30 years or so after Rowland Hodges argued over his "Accumulator" Door Spring trade mark case, the firm of Hill and Hodges were manufacturing the extremely robust floor spring you see in the picture below. In this blog entry I will show readers the well engineered parts that make this a particularly fine example of late 19th century 'Brummie' technology.
After the amount of time this unit has been in use there is some inevitable wear to the piston, this will be re-manufactured and brought up to date with a custom valve, giving it control from 1 through to 105 degrees as this is a stand open model.
The Hill and Hodges is now complete and ready to be re-fitted, the customer has decided not to have the decor plate polished so it has only received a light clean and been straightened.
The two part piston that utilised a leather washer was modified when machining a new piston to incorporate our bespoke valve design, the leather washer that had perished is now redundant.
This handsome floor spring is possibly a 120 years old and it is apt that the unit has been repaired and not thrown away, considering it will go back to grace the doors of the Quaker House in Bourneville, built by George Cadbury, as he himself was a Quaker, with one of their core beliefs being to live in a sustainable world. By repairing and up-grading rather than renewing, regardless of its heritage value, the Quakers and George Cadbury's ethos has been upheld because it is quite reasonable to assume the Hill & Hodges will continue on for another 120 years, maybe even longer as it has no perishable parts in it whatsoever now.
Here is a link to the Quakers. - https://www.quaker.org.uk/about-quakers/our-values
Here is a link to further reading about George Cadbury and the village of Bourneville, Birmigham. - https://www.cadbury.co.uk/about-bournville
Please feel free to comment if readers so choose.
The two part piston that utilised a leather washer was modified when machining a new piston to incorporate our bespoke valve design, the leather washer that had perished is now redundant.
This handsome floor spring is possibly a 120 years old and it is apt that the unit has been repaired and not thrown away, considering it will go back to grace the doors of the Quaker House in Bourneville, built by George Cadbury, as he himself was a Quaker, with one of their core beliefs being to live in a sustainable world. By repairing and up-grading rather than renewing, regardless of its heritage value, the Quakers and George Cadbury's ethos has been upheld because it is quite reasonable to assume the Hill & Hodges will continue on for another 120 years, maybe even longer as it has no perishable parts in it whatsoever now.
Here is a link to the Quakers. - https://www.quaker.org.uk/about-quakers/our-values
Here is a link to further reading about George Cadbury and the village of Bourneville, Birmigham. - https://www.cadbury.co.uk/about-bournville
Please feel free to comment if readers so choose.
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