Return to 1960-1964

Vision 021

This is the ‘Coming of Age’ issue of VISION
and so I feel this is the right time to pause
for a while and take stock of the changes that
are taking place at Mitcheldean.
I expect by now most of you will have heard
that within the next 12/18 months we shall
cease manufacture of all Bell & Howell
‘Filmosound’ projectors. This decision was
taken because of the increased demand for the
Rank Xerox ‘914’ and the pending production of
another machine which will leave insufficient
facilities available at Mitcheldean for Bell &
Howell production. However, we still have a
major production programme before us which we
must ensure is met.
To give you some idea of the vast potential of
the Xerox process, I have taken some
statistics from the 1962 Annual Report of
Xerox Corporation of America:
1959 1962
Sales Turnover: $31,739,000 $104,472,000
Number of Employees: 1,894 4,699
Although we are still some way behind the
Sales Turnover figures above, I think you will
agree that these indicate a healthy future for
us, even if we are concentrating ‘all our
eggs in one basket’.
The Bell & Howell Sales Administration,
Service Department and Warehouse have now left
Mitcheldean and returned to London. This move
. hg:11:11rEgillitigggiggg–1171;1==-7-=1:gglEHTIT.01F-thtirel
2
was a difficult one to make and I feel that
everyone involved is to be congratulated on
the smooth way in which this was carried out.
To those of you who have decided to stay at
Mitcheldean rather than return to London, I
would like to say that I wish you every
success in your new jobs.
Work is now well under way on our new Canteen
and Social Centre which I feel sure will go
far towards improving the amenities of the
factory. As you will have read in a previous
issue of VISION, when the building is complete
we shall have a large Assembly Hall on the top
floor, and I hope this will enable us to
expand the social activities of the factory.
With all the building operations going on
around us it has become increasingly obvious
that car parking and access arrangements have
become somewhat disrupted. Management are
fully aware of the inconveniences that have
been caused; but because of the bad weather
and the time taken to obtain planning
permission for development – it took two years
of negotiations to obtain permission to build
the new access road to the Canteen – our
programme has had to be revised. However, the
end is in sight and in a short while we shall
all have a tarmacadam surface on which to park
our cars.
Since the May/June issue of VISION in which we
published “a quick look at the results” of the
National Productivity Year Questionnaire,
further discussions have taken place and a
number of items have already been actioned.
Some very useful information and suggestions
have been unearthed, and I take this
opportunity of thanking those of you who
completed the forms. I must say, however,
that I had hoped for a greater response.
Director and Chief Executive
COVER PICTURE : Curious neighbours have thought this might be a summerhouse,
or even that chickens were to be reared in it. But on a .fine night, with its shutters
opened to the sky. it stands revealed as an observatory, built by star-gazer Ted Lewis
of Quality Control for the astronomically low figure of £1.5. You can read all about his
fascinating hobby on page 8.
3
Photos: crmccme
Management batting: that’s Roy Powell running on the left, and Frank Edwards striking.
HOW A CUP WAS WON AND LOST
Ethe rain held off in apprehension
as that dreaded opening pair-
Frank Edwards and Bob Baker-made
their way to the crease at the commencement
of the Annual Management versus
Apprentices Cricket Match.
Umpires Stan Newman and Bill
Steam were very soon in action, and
reluctantly Bob Baker retired, with only
one run scored. Frank Edwards was
Management Captain Frank Edwards shows
Apprentices Captain Barry Hall one way to make
a big decision!
4
. . . by our Wicket Correspondent
next to go, but by then it was two for 30
and the situation looked a little more
respectable.
Mind, it’s a good thing Roy Powell
has joined Xerox Production Management
team because he scored 46 for the
Management before falling to Barry
Hall’s spinners.
Jim Allen, the Xerox Corporation
Liaison Engineer, practised continually
when he reached the ground and made
a grand total of eight. Frank Edwards
was heard to say that Jim made a better
show at cricket than he could at baseball!
Then something quite unexpected
happened: B. C. Smith was stumpedthe
first time this has ever been achieved!
For the Apprentices, Barry Hall,
Bruce Powell and John Haggar scored
54 runs between them, while the other
eight legitimate apprentices scored only
eight runs. There were nine extras.
making the Apprentices’ total 71.
Sixes were hit by Roy Powell (twice),
Barry Hall and John Haggar, and did
John blush and fume when he realised
he had hit his own car with his six!
