Dowty's
 

Has anyone got information on an engineering firm which I believe used to be in Clayton -called Dowty's? My Gt Grandfather sold a patent to them around the early 1930's. (I put the name in the Accyweb search box and see that there is a Dowty street somewhere in Accy).

Also if anyone knew anything about a mill/ factory that used to be in Atlas Street (top end of Clayton) which burned down, again in the early 1930's I believe. No name for this one unfortunately (might have been a weaving mill).

Thanks for any help:)

Re: Dowty's
 

Are you sure its not Dowry St. There was engineering firm at the bottom of Dowry St.

Re: Dowty's
 

[quote=Bernard Dawson;994467] That was exactly my first thoughts Bernard, never heard of Dowty street

Re: Dowty's
 

Is Dowry street in Clayton?
Dowty may be a copying error by my mum from old family letters - she said she thought it was an aircraft engineering firm -but I'm not sure as the patent was for a mining invention...

Re: Dowty's
 

Just checked my notes and i've written Dowty's -unfortunately mum is away on holiday for 3 weeks so i can't get her to check the originals!

Re: Dowty's
 

No its Accrington.Its just the Dowty and Dowry similarities.

Re: Dowty's
 

Di, Dowry Street in Accrington runs off Whalley Road, just north of and parallel to Burnley Road.

Re: Dowty's
 

I agree - Dowry. There is/was a firm called Dowty who made metal pit-props. Accrington library may have the patent. I have given them some over the years.There are no Dowtys in the 1951 directory in Accrington or Clayton. It should be possible to trace the patent if you can provide a name of whoever took it out in the first place.There are several patent libraries and perhaps an on-line search facility.

Re: Dowty's
 

Dowty hydralic pit props and supports including automatic walking supports were made in Wigan and supplied to the N.C.B.all over the country, many installed at Hapton Valley Pit. Where we installed the latest support where one man operated eight walking supports while knelt safely under one.

Re: Dowty's
 

I've a vague feeling that Dowty's was part of Blake Hydraulic Engineering, and indeed, if you Google it, there was a Dowty hydraulic pump.

Re: Dowty's
 

Dowty or Dowty prop, the first British made hand operated hydraulic prop developed by Dowty Mining Equipment in 1946. By 1956 there were 400,000 hydraulic props and 200,000 yielding props in use. These were of tubular steel construction designed to be erected single handed and set by a pumping action using a pump handle. They were generally set to yield at about 15-20 tons bearing pressure.

Dowty

Pit Prop, 1950-1985

Re: Dowty's
 

Susie's posting supports my view. I didn't dowtyt for one minute.

Re: Dowty's
 

He he, thanks Bob.:p

Re: Dowty's
 

That's brilliant -thank you so much. Karma due -have given out too much today! If you've more info would be grateful -location etc...
This makes a lot of sense -the invention was an attachment for the insertion/removal of pit props either metal or wood -it was called the Croston slip wedge -I have the patent number too -my mum has all the original documentation at home in Tenerife. It won two certificates of merit at the mining exhibition in Manchester in 1925 and the International Exhibition of inventions in 1929 in Westminster. It's fascinating stuff to research -especially when it's someone from your own family. My Gt grandfather, Thomas Croston worked in the mines at Dickie Brig pit, Altham (Whinney Hill) and Hapton colliery from the age of 11 -working up to be a foreman in charge of the groups of men opening up new galleries and faces to be worked -dangerous job!
His life became a kind of crusade for safety in the mines and he wrote hundreds of letters over about 15 years (we have rough copies of them all in his journals plus copies he made of every reply and the original letters!) it was an obsession for him to get his invention adopted but he gave up in the early thirties after many disappointments and financial difficulties due to the depression and the burning down of a mill/factory in Atlas St. where he lost a massive investment. Shortly after he had a stroke, was paralysed and never spoke again....so sad. The last of his children living, my Gt Aunt Ruth has told us she never heard her father's voice!
This is all being worked into a story I'm writing so the more authentic detail I can find the better.

Re: Dowty's
 

Thanks for this Sue -the Dowty link supports what mum said about the Aircraft industry. The patent was sold early 30's which also ties in!:)

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.

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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?