Author Topic: Aveling & Porter  (Read 5291 times)

Offline MartinR

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Re: Aveling & Porter
« Reply #20 on: January 07, 2021, 02:51:39 PM »
Yes, you're right, I had forgotten about the expansion into Pelican Yard.  I can't find my copies of the Preston books, but there is a description at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aveling_and_Porter
Here's an example of their work culled from Smith's 1928 "A History of Rochester":

Offline Cosmo Smallpiece

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Re: Aveling & Porter
« Reply #19 on: January 07, 2021, 01:57:30 PM »
I thought B&Q were no longer there, but could not recall what had replaced them. Aveling & Porter went on to extend west of the railway onto that plot. I believe Pelican Foundary and Collis & Stace were over that side?

Offline DaveTheTrain

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Re: Aveling & Porter
« Reply #18 on: January 07, 2021, 11:07:19 AM »
Wingets was a separate private, and later publicly listed company.   Later photos of the Wingets foundry show the old A&P foundry. 
It occupied the site from 1953 (I believe) after Aveling and Porter transferred its business operations to Grantham in 1934.  A&P became Aveling Barford.  That is a complex story of industrial combines and mismanagement that is well described elsewhere.

Offline MartinR

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Re: Aveling & Porter
« Reply #17 on: January 07, 2021, 10:24:04 AM »
You're right Longpockets.  B&Q was in the retail park, where B&M, Starbucks and the gym are now.  The Aveling & Porter site was the large car park outside the old archive centre.  Recently the council seem to have been dumping spoil there, I'm not sure what they are up to but the whole area is liable to subsidence since A&P reclaimed it from the river mud.

Longpockets

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Re: Aveling & Porter
« Reply #16 on: January 07, 2021, 09:51:32 AM »
When I was last that way it was the big B&Q car park.


I think B&Q was the other side of the railway line, within the area of Commercial Road and Knight Road.

pete.mason

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Re: Aveling & Porter
« Reply #15 on: January 06, 2021, 10:36:21 PM »
invicta Works outlined in red. Didn't wingets occupy part of the site? Was that post A&P or a subsidiary?

Offline Cosmo Smallpiece

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Re: Aveling & Porter
« Reply #14 on: January 06, 2021, 09:11:28 PM »
Dave Smith - The Strood civic centre building was Aveling and Porter's offices. I understand they stretched along the esplanade behind there. When I was last that way it was the big B&Q car park. I've no idea of the total extent of their site.

Offline DaveTheTrain

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Re: Aveling & Porter
« Reply #13 on: January 06, 2021, 02:49:02 PM »
Hi Dave,


Yes, Avelings did have their own foundry.  There is a nice picture of it here:


https://apps.medway.gov.uk/apps/medwayimages/details.asp?pga=21&searchtype=all&search=aveling&pg=4


In this image they would seem to be casting rear axle brakes.  They are pretty large. 


In the images I posted in image 1 you can see the rivets being squeezed by a large horseshoe shaped rivet squeezer hung over the firebox of a boiler.  This was a much quieter process than hitting the rivets up with hammers which was terribly noisy.  Some would still be done with guns but pretty limited.  In the drop forge shop in the image below I cannot see anything I recognise.


In the second uploaded file I can see in the machine shop, gears and rear axle boxes.  I recognise these from my engine.  They are laying on the floor and about 8inches wide by 15 inches long with a hole in for the axle, with a Bronze bearing pushed in.    The star shaped item is a rear wheel centre what would be bolted or rivetted to a back wheel.


The final upload of the stores is interesting in what it shows.  There is a final drive gear leaning against the racks.  Also more axle boxes and gears and brake drums.


There guys working in the stores must have been strong as some of that stuff is unliftable for me.  I can see only one pole crane at the far end of the stores.
DTT








Offline Dave Smith

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Re: Aveling & Porter
« Reply #12 on: January 06, 2021, 11:03:59 AM »
DaveTT. Interesting heavy machinery workshops,not much room "to swing a cat"! Did they also have a foundry or were castings supplied from elsewhere? Of course, the very large lathes would have been necessary for ensuring the wheels & rollers were circular. Where exactly was A&P's large factory in Strood please?

Offline DaveTheTrain

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Re: Aveling & Porter
« Reply #11 on: January 05, 2021, 02:16:01 PM »
I recall posting these in the old forum, so will post again here.  Pics of the old works from contemporary catalogues I own.  They make interesting viewing of the practices of the time.



Offline Colin walsh

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Re: Aveling & Porter
« Reply #10 on: January 03, 2021, 09:35:20 PM »
Just a point of interest,ref Aveling&Porter,my uncle on my mothers side,One Bert Newman ,was a senior design draftsman at there Srtood works for many years.

Offline castle261

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Re: Aveling & Porter
« Reply #9 on: December 30, 2020, 10:45:20 AM »
We had one of those Aveling & Porter Steam Engines - digging up the road - right outside our house
in 1938 - I went out to watch the man - putting the three spikes down - by a wheel - then the driver dug a trench - What for - Gas or main drainage - I expect.

Offline Smiffy

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Re: Aveling & Porter
« Reply #8 on: December 15, 2020, 03:44:56 PM »

A cutting from Meccano magazine dated February 1961 featuring an Aveling & Porter roller that served the people of Oslo for 82 years!


Offline castle261

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Re: Aveling & Porter
« Reply #7 on: January 27, 2020, 02:14:59 AM »
I stand- to be corrected - DTT -  I remember a steam roller in Darnley Road.

Offline DaveTheTrain

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Re: Aveling & Porter
« Reply #6 on: January 22, 2020, 07:10:16 PM »
Ah, now the one at the Brook is a 1925 Q Type Diesel Roller.  It does look very steam like but was heavy oil.


It is started on air to save swinging it over.  It originally sat in a rec at the bottom of Darnley Road, Strood until 1989.