Afterwards, when the Management
had emerged victorious, an enjoyable
evening was had in the ‘White Horse’
where music was supplied by Les Davies,
the Chief Chemist and Metallurgist.
The evening was so enjoyable, in fact,
that the winners left their trophy lying
on the counter at the inn. We wonder
if some surprised customer had his pint
served in it before it was collected by its
rightful owners!
7 7 7 ANY ANSWERS 7 7 7
WHICH bandleader, believing he had lost his bunch of keys, had notices posted up
to that effect and had the whole factory looking out for them, only to find two days
later that they were in his best suit pocket?
WHICH qualified nurse was forced to admit that occasional!. her patients were right
when they told her what was wrong with them?
WHO took home an unwanted bale of straw from the canteen? Was it really used
to stuff her mattress?
WHO has the best holiday tan at the Plant?
WHO was seen carrying a baby’s teat? It was acquired for the latest arrival in the
family-a baby hedgehog!
WHICH Xerox machine operator in Production Control used rather an unconventional
method to convert her skirt to a ‘Suzy Wong’ style?
WHICH lady from Assembly thought it was 7.45 a.m. when she woke up and
hurried to work without having had breakfast, then found she was an hour too
early? And which Xerox lorry driver went one better, thinking it was 7 a.m.
when he got up and discovering later that it was 2.30 a.m.?
WHO, though on a diet at home, eats double-decker ‘Wimpeys’ when out with his mate?
WHO, when taking his car driving test, borrowed a mascot from a motor cyclist
who had been successful in passing his own test? Unfortunately it seems that the
mascot-a handkerchief printed with Welsh place names and their English
equivalent-only works for bikes!
WHO sits on a throne to do her house painting?
WHICH driver and his three mates travelled to work all sitting
van (it had a split tyre on the other side)?
WHOSE car headlamps nearly caught fire when switched on?
WHICH inspector went home, got into bed and left his wife locked out (inadvertently,
of course)?
WHO went fishing for eels and caught a moorhen? And talking of fishing, who was
caught poaching trout? We understand the offender was also recently in trouble
when his bull terrier poached a hen’s head!
WHOSE racing pigeon took a fortnight to return home-a distance of four miles?
WHO ought to take driving lessons before using her mail caddy?
WHICH time clerk, trying to get her bonus cards back too quickly from Comps.
section, was let down by elastic and returned even more quickly than she went?
WHO in Purchase Office, when put on to 9 o’clock staff, came in at 8 a.m. owing
to a discrepancy in the filing system?
WHICH capstan operator had his van resprayed before meeting his girl friend?
WHO always seems to get red hot pants in Heat Treatment?
WHO in Mechanical Laboratory has started keeping ‘ducks’?
WHICH girl inspector, who normally gets a lift home, got into the car and tooted
the horn impatiently, and found her mistake when the unexpected and irate o’nner
came along?
WHO was obviously so satisfied with the use of bricks as a van brake (see our last
‘Any Answers’) that he now uses them on the pedal of his drill?
WHICH shop loader rang his supervisor, asking if the latter could give him the
number of the shaft he was holding in his hand?
5
THE
EFENDERS
QrrE a number of men working at
x. the Mitcheldean Plant have joined
the Territorial Army, ready to be called
upon to assist in the defence of this
country. They comprise office staff
and production workers, representing
between them a variety of special skills.
What might be referred to as the
T.A. some 350 years ago in this locality
ARTICLE BY NEVILLE LITTLE
(Carpentry Shop)
was also composed of men possessing a
variety of skills-but very different ones
from those of Mitcheldean men today.
Look at the Lord of Berkeley’s returns
for the Parish of Mitcheldean for the
year 1608. This lists men between the
ages of 20 and 60 years, more or less
fit for service in His Majesty’s (James I)
wars, and gives us a broad picture of
the population, the build of the men.
their trades, and what type of defensive
weapons they possessed or could use.
First, population: there were 134
men in the age group referred to, and as
no census returns were made in those
days, only a rough estimate of the total
can be made. This works out at between
600 and 650-a figure which is pretty
constant up to 1939.
As to their build, 28 were of ‘personable
stature’, 13 were of the ‘tallest
stature fit to make pikemen’, 16 were of
‘middle stature fit to be musketeers’,
6
53 were of ‘loner stature fit to use a
calyver’, while 24 were of ‘meanest
stature’ fit for pioneers.
