Blog Archives

Hope Baptist Church, Hebden Bridge

5/29/2016

Despite floods, sinking floors/rising floors, warped doors and frames, none existent parts, cracked castings and some extreme wear we have managed to get the Forward's and the Climax's in the ground and all the the doors back on at the Hope Baptist Church as mentioned in a previous blog post.

It was good to see the town getting back to normal after the floods and wish all well at the Church and Hebden Bridge in general.

An original picture of the Church taken from this site - http://www.hebdenbridgehistory.org.uk/galleries/g5.htm

Feel free to comment as always.

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Smiths 2860

5/28/2016

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At last I have had the opportunity to fit two sets of the bespoke springs I have had manufactured into a Smiths 2860 (for those still waiting I can only apologise and promise I will get to you. To those wanting to fit the springs themselves I warn it can be difficult and your 'Smiths' could very well require more than just fitting the springs to get them working correctly, as these did).

The 2860 is a medium sized version of the Smiths, manufactured by James Cartland and Son Ltd and it can be found on page 30 of their 1927 Brassfoundry catalogue, volume no 327.

The setting for the Smith's were the inner entrance doors of a beautifully converted school house attached to the 200 year old Methodist Church and owned by the very nice Paul and Diane.

In the Cartlands 2860 version of the Smiths there is no cut out section in the back wall of the box as can be seen in the above shot (compare this with other models and variants further on in this blog entry).

See below for shots of some of the subtle differences that can be found throughout the different models of the Smiths.

James Cartland & Son Ltd 2860 Smiths for medium size doors (No cutout, stop, strengthened turret area and gudgeon).

Wm Newman & Sons Ltd 283 Smiths for Heavy doors (Cutout, stop and no strengthening of turret or gudgeon.

Next is James Cartland & Son Ltd 'Cartlands adjustable' as mentioned in a previous blog post. Although not sold as a Smiths this model from Cartlands Great Western Foundry appears to be an improvement on Smiths design, having no cutout, no stop and strengthening to turret and gudgeon area.

The inclusion of a second wheel to the pivot and as importantly the removal of the stop is an ingenious way to counter for wear. Any slackness is taken up by the claws ability to continuously press against the wheels on the pin through the contraction of the springs.

In this final shot you can see an as yet unidentified 'Smiths,' having a very small cut out and no strengthening to the gudgeon.

The simple but effective means by which closing of a door is achieved through the Smith design can be found at the heart of many floor springs right up to and beyond Newman's Britannic of the 1950's.

Robert Adams, Smith & Turner, James Adams, William Tonks and others all have models that incorporate this lay out and method of achieving a draft free, safe and secure building.

As always feel free to comment readers and thanks to Paul and Diane for their hospitality and desire to get the 2860 Smiths working correctly.

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Duplo

5/15/2016

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Whilst working on the Singlo's from the previous post we have also been working on the Singlo's double action brother, the Duplo.

MFS was called to Cardiff the beautiful and capital City of Wales, to attend to the glass doors at the entrance of Simply Bare, a luxury city centre beauty salon which can be found in the 1902 Duke St/High St arcade http://www.simplybare.co.uk/

The Duplo is in lots of ways similar to the Monarch/400 but the parts, as we discovered, are not interchangeable which caused somewhat of a headache for us as we had no spares for them.

Both Singlo and the Duplo were manufactured by William Tonks and Son Ltd ("Star" brand builders hardware products), prior to the buy out of Tonks by William Newman which formed Newman Tonks Ltd.

As can be seen from the shots the Duplo has a square ACME pin and an unusually low piston compared with one from a 400.

The yoke is also completely different to the 400 as is the pivot area where yoke and pivot meet.

We were informed that the Duplo's had been a problem for 25 years so we are particularly pleased they are now functioning correctly and will do so for many, many years to come.

Thanks to Tony, Leah and staff at Simply Bare (well worth a relaxing visit in a luxurious setting).

As always please feel free to comment on this blog post or any others.

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Singlo

5/15/2016

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MFS recently went to the charmingly named town of Ramsbottom to service/repair two Singlo's that used to control the main heavy glass entrance doors of a large Grade 2 listed building built around 1850.

The building has been owned by the same family for around 70 years and is now the main retail outlet for Velvet Exclusive Ladies Wear - http://www.velvetexclusive.co.uk/

The Singlo's had parts missing and in the past two modern overhead door closers had been fitted, which were also not working.

We can now report that the overhead closers have been removed and the hold open Singlo's are as good as new, we also whilst on site fully repaired one of the locks set in the top rail.

MFS would like to wish Velvet success in their new premises and thank Tony, Deborah and the girls for their hospitality and for choosing to have the Singlo's repaired and restored rather than any other alternatives they may have considered.

Please feel free to leave comments, they are always looked forward to.

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Smiths and similar up-date

5/3/2016

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At last MFS is able to offer spring sets for Smiths and similar as in previous Smith's post.

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James Adams & Son (The Slave)

5/1/2016

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MFS is proud to be currently refurbishing and repairing a number of floor springs in the City Hall (formerly the Council House - foundation stone laid in 1938) and the Old Council House (built between 1824 and 1827) in the centre of Bristol.

The floor springs in the Conference Hall (City Hall) are less ornate (without the engraving) than the double action ones that can be found in the Old Council House.

According to this book: London's Industrial Heritage By Geoff Marshall, the idea for the "Slave" came about because of a bad back and a rattling door in 1882, finally being patented in 1890.

The above patent date (if correct) mean the "Slave" could not have been put in the ground when the Old Council House was first built but could still be the originals to the building.

James Adams & Son were still trading in 1921 according to this site http://pubshistory.com/streets/UnionStreetSE1.shtml and patents were still being issued as late as the 1940's which relate to this door spring http://www.patentmaps.com/assignee/james_adams_%26_son_1.html and others.

Below are the shots of a single action "Slave" incorporating new spring.