produced by the Company is used for
purposes for which conventional machines are not
suitable; calling for specific design to meet individual
requirements. The
Works staff also has to include its quota of the
scientific all trained, to deal with the many matters
that arise in connection with tool design, heat treatment
and so forth. The varied and specialised nature of the
work carried out in each of the principal sections of the
Company’s business over a period of years resulted
in the gradual building up of an effective staff of well
trained and experienced technicians to serve design and
manufacture and qualified to discuss technical issues
with prospective purchasers. The Directors, nevertheless,
decided in 1919 to supplement the already extensive
scientific resources of the Company by the establishment
of a Central research department. This department has
well appointed chemical, metallurgical and electrical
laboratories and equipment necessary for carrying out
hydraulic and other engineering investigations. The
scientists in this department are provided with a wide
range of machines and instruments for the physical
testing of materials — metals and textiles. In
addition, the department is particularly well equipped
for dealing with fire-protection problems, its special
apparatus for ‘this purpose including fire
test-sheds, extensive equipment for oil fire tests and
facilities for carrying out large scale tests with the
other fire-fighting appliances which are included in the
Company’s specialities. The
policy of the Company is to mobilise all its resources in
research and development, working as a team to produce
the best results. Some development can be done only in
the appropriate design departments, followed by trials in
the Works or on the pump or electrical test beds: in
other forms, the advances may be of the type test
initiated and proved in the research department. In the
case of some cloth finishing and canning machinery,
developments projected in the design departments can be
tried out only under full scale working conditions at the
customer’s promises so calling for his
collaboration. The same is true of the pumping plant
supplied, for work in oil refineries and on the
oilfields. The energetic prosecution of this comprehensive research and development policy involves considerable expense but the cost has proved to be well justified through the years in maintaining the varied products of Mather & Platt Ltd. at such a level that they set the standard of excellence in many of the open markets of the world. |
A History of Mather & Platt
Ltd.