It seems that the staple industries of
Mitcheldean in those days were weaving
and its allied trades, and leather work.
The returns, however, do not give a very
clear picture as to how these men
worked-whether as a master and a few
men, or as individual units.
Mitcheldean could boast of 15 broad
weavers, five weavers, seven clothiers
and three tuckers (who dressed cloth
when it had left the loom).
The leather trade was represented by
five tanners, two curriers or leather
dressers: two glovers: and fourteen
shoemakers.
It is surprising that in an area like
this where there was a plentiful supply of
nRAWING BY RAY WRIGHT
(Design D.0.)
Ton we find that the only people having
anything to do with the iron trade were
four nail-makers. Although in previous
centuries iron had been smelted in
Mitcheldean, neither coal nor iron
miners are mentioned, which seems to
indicate the iron trade was shifting further
into the Forest, finally to cease with
the great exploitation of the 18th and
19th centuries.
From this it seems that Mitcheldean
had become dependent on agriculture
with a plentiful supply of wool and
leather finding a ready sale in the local
market or to travelling merchants.
Certain persons mentioned had some
type of arms or armour which they were
expected to hold for His Majesty’s
service: others were expected to find
firearms at their own expense. Four of
them had a corselet each, five had a
calyver each, one had a sword and
dagger, while five more would join
together, if needed, to buy a musket.
A corselet was a piece of armour
used to cover the trunk of the body.
The musket was a very heavy firearm
which had a kick like a small cannon,
and could only be fired from a rest
stuck into the ground, while the calyver
was a lighter matchlock gun which
could be let off without a rest.
So, with the pikemen and their 16-ft.
pikes, and the pioneers with pick and
shovel, the local army and their ten
trained soldiers waited for the call
which doubtless, like us today, they
hoped would not come.
Service Difficulty
THE girls on the switchboard, ready for
most eventualities, were somewhat taken
aback when a complete stranger popped
his head round the door of their domain
recently and asked “Any chance of a
job?” As they had nothing to offer
him, he was redirected to the Personnel
Office!
Money Talks
OVERHEARD when some apprentices were
chatting together: “B.A.F. money is
good. But it shun’t much on’t!”
SAVINGS AWARD
From October 1962 to March
1963. membership of the Mitcheldean
Savings Group increased
from 486 to 568. At
the same time. the subscriptions
for each six months went
up from f6.000 to £7.000.
There has been a steady increase
both of membership
and subscriptions ever since
the Group was started in 1954
with 260 members at £1.613.
Mr. J. R. Traynor. District
Commissioner. National
Savings Movement. Gloucester.
is pictured on the right
handing over a Certificate of
Merit to Mr. H. S. Phillips of
our Savings Committee in
Mr. Wickstead’s office.
‘HOLIDAY MEMORY’ CONTEST
MOST of you have now had your
summer holidays. So before the
memory of the interesting things
you did, the places you saw, the
people you met, begins to fade, jot
it all down. Then some time
before November 4, make your
notes into an article and enter it
in the ‘Holiday Memory’ contest
announced in our last issue. Remember,
entries must run to not
more than 1,000 words, and not
less than 300. First prize is three
guineas, and the runner-up gets one
guinea.
Mr. Hambrey says a Big
`Thank You’
IN a letter to our Long Service Association,
Mr. J. Hambrey, former Works
Manager at Woodger Road, says:
“Will you please convey my very
grateful thanks to all my friends at
Mitcheldean for the really beautiful
clock I have just received.
“It is, indeed, a very generous gesture
to remember me in this way, for I have
been away from Mitcheldean for ten
years, and it is heartwarming to realise
I have so many friends among you.
“The gift will serve as a perpetual
reminder to me of the very happy years
I spent with you all. and of the many
friendships 1 Nas prk ileged to make
and which, I sincerely hope, I shall be
able to renew periodically.
“Often I shall think of you all in the
future, and wonder how fares the world
with my friends at Mitcheldean.”
As a boy of thirteen I was lucky enough
to be introduced to a well-known
artist who lived nearby. This gentleman,
being interested in all things
scientific, owned a three-inch telescope,
and one evening, after a demonstration
of static on a Wimshurst machine, he
took me out on to the lawn for a sightseeing
tour round the heavens.
