Some already have some better descriptions from info provided by other ex-workers, but the more the better. Sometimes, I had no idea what I was taking a picture of...
Ben, It'll take a while for the descriptions as my memory of twenty years ago is a bit slow, I have already added one under the user ID "Merlin",. The processes used are similar to other propellant manufactures like ICI and Hercules.
Wow - you've added a huge amount of info, thank you very much
I'm working on an interactive map as well - click on a building, and you'll get pictures and a description. Are you okay for me to use your info in this as well? Do you have a perferred alias?
Memory is not too good on the Acid plant and CCC section, it's been 27 years. Many of the acid plant and guncotton buildings were unused and contained old equipment. Your welcome to use the descriptions, no alias or credit is needed, just glad that the last wartime ROF is not being demolished without being recorded. I'll add more when I remember what the bits I'm unsure of did.
I was an apprentice at ROF BIshopton 1962 - 67. There were a number of accidents, including one at a howf, where the story told to me (I don't know if this relates to the 1960 accident) was that, rather than go to a store for spares, a fitter picked up a bit of piping and started grinding it on a standing grinder. There was nitro in the pipe and it exploded killing a number of people.
My brother worked in the cordite burning plant and he told me that his opposite number on the other shift was caught in a blow-back from the furnace and burnt to a crisp.. only the soles of his boots remaining. This would be in about '63-'64. My brother quit soon after and took up a safer job!
Interestingly, in light of the medical slant here, he is now 70 and suffering from an unidentified motor neuron style illnness, which the doctors cannot diagnose nor treat.... might it be to do with chemical exposure..???
There was an interesting programme about the blow-down of a Las Vegas casino last week.
Due to the nature of the job, the team had to use high velocity explosive (19,000 fps as opposed to the more usual 5,000 fps) which has a much higher nitroglycerine content.
The high temperature at Vegas meant the sticks of dynamite were sweating, so the team was covered with the explosive which is easily absorbed through the skin, and due to the long shifts were all suffering headaches due to the exposure.
As they noted, a small tablet containing a minute dose of nitroglycerine is enough to dilate the blood vessels sufficiently to save someone from a heart attack, and they were handling the sweating material for days.
The links given on the Devil's Porridge page used to provide more details of the illnesses that affected the women that worked in the cordite factory, but I had a quick look, and it seems the sites listed have been tarted up and dumbed down, and now carry less factual info
I've got a set of the Georgetown Gazette - the magazine of the WWI Georgetown Filling Factory which was at the southern end of the Bishopton site. That makes several mentions of the effects of the nitroglycerin fumes, and how good they are for the complexion!
I carry some NG at all times in the formof a spray!
Georgetown also had its own station. By the 60s it comprised about 4 wooden bungalows as I recall. was it ever much bigger and why did it warrant its own station?
The filling factory closed in 1919, but it had 10,000 workers at it's peak, with special trains bringing all the workers. Explosives were made elsewhere, but shells were filled there in huge numbers.
I'll add more to the page on the Wiki as soon as I get time...
A gaine is a booster between the mercury fulminate detonator and the TNT explosive - HE shells has to be very stable so they wouldn't go off by accident, so the booster was needed to make sure the detonation worked properly. Tetryl was usually used as the gaine.
Very interesting post, Spoke on the phone to a greenock Auntie who worked at ROF Bishopton in the Fifties,anyway she was "Chatted up" by one of the Guards/Security.Just fine in her words except the perimeter security dogs there were trained by this gent to recognise scents etc such as that of Blood-not that of Animals.The relationship was a non-starter.Notwithstanding other boasts by said gent.The establishment has a fair few stories to tell.One Involving Paisley gilmour st station.Any...takers.Fascinated by the Gaines query its a common surname in the deep south of the USA.A generic brand name as such.Reminds me of the catheter in the medical World which is names as a Scotsman in the US and thge Yankuur in the UK named I undrstand after the two companies which had distribution rights to the products(Identical) in the respective countries.Incidentally back to ROF you will notice that the establishment has sprouted a mast any takers on this given that the place is in a valley.I dont think its cellular.
Very interesting post, Spoke on the phone to a greenock Auntie who worked at ROF Bishopton in the Fifties,anyway she was "Chatted up" by one of the Guards/Security.Just fine in her words except the perimeter security dogs there were trained by this gent to recognise scents etc such as that of Blood-not that of Animals.The relationship was a non-starter.Notwithstanding other boasts by said gent.The establishment has a fair few stories to tell.One Involving Paisley gilmour st station.Any...takers.Fascinated by the Gaines query its a common surname in the deep south of the USA.A generic brand named as such.Reminds me of the catheter in the medical World which is names as a Scotsman in the US and the Yankur in the UK named I understand after the two companies which had distribution rights to the products(Identical) in the respective countries.Incidentally back to ROF you will notice that the establishment has sprouted a mast in the middle near the aztec structure any takers on this given that the place is in a valley.I dont think its cellular.
Home
Calendar
Search
Register
Login
ROF Bishopton
Print Thread
Report to Moderator
Logged
Private message
Thread Tags
