February 18 2007

Our Thanks to Jimmy Lowe

    Jimmy Lowe has very kindly given a very interesting write up about four of
the North British/Uniroyal Products  manufactured at Heathall Dumfries,  some
started their life at Castle Mills and some started at Heathall   We are deeply 
indebted to Jimmy for his efforts as he had no old notes or other evidence 
and did it all from memory--well done,  and Thanks 
The Editor would also like to thank Jimmy's family including his wife Dorothy, Hannah, and eldest son Michael, for converting Jimmy's draft notes  and  whose joint efforts produced  the documents. --Thank you  

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February  19  2007
Belting

Conveyor belting was manufactured in Castle Mills in the 1930s to 1950s. With the consolidation of the private coal pits into the NCB (National Coal Board) in the 50s and the subsequent mechanisation of the pits, there was a rapid increase in the use of rubber conveyor belts.

The increased volume and standardisation of conveyor belts could not be handled at Castle Mills. Rotocures had been installed in Dumfries to make rubber flooring (Parafloor) and sheeting. Capacity existed to manufacture belting on the Rotocures, which were ideal for the production of NCB belting.  A team of two men on three shifts could cure 1200 foot of belting in a day. With the additional technical advantage of no double cure at the end of each cycle, this occurred during press manufacture.

The business lasted for ten years until a fire at Cresswell, with a large loss of life.  The fire at the Cresswell pit forced the NCB to specify flame proof belting which could only be met economically by replacing rubber with PVC.

A two year attempt to manufacture PVC belting on the Rotocure by installing a pre-heater in front of the cold Rotocure, to consolidate the pre-heated plies failed.

To replace the lost business a new fabric to the UK using a cotton nylon doubled yarn was developed with the help of J Brights. The cotton nylon gave us the opportunity to use a standard method of belt construction at Heathhall. The new belting fabric had the ability to operate under higher tension and was more durable and capable of operating under greater tension and work loads.

To exploit capability of carrying extra load the new belts required the setting up of a marketing team using engineers capable of conducting site visits and presenting a complete conveyor plan to customers.

With cotton nylon belts, the opportunity arose to meet the CEGB (Central Electricity Generating Board) and British Steel demand for stronger belts.

With the developing overseas market, the Dumfries team sought and surveyed business world wide. Concentrating on large open cast mining, such as copper in Chilie, bauxite in Trinidad, nickel in Canada and ores from numerous other locations.

An example of the type of cooperation and ingenuity required to get a USSR contract for belts to operate at temperatures of -45 c to + 45 c with high tension and heavy load and extremely long lengths. The customer did not want to splice short lengths of belting in the field.

The design required the use of 100% polyester fabric spun woven by J Bright with adhesive suitable for attaching rubber to polyester produced by J Mandleberg; both firms were located in Manchester.

The process of adhesion was time sensitive and relied on delivery within strict time limits. Delivery required the crossing of Shap summit that was notoriously difficult to pass due to ice and snow and before the completion of the motorway.

We used the local AA man’s telephone to call ahead when the lorry cleared the summit. On this communication the Bambury started mixing the compound, as making and curing had to be completed in 48 hours.

With this tight schedule and delays in transport we did not know exactly when the work could commence. The crews had to remain flexible and dedicated to the achieve production within the 48 hour dead line.

A problem arose in getting completed twelve feet (in diameter) belts out of the plant and onto the low loader. This was quickly solved by knocking a large hole in the plant wall.

It is of interest that the Russian contract brought the belting in 1985 and 1986 into profit.    
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February  18  2007

                                Golf Balls
                                                          Design and Manufacture
Moved to Dumfries from Castle Mills in the 1950’s . the product and equipment was not upgraded
and  with time failed to meet the customer requirement. The Rhode Island plant of Uniroyal had
developed a  new 1.68 inch ball to incorporate all proven advances in materials including a new
mould design which had been developed with the help of NASA. A dedicated production facility
was built at Heathhall using US designed equipment , which made a 1.68  and 1.62 inch ball to
meet the UK and overseas markets.

The 1.62 inch ball was re-designed at Heathhall and tested out on a Driving Machine installed in
the field  to the North East of the plant. The 1.62 inch ball was also tested on the durability machine
installed in the plant, which proved that the new 1.62 inch ball met all design parameters.
The changes made such an impact on the position of  the product in the market that all other
manufacturers eventually adopted the changes.
The products incorporated  ;

1. A titanium white urethane paint to replace oil based paints which yellowed and chipped
2. Decal transfer lettering to give improved appearance, and allowed the customers to use
    company logos or marketing slogans.
3. Plastic (Surlyn) covers replacing Balata covers to stop cutting and improve durability
4. Isoprene synthetic rubber to improve thread performance and make possible standardized
   tension
5. Butadiene to give more bounce to the centre replaced the barytes filled rubber bag.
   (The barytes filled rubber bag could distort during winding , giving unstable flight)
6. The mould was so designed it could only be made by a specialist firm, using   a computer
   controlled lathe and drilling machines. This firm was located in New Jersey. This allowed
   for new patter of shallower dimples.