We all know of the craters and
mountains on the moon but very few of
us have the opportunity to see them, and
I was quite unprepared for the glorious
sight of the moon magnified 60 times.
Ranges of mountains stretched for
hundreds of miles and I could even see
craters inside craters. These, by the
way, vary from 150 miles to a few yards
in diameter, the larger ones being known
as ‘walled plains’.
As I gazed through the telescope,
near the shadow line I could see bright
glittering points of light and this was
literally the sun rising on the mountains
of the moon.
A telescope of the type I was looking
through cost about £40 to buy in those
days and I was unable to raise 40
shillings! However, I was still able to
find out about the constellations, to
learn the names and distances of the
8
You and Your Hobby-2
are my friends
By Ted Lewis
Ted Lewis studies an
interesting star
cluster.
principal stars and planets, and also to
read about the great men who have
made astronomy the science it is today.
The years rolled on and other hobbies
pushed astronomy into the background
until one day a lady, hearing that I had
been interested in the stars, gave me an
old naval telescope which magnified
three times. For endless hours I experimented
with its lenses and eventually I
discovered a way of achieving a high
magnification by using a negative lens
just outside the focus of the object lens.
(The object lens, of course, is the one
The other end of the
telescope, showing
the home-made
mirror. An old
engine block makes
a sturdy support for
the whole structure.
Photos: C. BROOKS
furthest from the eye.) I was disappointed
to learn later that the method
I had ‘discovered’ was first thought of
200 years ago!
1 was still far from satisfied, and one
day I read in a library book that one
could produce a mirror for a reflectortype
telescope by grinding two pieces of
glass together in one’s own workshop
or garage.
A trip to a local ex-Government
‘dump’ netted two pieces of one-inch
porthole plate glass, and, calling at
Messrs. Canning in Birmingham, 1 obtained
carborundum powders down to
grade 400, and optical rouge for
polishing.
Thus equipped, and with the very
brief instructions contained in the book
I had read, I pressed on. Sure enough,
after about four to five hours’ grinding,
the lower glass became convex and the
upper one concave and, by standing the
upper glass on edge while still wet. I
was able to see an inverted image.
Continual grinding with finer and finer
powders reduced the surfaces in contact
to a beautiful silky texture and the
mirror was now ready for polishing.
This involved pouring pitch on to the
lower glass, and pressing the mirror on
it while it was still warm, to form an
identical curve. Grooves were cut
across the pitch and then an untold
number of hours’ polishing rendered the
surface of the mirror crystal clear.
When a mirror is polished clear it is
about one half done; tiny zonal errors,
perhaps no more than a few millionths
of an inch deep, develop, and these have
to be removed systematically with great
care. checking as one proceeds to see
try I .
Photograph of the south-two region of the moon,
showing craters and walled plains.
that other errors are not creeping in.
A very delicate shadow test set up with
no more than a torch, some tinfoil and
a razor blade, gives one complete information
and control of the curve as one
is working on it.
Cutting the story short, you should
be able to grind out the precalculated
depth of glass in less than one hour,
improve the contact and fine grind
ready for polishing in five or six hours,
polish clear three to four hours and
after that, good luck!
An astronomical mirror, to perform
correctly, has to be slightly deepened
in the centre from the spherical shape
we have strived to attain during polishing.
This amounts to roughly eight or
nine millionths of an inch on average.
and the mirror is then described as
being parabolic.
To be quite truthful mirror-making is
not quite so easy as I have described it.
However, you will probably agree with
me when I say that half the fun and
satisfaction in a hobby is in meeting
difficulties and overcoming them.
After learning the technique of homesilvering,
my first mirror was a far
greater success than I had expected; and
having set it up in a very shaky experimental
telescope, the wonders of the
heavens were at last mine to explore.
The cloud belts on Jupiter, the rings
on Saturn, double and triple stars with
varying colours, amazing detail on the
moon, star clusters and hazy patches of
light we term Nebulae, were all seen by
my friends and myself through a telescope
that had cost about 30s. I also
9
managed to trace the progress of one
of the earlier Sputniks across the northern
part of the heavens.
Digging deeper in the telescope
makers’ bible, Amateur Telescope Making,
Book 1, 1 found that magnification
equals the focal length of the mirror
divided by the focal length of the eyepiece,
a longer focal length mirror automatically
giving a high magnification at
the expense of brightness. So I decided
that my next mirror would have to be
at least 10 in. in diameter and at f.I0
aperture ratio the focal length would be
about 100 in.
