This photograph shows the interior of the 40-foot mill at the Malleable Works. Courtesy of Bob Irwin. 
Picture Stockton Archive
A Pictorial History of Stockton-on-Tees
This photograph shows the interior of the 40-foot mill at the Malleable Works. Courtesy of Bob Irwin.
They transferred the Pipe Mill to Hartlepool B.S.C. & Head Wrightsons, Thornaby built, installed & commissioned the Pipe Expander Machine & Automatic Tack Welding Machine.
My dad worked in the Malleable between 1940s and the 1970s he was a Fitter and Turner later in his career he became a Forman/ Inspector his name was Alfred Jones, His Brother Harry worked as a Draftsman and his Wife Ivy Jones worked as a comtometer operator in the wages office.
Does anyone know what went on there during WW2. My nana Mary Williams worked there during the war years and I’m curious.
My father worked there turning bevels on the end of the pipes his name, Sid Turnbull
I worked here in 1966 as a chargehand,putting pipes in a big oven,fat Stan Philips was a overhead crane driver. They was Arthur nicknamed the ox. I did not stay long I preferred the wagons..
i worked in the repair bay in the new mill with Ginger Hodgson his son Kevin, Alfie Hoyle and Tommy Rutter.i was an apprentice chipper, hard work, I also worked in the welding machine area.
I worked at the 40inch pipe mill in the 70s, as a slinger moving the pipes to the welding machines and moving them when the rounders had finished, I also worked on the Test Pump Machine. I had a short stint working on the Beverely Wrapper doing holiday detecting, I think that was the term given when I checked the weld with a Box with a wire brush attached and when it was run along the weld it would spark.
Hello Barry, you worked as a slinger about the time my dad worked as an overhead crane driver. I wonder if you might have known him, his name was Ken Booth? Could you tell me more about the job?
My father worked there as a Chargehand Checker in the 1960s until his death in 1966.
My Dad, Jim Heselwood worked here as a welding inspector in 1957. Also, my uncle Mick Ingram worked there until the closure of the Mallable.
My Late Dad worked at the Malleable Steel works, his name was John McKenzie, does anyone remember him? I think the years he worked there was between 1951/58
I served my apprenticedhip as fitter/turner 74 to 78. I remember operating facing machines and the old holroyd lathe maching the weld preps on pipes upto 84″ diameter.
Other fitter/turners I remember are Dean Lewis (the canadian), Dave Tilbury, Joe Forrest and Chris Davison and our foreman Don Lavelle. Hard work and dangerous at times but a great place to work and a good laugh – happy memories.
I believe you rode a Honda 400/4 in those days! Unless my memory is playing trips again… oh, fair hair too?
Hi sorry just seen this
Yes you’re right blue 400/4 than onto Kawasaki 400 triple which I had a bad accident on off work for 18 months so good days and bad. Sorry I don’t recall your name
That’s fine, probably a year or two behind you. I served my time there along with Steve Roper apprentice platers. We both had fS1E mopeds at the time.
The photo does show the O press and the welding machines were known as the Lincoln welding machines after their manufacturer. The machines in the next bay were the Esab machines which at the time of their installation where state of the art machines both outside and inside welding machines had T.V. Cameras fitted so the welder sat at a control panel and directed the machine from there. The outside welder soon lost it’s camera and the welder had to start and stop the machine manually. The amount of work expected in a shift was tremendous it was a solid 71/2 hour shift with one half hour break per shift, the lads loved a breakdown to get a rest. The mill operated a three shift system five days plus weekends when required.
Happy days Ron we had some great laughs a lot of strange characters
Hi, Ron, I believe you used to give me a lift into work before you moved to Stockton. Happy memories of clocking off and racing to the Sun inn for a swift couple on Wednesdays.
When we installed the ESAB welders we called them “egg, sausage and beans”. After a while when they broke down we called them “every set’s a b*&?!@d!”
My late brother-in-law, Jim Broadbelt, worked in the 30ft mill & I believe he was a shop steward. Anybody remember him?
I worked with Jim in the repair bay with Gino Gooding and Alan Simpson he was a great bloke
Did you also go by “Basher” by any chance?
In the two bays shown, the pipes were pressed and the standard length was 40 feet, with diameters from approx 20 inches up to 42 inches. This mill was known variously as the New mill, the 40 foot mill and lastly the 42 inch mill.
In the two bays to the immediate left of the photo was the other pipe mill, known as The old mill, the 30 foot mill or the 84 inch mill, manufacturing pipes 30 feet long, up to 84 inches in diameter. These pipes were manufactured by rolling in bending rolls. This mill was recently transferred and reinstalled in its entirety at Hartlepool and is once again producing pipes.
Head Wrightsons, Thornaby made the Pipe Exspander & Automatic Tact Welding Machine & installed them in the Hartlepool 40 inch mill & commisioned them in conjunction with a Dutch firm.
I remember well the trainloads of these pipes passing Railway Street in the 1950s. They were normally carried on Bogie bolster ‘C’ wagons which were 45 foot over headstocks. What was the diameter of these pipes, and was the 40 foot a standard length for pipes?
Back in the early 1970s, some of the top owners of South Durham/Malleable/Hartlepool complex came along with Britsh Gas research staff to my metallurgical lab down in London where they could inspect the welds in pipes made at the Malleable. I was impressed by these tweed coated gentlemen who really looked like the ‘masters’, radiating power. The big issue was the quality of the welds, but these were so good that it was imposible to tell the welds from the rest of the pipe. These top men went off with satified smiles on their faces.
I remember my father-in-law Bill Hepple telling me that he had a squad of men who were Pakistanis. They were employed in painting inside the pipes. The paint brush was screwed onto a long handle (yard broom length). They complained because they could not work fast enough with one brush added and asked Bill if he could make it that more brushes were fitted onto the broom handle, which he did.
After the pipes were welded they were ND tested then went to the expander machine. After expansion they went to the pickling plant where they were dipped in phosphoric acid then into hot water to wash off the acid. From there to the coat & wrap plant, where they were coated & wrapped in Yorkshire tar. Most of these pipes in the late 60’s were made for British Gas Corp. No stress relieving was needed.
What happened to the pipes once welded? Were they stress relieved? What type of coating was given to them? I remember that in the fifties the pipe coming out of the Malleable on the North Shore Branch were covered with a thick white paint. I think that those pipes were used on the Trans Canada gas pipe line (which I understand spilt open over a length of eight miles)
Did you know the names of any of the centre lathe turners who machined the pipes in the mill in the fifties?
This photo originally appeared in the publicity book issued when the mill was commisioned. The view shows two inside welding machines in the foreground. The tall machine in the right distance is the O-Press, with the U-Press immediately behind it, as the names imply, the U-Press bends a 40′ plate along it’s length into U shape. The O-Press then presses the U shape into a round shape with two semi circular sets of dies. This Mill closed about 1969 or so.
It was still operating in ’71 when I left but the new thing was spiral welding of pipes.