Re: Dowty's
 

There is a mining society based in Earby - worth contacting. An Alan Davies, employed by Wigan Libraries I think, is an authority on all matters mining. I can put you in touch with a descendant of the Blakes if you PM me your email address. Burnley author/historian Jack Nadin may be worth speaking to, as he is very knowledgeable on local mining matters. He lives outside Padiham and Burnley library may forward an email to him . Alan Davies may be able to guide you to mining magazines. Dowty may have an archive.

Re: Dowty's
 

Dowry Street i was brought up on,from the age of 5/6, The Engineering Firm on it was Whittakers, Me Dad worked yon until it closed. They also had a moulding shop were they cast parts fer the pits i think they were.

Re: Dowty's
 

Thanks Bob -my mum is over visiting my Aunt in Up Holland -near Wigan, at the moment -I'll send her the patent number and get her to go into the library to speak to Mr Davies if she has time -interesting coincidence that she is there now -could prove useful!

You are a mine of information! No pun intended;):D

Think my reserves of karma are already booked for the next couple of days now...

Re: Dowty's
 

Were you a miner then Roy? Didn't know that...

I have been trying to describe what it was actually like to work underground - there are a few anecdotes in my Gt Aunts letters - apparently my ancestor used to take tins of creamed rice pudding down with him and heat them on the steam engine which ran the conveyor taking the tubs of coal to the shaft -very crafty!

Being a bit claustrophobic I can't imagine what it was like, though I have genned up on the daily routine etc. I expect there was quite a cameraderie built up among the men - working in confined spaces and particular conditions.

Re: Dowty's
 

Colliers were the salt of the earth.

Re: Dowty's
 

Totally agree Bob. The conditions that they worked in were the pits.

Re: Dowty's
 

The following attachments show leaflets for the invention -the one with the picture is the original 1920 patent which was then updated and re-patented in 1925 -this second version is the one sold to Dowty.
What I find incredible about this is that my Gt grandfather was obviously so articulate and yet he left school after the age of eleven to work in the mines full-time as he was orphaned.

Re: Dowty's
 

As Altham was then (pre-1974) in the Burnley Rural District Council area, you will have to try Burnley library rather than Accrington. Maybe both. It5 was not unco9mmon for an employer to take on the financial responsibilitty for an employee's aplicatuion for a patent, which was an expensive business.

Re: Dowty's
 

Am going to have to get sleuthing now as you've given me a few lines of enquiry. I would really like to know how much the patent was sold for and if any production ever came from it for Dowty's. I know it was used on trial with success at Hapton, Whinney Hill and Dickie pit and also later at Burnley colliery. The mine owner's here did not adopt it as they didn't want to spend the money! It was also used in South Wales by the Tredegar Iron and Coal Co. in their colliery.

Re: Dowty's
 

Got to agree on that one. I spent 30 years in the coal mines. Started at Bank Hall in Burnley 1962. Moved to Huncoat. Worked as supply lad and then did my coal face training. Worked on the coal face doing a job called Striking out on nights for a while. This job was removing and resetting pit props. We carried with us a Dowty Key. This was used to release and pump up the Dowty Props. Then it shut and went to Hapton Valley until 1968 and then to Coventry Mine until 1992. Loved every minute of it. Lots of people I knew at the end of their working life down the pit said "Thank god I am out of that place". I was so sad when most of the coal mines closed in the early nineties. Loved it.

Re: Dowty's
 

Gotta agree wi Mog, i loved the pit, always said the best job i ever got sacked from.:D

Re: Dowty's
 

When I worked in engineering we did a lot of work for Gullick Dobson who made the pit props

Gullick-Dobson roof support
Hydraulic roof support. It would be moved in behind the cutting machinery to support the roof at the coal face.

Gullick-Dobson roof support:: OS grid NS8391 :: Geograph Britain and Ireland - photograph every grid square!

Re: Dowty's
 

But just to confuse the issue we also did work for Dowty Rotol who made landing gear for aircraft
"The Company was founded by George Dowty in 1935 making aircraft equipment in Cheltenham under the name Dowty Aviation. In its early years the Company invented the first internally sprung aircraft wheel and went on to make landing gear for Frank Whittle's jet-propelled Gloster aeroplane. In 1960 the Company acquired Rotol Airscrews, giving it a propeller manufacturing capability (Dowty Rotol). In 1961 it acquired Boulton Paul Aircraft, no longer a large scale manufacturer of aircraft, producing research aircraft, but producing powered control units for aircraft as well as other activities. This was named Dowty Boulton Paul Ltd."

Wikipedia

Re: Dowty's
 

Thanks for your contributions Mog and Wadey - still can't imagine it being a fun job though!

Are any of these engineering companies still based in Accrington or have they all closed down? Do you know exactly on which street Dowty's was to be found?