From the bottom bracket and chainwheel
of a child’s tricycle I made a
grinding machine to smooth the rough
edges of the blanks. One boy power
firmly applied to the pedal gave quite a
professional appearance to the edge of
the mirror blank and I did quite a
roaring trade selling blanks to friends
who had become ‘bitten by the bug’.
Two 10-inch blanks were obtained
for 2s. 6d. each and about 15 hours’
work gave me an excellent mirror. A
rough wooden lash-up provided me
with the best views of the moon I had
seen to date, and 1 realised that this
mirror deserved a well-designed telescope
and mounting, and an observatory
to house it.
One-inch angle aluminium was used
to make a square skeleton frame braced
with 10-gauge stainless steel wire, and at
the iewing end I made a 12-inch length
of brass tube to rotate in four pulleys
set in crowded ball races. This would
give me a more comfortable viewing
position at awkward angles and perhaps
eliminate that ‘crick in the neck’.
A fair quantity of second-hand matchboard
and timber came to hand, so
after much head-scratching, pencilchew
ing. and drawing-to-scale. i evolved
* * * * * * * * * * * *
*
**
*
* * * * * * * * * * * *
POTTED BIOGRAPHY
Ted Lewis of Quality Control hails from
4( Monmouthshire, and was trained as a toolmaker.
He is musically-Inclined (he used to
4( play the saxophone in a dance band) and he
loves to entertain old folks and children
9 with a programme of European colour slides
to which he has added a tape-recorded cony
4( mentary and music. He has two sons, two
daughters, and a good-natured wife who has
* turned a blind eve to carborundum on his
pillow and silver nitrate in her sink!
10
an original design for an observatory.
This took about nine months to complete
and I was now left with the problem of
a mounting.
The observatory, of course, rotated
on pulleys on a steel track, and my
13-year-old son was able to push it
round quite easily even though it
weighed about half a ton. This was to
give the telescope access to any part of
the heavens through the shutter opening
in the roof.
All sorts of scrap are used by telescopemakers-
a car brake drum for a mirror
cell, old street lamp posts, and even car
engine blocks have been pressed into
noble service by would-be stargazers!
Heavenly Touring
Four six-foot lengths of two-inch
angle iron were placed through the floor
of the observatory in concrete in the
ground beneath, and these supported
an old Morris Minor engine block
inclined at an angle of 51° 40′. This
engine had driven me happily around
the country for 20.000 miles and I knew
that its two roller bearings would serve
me equally well touring the heavens.
Through bushes fixed to the flywheel
I placed a halfshaft (from the same old
Morris Minor); on one end of this I
fixed the telescope, and on the other
end half a gallon of lead melted down on
the kitchen stove to act as a counterweight.
The balance of this arrangement
is quite good and I am now
working on the most interesting part of
the whole project.
The earth. of course, is turning and a
powerful telescope should be driven
through gears in the opposite direction
at a speed of one revolution in just under
24 hours. Here one can find ample
scope for the small amount of inventive
genius that most of us possess, the
making of the parts being the real problem.
The main worrnwheel took about
two and a half hours to make with
424 teeth.
This will be driven through gears by
a small synchronous electric motor with
a friction drive to vary the speed. I
will then be able to attach a camera to
the telescope and so open up a new
phase in this extremely interesting hobby.
As you will have gathered, the telescope
performs very well and the highest
magnification I have used so far is
about 500x. Under this power the
detail on the moon is almost indescribable,
although I can only use it during
suitable atmospheric conditions.
If after reading this article you feel
you would like to see some of the
planets and the moon through the telescope,
then I shall be only too pleased
to welcome you, weather permitting of
course. Those of you who would like
to delve deeper into the subject might
like to know that there is a local society
known as the Gloucestershire Astronomical
Society which meets in the St.
Briavels!Lydney Area. Chairman is
Colin Pincombe (Accounts Department ).
Tailpiece
In Amateur Telescope Making, Book 1.
will be found an illustration showing
two cats with their tails tied to a
handle on the mirror for grinding.
This must not he interpreted literally,
for English cats are known to be very
unco-operative!
