Sheet Metal.
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Mr. J. H. Randall Relates More of His Interesting Early Experiences.
When we actually commenced work the difficulties with regard to tools became very considerable. There was also our severe limitation of workshop space to cause us further trouble. Imagine trying to make a Roi des Beiges body in a shop 18 ft. by 15 ft. A great many of your readers will almost wonder what a Roi des Beiges body was, although, of course, those who have been in the industry for any length of time will recall the graceful curves if somewhat strained general appearance of that particular pattern, which obviously originated in the first place with one of the Belgian coachbuilders.
2114 Hours for One Set of Panels.
I wonder what the panel-beaters of to-day would say were they asked to work on a wooden floor where every blow on the metal made it jump three or four inches off the stake i We did not Snell) to make much headway at first. One of the reasons was, -of course, due to the fact that owing to pressure of other work we could not stick to this special job. Eventually I had to engage a first-class coppersmith to concentrate on it, and after a good deal of trouble we succeeded in finishing those panels to everybody's satisfaction. It will interest present-day craftsmen to know that it took 2111, hours to make that first set of panels. Modern methods will produce such a set in a, few hours, of course.
The result of that first production was that we once again became overwhelmed with orders, and it was necessary straightaway to find larger premises, and we had to go into something .at a rental of .E120 a year, which was a distinct contrast to the 15s. a week shop in which we started business. I took shops at Hammerimith, and shortly after that had to take others at Shepherd's Bush. • I very soon had 20 panel-beaters going on that Roi des Beiges work alone. The chief trouble with which we had to contend was the difficulty in getting the right sort of labour. Although we got hold of the best coppersmiths we could, it took some time before they became efficient on this special work, which called for a high degree of individual skill. Unfortunately, the strain of this development began to tell on my health, although in the long run the decision I took was beneficial to the business. I decided to combine all three establishments, and I moved into my present premises, which have already b2en enlarged twice. In those old days all our panels were made on bright heads, and finished on the cloth. They were sent out looking as bright as a looking-glass. Steel panels, of course, were quite unheard of. No such tools as sandbags, power hammers or welding plant were available.
Radiators and Motorcycle Tanks.
The next step in the development of this business was the making of an early motorcycle tank for the Ormond Cycle Co. This had to fit inside the whole of the frame on account of the fact that the 12 h.p. engine was fitted on the back stays. Large numbers of these tanks quickly followed, and after a while we not only made them but finished them complete with japanned aluminium finish and transfers. At this period ray undertaking became too large to be left without somebody who could solely devote himself to the organization, and I therefore very reluctantly ceased from about that date to do any practical. work, but to leave it all to my rapidlygrowing body of assistants. In August, 1902, we had a honeycomb radiator to repair for Ilflilnes-Daimlers ; I put in 30 new tubes. Of all the work I have tackled in connection with sheet-metal work, radiators have undoubtedly con
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stituted the most difficult problem., Even to-day, equipped as we are with modern appliances and with the experience of years to fall back on, we sometimes have trouble to make a radiator absolutely sound, and to effect a repair which will stand up for any length of time once it is on the chassis.
Trouble with L.G.O.C. Radiators.
Of course, in 1902 workmen knew nothing about radiators. I myself remember trying to test the first ones we repaired at my •Hammersmith shop. We had a large tank there, and two men used to hold the radiator in the water while another pumped air into it. Of course, with such an elementary •method as this, we frequently let • the radiator slip into 'the tank, so the next step was to have a tank specially made for testing. Quite the largest radiator work-and, of course, I am now writing of cellularones, with their sheet-metal casings—was in connection with the big numbers of repairs I did to the De Dion radiators on the L.G.O.C. buses. These nearly drove me crazy. [We might add that to our knowledge they had an even more trying effect on those who were unfortunate enough to have to run the machines which were fitted with them—En.]. The outer case of these was 18G. brass, and the tubes were in. square. Of course, the greatest trouble was to secure a good joint where the block of tubes was soldered to the case itself. I have known instances where the block has been taken out of the case and we have tinned the outer edges of the tubes and also the edge of the case, and after about a week's running this would probably be leaking again. We had similar trouble with the well-known Daimler cellular radiators, a very fine job in their way, and after endless experimenting we were able to guarantee all jobs for repairs of this kind. Our method was to take out the block and to take out a complete row of tubes from it and replace these with said brass rod. We tried this on the Be Dion pattern, but it was not a success, a result probably due to the awkward shape of that fitting. Later on, we -undertook a contract with Messrs. Tilling to keep all their bus and mail-van radiators in repair for 12 months at a fixed price per radiator.
All this trouble and bother with radiators made me decide to experiment with a new one, and I constructed one with fin, square tubes which were fixed in at the top and bottom horizontally. The principal feature was that we arranged the top and bottom to be detachable.