The  randomized pattern of  shallower dimples gave a smooth airflow over all surface areas, giving
increased lift (exploiting the Venturi effect) and improved direction, no matter how the ball was
placed on the tee. -----Wilson remained prime customer.
To fill out the additional  volume, other UK customers were supplied with the improved ball but
 not using the Plus Six Diamond design moulds.
           The marketing group saw the opportunity to get a share of the market. They used Jack
Nicklaus (then the world’s number one golfer) and brand name Plus Six (emphasizing the
improved distance  using the shallow diamond dimple design).   The promotion of the product
and sales were primarily  directed at pro-shops sited on golf courses, using Jack  Nicklaus’
market appeal combined with  promotional golf tournaments.
          A solid ball was also launched, aimed at golf ranges and, with the introduction of better
polymers  and two stage molding, the ball was accepted by club golfers and used in local
competitions.
         The marketing group encountered difficulty in reaching their target market share,
because of the  opposition from entrenched brand name loyalties of golfers.
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February  18  2007
                                                          Treadaire

Carpet underlay had been developed in the US at Naugatuck and Mishawaka in the late
1940’s and took the marketing route of making different grades to meet the US market
 boom in suburban carpeted housing.
          The production unit installed to meet this demand required  a 9 foot width oven using
 metal patterns and/or chain pattern to give different styles, colour, and thickness. The plant
cost $1,000,000 at 1950 prices..

          At Heathhall the production unit  was of a low cost construction using on the platens
sourced from the redundant 30 foot belting press located at Castle Mills. The platens were
separated by one square inch bars to keep them apart. The conveyor belt was made using
60 inches wide garden chain link fencing. The calendered gum drooped to form a diagonal
pattern and was cured at 150⁰ C using the heat from steam-heated platens. When the jute
backing become too expensive, a coated paper backing reinforced by synthetic fibre was
introduced which could be printed to identify and promote the product. This development
made the carpet underlay which was cleaner in appearance and made it easier to lay.
      The carpet underlay in the US was based on a specialist Uniroyal polymer which was too
expensive for UK use. Originally natural rubber was used but required too much Bambury
capacity and was uneconomical. Phillips cooperated by modifying a product produced in
Rotterdam to meet our production requirements. And we successfully negotiated a contract
to have the polymer stored near the factory and then delivered and billed daily. This storage
 and billing was accepted by the backing supplier, which cut our raw material storage costs
by 80%
       Because of the layout at Heathhall, the simple oven design could be duplicated at low
cost and fitted into the original building. Thus we were able to meet the ever-increasing
volume of sales without recourse to new buildings.
      Marketing and selling concentrated on the mutually beneficial  relationship  with retail
salesmen with great success. This gave a remarkable sales growth of approximately 10 fold
in the first two years and we then came to dominate the market supported by an excellent
distribution system. It was estimated that we were selling Tredaire sufficient to pave the
 road from Dumfries to London every year.
         With the simplified production of the product and with strict control over inventory,
Tredaire achieved turnover ratios of up to 200 turns a year. The cash flow generated helped
 to maintain the profitability of the product and the factory during the inevitable difficult
recessions.
       Inevitably other competitors entered the market and copied our product which, coupled
 with the switch to wood floors, made the market more difficult.

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February  18  2007

                                 Footwear
         Footwear started in Dumfries Heathhall in the 1950’s with the transfer of white tennis
shoes to be made on the three new installed conveyor lines. The conveyor lines were made
to a design sourced from by US rubber.  They were capable of making 6000 to 9000 pairs a
day dependant on style. This utilized manufacturing techniques which involved clean conditions,
which were then in use by US rubber in North America.
       Casual tennis /basketball styles had been marketed successfully in the US and Canada.
 To emulate this success, North British Rubber required new marketing techniques and the
creation of a design team at Heathhall.
       The market demanded yearly style changes , presentations by models to the major customers
 with high levels of stock in advance of promotion and ,hopefully, sales. This involved yearly
style changes.
       The products were initially well received but the volume was not maintained . The concept
was good but the type of footwear demanded a higher standard of manufacture than be achieved
on conveyor line based  manufacturing techniques. Specialized molding equipment was needed
 to implement the frequent style changes which the market demanded.  At that time we lacked
the necessary promotional and marketing capabilities to compete successfully in this market.
       It would have needed a marketing approach, comparable with that of Adidas or Nike, in
order to achieve European acceptance. This was beyond our resources.

         Starting in the mid 1950’s Castle Mills Footwear was progressively closed. In response, 
a programme of transferring manufacture of waterproof footwear to Heathhall  was started.
This programme  commenced with simple child’s wellies and went on to transfer  manufacture
of all styles ranging from Argylls (which was then  the best selling UK farmers boot) to the
Hunter leisure boot.
        Manufacture of new types of waterproof footwear was introduced at Heathhall , albeit in
lower volumes. The increased sales necessitated the installation of 6 more conveyor lines, to
 make the additional styles.
        A complex system of scheduling was required to ensure the availability of the approximately
250,000 different components, necessary to manufacture the multiplicity of styles and types.
The components had to be made available to the manufacturing process at exactly the right time.
 Of course this was before the era of computers
       The correct functioning of this complex scheduling process was essential to enable the work
force  cope with the demands of the daily mix of styles , size ranges , colour changes etc. and thus 
to earn bonus.   At its peak over 600  women and men worked in footwear.
       Management had to concentrate its effort on meeting the constantly changing demands
imposed by the varied market..
       Footwear manufacture at Heathhall  could not compete with the lower cost footwear coming
from Asia. It was inevitable the product line would have to be  trimmed to concentrate on specialist
 styles.  The bulk of the UK market was eventually supplied by the imported low cost and colourful
styles of footwear.  Other methods were attempted but we were unable to compete in the highly 
competitive market which then existed.

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It was written by Adam Edwards who is the author of 
        "A Short History of the Wellington Boot" 
          published by  Hodder and Stoughton