FILM TO AID DISABLED
I) oPERAiiic.N is the name of
a 16tnnt. sound film w filch has recently
been completed by Clive Brooks
(Quality Control) on behalf of the
Forest of Dean Committee for the Care
of the Physically Handicapped.
Sponsored jointly by the Committee
and by the Royal Forest of Dean
Rotary Club, the film shows the work
that is being done for physically handicapped
people in the Forest.
“Combined Operations”, which was
filmed in colour on a Model 627 camera,
runs for 40 minutes and took 13 months
to make. During this time Clive
travelled to many parts of the Forest
and also had to attend functions outside
the county to obtain suitable material.
“I was fortunate,” he says. “in having
to reshoot only 200 feet of film. Everything
else came out perfectly first time,
despite some of the difficult places in
which I had to film.”
These ‘difficult places’ included a
garden shed where he had to balance
precariously on a pile of coal, and a
Remploy factory where he succeeded
in fusing all the lights-before taking
his shots!
The film-feelingly directed and commentated
by Mr. Stanley Evans (himself
a physically handicapped invalid)-had
its premiere at a recent screening at the
Wesley Hall, Cinderford. Shown to an
audience of over 200, it raised £36 for
the Committee funds.
It is now hoped to hire “Combined
Operations” to interested organisations
throughout the country. The hire fee
is 2 gns. and all applications should be
addressed to Mr. Douglas Marfell,
Hillcrest, Stenders, Drybrook.
New Angling Season
THE first contest of the 1963-64 season
of the Angling Club took place recently
on the Club’s waters at Lydbrook : this
was followed by the Annual General
Meeting at the Cotirtfield Arms.
Officers elected for the new season
are as follows: Chairman: H. Holmes:
Hon. Treasurer: L. Hart; Hon.Secretarj:
J. D. Williams: Committee: C. Bamfield,
W. Brown, B. John, J. Price, R. Reed.
J. Wooding.
Two other contests were fished-on
July 7 and 21-with a good attendance
on each occasion.
Says the Hon. Secretary: “We are
looking forward to an interesting season.
Our club is growing fast and we hope in
the near future to obtain more fishing
rights for our members. So here’s wishing
all of them good fishing and tight
lines for the 1963-64 season!”
11
,f1^11, V.111.”/1/111^11..”.(ln..A.n.n.,
ENGINEERS-OR JUSTNUTS
An Electrical Engineer-always tightens a nut with pliers.
A Mechanical Engineer-tightens it the proper way-with a hammer and
chisel.
A Production Process Engineer-makes all this effort unnecessary-he omits
the flats on the nuts.
A Planning Engineer-gets the thing made in half the time-he only makes
half nuts-or is he?
A Progress Engineer-chases the whole thing up until the job is red hotthis
welds the nut to the screw.
A Work Study Engineer-finds that the metal around the hole wasn’t doing
anything useful, so the bolt which filled up the hole has now nothing
to sit in, and the nut has to be thrown away.
A Design Engineer-is still searching for the awkward places to put nuts in.
though we’ve told him many a time.
A Civil Engineer-just curses and consigns the thing to perdition.
Department Work
A Chemical Engineer-a simple type, just does nothing: this allows the
w hole assembly to rust solid.
For the above we are- indebted to the Engineering Employers West of England Association
of l,flok Study & Staff Training.
PLANNING FOR THE FUTURE
ON Tuesday, June 4, a new
‘Advanced Planning’-came into being
at the Mitcheldean Plant.
Two factors led to the decision to set
up this Department: necessity to plan
long term developments, both with
regard to existing and new products, and
also the disirability to insure that our
works control procedures matched our
developments.
The task of ‘Advanced Planning’ is
threefold. Firstly, it is responsible for
the control and planning of future factory
layout and the necessary systems
and procedures involved.
Secondly, it incorporates what have
previously been known as the Organisation
and Methods functions, which
include providing a current examination
of clerical and accounting machine
methods of all types.
Its third function is work study, as
distinct from pure cost reduction exercises.
This will, for example, include
such things as evolving the best means of
feeding the 813 and 914 assembly lines
from the stores kitting area.
‘Advanced Planning’ will live up to its
name-it will look into procedures
12
may be adopted from anything
up to two years ahead and, in general,
will not directly affect day-to-day
operations.
Head of the new Department is Mr.
D. F. Griffiths. He and his team are at
present located in the former Work
Study offices, but it is hoped to provide
facilities for them in the Administrative
Building in the near future.
BEATING THE BANDS
ON page 3 of our last issue we mentioned
the successes of four Forest of Dean
bands. Beating the lot of them at the
Cirencester Band Contest recently was
the Cinderford Town Band, some of
whose members are employees at our
Plant. They won a cup for coming
first in the Marching Section, and were
awarded the Cirencester Tradesmen’s
Cup and £30 for coming first in the
Selection Section. And to cap it all,
they were awarded the Gloucestershire
Association Cup for being the highest
placed Gloucestershire band in the
contest.
$
Products on display in the new showroom.
New Rank Xerox Showroom
INSTEAD of cutting a conventional tape,
the guest of honour at the recent
opening of a new showroom in Croydon,
Surrey, pressed the button of a Xerox
914 Office Copier. As he took the
resulting copy from the machine, the
guest, Mr. E. L. Hughes (President of
the Croydon Chamber of Commerce)
said: “1 have much pleasure in declaring
that the first copy has been well and
truly made!”
Terrific Growth
Mr. Hughes was opening the new
South London Branch of Rank Xerox
Ltd. on the sixth floor of Green Dragon
House, 64/70 High Street. The new
branch is covering all London south of
the river, and South and South-East
England, providing demonstration facilities
and after-sales service.
Thanking Mr. Hughes on behalf of
the Company, Mr. Gordon Cooper
(General Manager of the U.K. Division)
said: “We have had a terrific growth in
the last 18 months and we are going to
have the same in the next 18 months.”
Mr. Cooper traced the growth in the
use of xerography, from the days in the
1930’s when the inventor-Chester Carlson,
an American patent attorneystruggled
for years to get support, to
the present, when xerography is being
used all over the world. As an illustration
of this growth, Mr. Cooper said
that 2.3 thousand million xerographic
copies will be made in North America
alone during 1963.
Three products are on permanent display
in the showroom: the push-button
Xerox 914 Office Copier: Standard
Xerox (for making offset litho printing
masters in the office): and the Xerox
1824 printer (for enlarging engineering
drawings from microfilm on to ordinary
paper or on to printing masters).
IT’S A DATE
GET out your (liar.’ now and make
a red ring round the date October
18. That’s when we shall be having
our Fourth Annual Dance and
Reunion at Cheltenham Town Hall.
The Master of Ceremonies will
once again be Mr. Johnny Walker
and the band will be the same one
as last year. Naturally the highlight
of the proceedings will be
the election of a new ‘Miss Rank.
Mitcheldean.’
13
Putting YOU
in the Picture
New Appointments
As from July 29, Mr. J. J. Wilson took
charge of all Production Engineering
functions previously controlled by Mr.
E. Mason, who has now left us. Mr.
L. E. Davies, however, in his specialist
capacity as Chief Chemist and Metallurgist,
has become directly responsible
to Mr. C. W. Hotchen, but his departmental
services will nevertheless still be
available to the factory as before.
Mr. B. E. G. Clarke has been appointed
assistant to Mr. J. J. Wilson. He is at
present investigating special problems
affecting Production Engineering Department.
As from August 12, Mr. R. E. Baker,
whose new title is Manager-Component
Manufacture-has been made responsible
for the manufacture and
finishing of all piece parts and components
made at Mitcheldean, whether for
Xerox products or the remainder of
the Bell & Howell programme. This
means that all machining capacity, including
present Xerox machine shops,
the press and auto shops, paint spraying,
plating, polishing and heat treatment,
come under Mr. Baker, and all personnel
in these departments are responsible
to him.
As from August 12 also, Mr. R. T.
Walding severed his immediate connection
with Xerox 914 production and
assumed responsibility for the production
of Xerox 813 machines. His title
is now Manager-Xerox 813 Product.
Mr. J. C. Henwood is now assistant to
Mr. Walding and his title is Assistant
Manager-Xerox 813 Product.
Mr. Walding’s place as Assistant to
Mr. D. R. Elliott has been taken by
Mr. G. C. Linley, who is to be known
as Assistant Manager-Xerox 914
Product.
Mr. A. Nightingale has been appointed
Assistant to Mr. J. Tester, who is in
charge of the Tool Design Department.
The announcement of two important
appointments just missed our last issue:
Mr. B. C. Smith became Purchasing
Controller as from July 1 last, while
14
Mr. J. J. Wilson C. BROOKS
Mr. J. K. Birch was appointed Personal
Assistant to Mr. F. Wickstead.
Newly Engaged
Miss Margaret Collins (B. & H.
Assembly) to Mr. Tony Baker on
June 15.
Miss Lynn Roberts (Paint Shop) to
Mr. David Field (Machine Shop Progress)
in July.
Newly Married
Mr. Michael Jones (Xerox Sub-
Assembly) to Miss Josephine Farley
on June 8 at Holmer Church, Herefordshire.
Miss Noreen Cornwall (Xerox Inspector)
to Mr. John Notley (Xerox
Warehouse) at Ross Registry Office on
June 22.
Miss Mollie Gilkinson (B. & H. Assembly)
to Mr. Basil Brown (Planning) at
Ruardean on June 29.
Mrs. Lilian Little (Heat Treatment) to
Mr. Arthur Bevan on July 27 at Mitcheldean
Church.
Also on July 27. Mr. D. Witts (Xerox
Machine Shop) to Miss Wendy Brown
at St. Barnabas Church, Gloucester.
Miss Jill Phelps (Design D.0.) to Mr.
Graham Bonser on August 5 at Flaxley
Church.
Mr. K. Tyler (Xerox Machine Shop) to
4
Miss Joy Smith on August 8 at Oxenhall
Church.
Miss Judy Roff (Production Control) to
Mr. Emlyn Evans at Lydbrook Church
on August 31.
Newly Born
Paul Anthony, a son for Mr. R. Murrell
(Xerox Machine Shop) on June 21.
Kevin John, a son for Mrs. Betty Marsh
(née Weaving) on July 7. Betty used to
work in B. & H. Assembly.
Robert Ian, a son for Mr. Charles
Brown (Time Study) on July 13.
Sally Anne, a daughter for Mr. Hubert
Fisher (Planning Department) and his
wife, Peggy, who used to work in
Quality Control. Sally arrived on
July 25.
21st Birthdays
Miss Carol Roberts (B. & H. Assembly)
on June 28.
Mr. Tom Howells (Metallurgical Laboratory)
on July 17.
Three new ‘majors’ in Purchase Office:
Mr. Robert Walker on September 11,
Miss Jeanette Short on October 18, and
Mrs. Margaret Vaughan on October 22.
Retirement
Mr. W. Rogers (Machine Shop Office)
retired at the end of July. He had been
with the Company for 121 years.
HOME MARKET
For Sale-Brand-new ‘Dinkie Dean’ gas
boiler, cream and blue. £6. Also cream
and black ‘Main’ gas cooker (oven and
four burners) in good condition. Apply
46 Eastern Avenue, Mitcheldean.
Volunteers wanted to help bring in
potato harvest at Harrow Hill. Incentive
bonus paid. Apply ‘Spud’ Roberts.
Time Study (!)
Mr. and Mrs. B. Brown
C. BROOKS
Mr. and Mrs. G. Balmer c”0′)”
FAMILY RECORD
Two-months-old Mark Andrew Gaylard
is proud of his family’s record of service
with the factory. All four of his grandparents
are employees. There’s his
Dad’s dad-Mr. W. A. Gaylard (Polishing
and Plating)-with 27 years’ service
to his credit, and his Dad’s mum in
Bell & Howell Assembly. Then there’s
his Mum’s dad-Mr. A. Munden-in
B. & H. Assembly and his Mum’s mum
in the Machine Shop (B. & H.). His
Dad, Max, also used to work in
Machine Shop, while Pam, his Mum,
worked in Machine Shop Office until
she married.
Following in Father’s Pawsteps
TWO whippets, father and son, carried
off quite a few of the prizes in the
Dog Show held during Mitcheldean’s
Carnival in August.
‘Billy’, the father, who owns Ralph
Taylor (Tool Room), won the cup for
the Mitcheldean Stakes and came first
in Class 9. ‘Sandy’, son of ‘Billy’ and
owner of Billy Wood (Xerox Warehouse),
walked away with two firsts, in
Classes 10 and 12, and came third in
the Mitcheldean Stakes.
The Show was organised by Sister
L. D. Townroe of our First Aid
Department.
Printed by the Victor James Press Limited.
Coulsdon. Surrey
15

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