Angus Fluid Seal Division: The Early Years
Some Historical Notes
Origin and Formation
In 1935 an agreement was negotiated between George Angus & Co. Ltd and Carl Freudenberg G.m.b.h of Weinheim, Germany – both established and well known leather manufacturers. Freudenberg (C.F), the largest industrial leather firm in Europe had developed rotary shaft seals utilising chrome leather sealing members secured in steel casings. These were designed as self contained units suitable for pressing into machine housings (like ball bearings) and have flexible spring loaded leather lips to contact the rotating shafts to be sealed. Walter Simmer the developer of this seal headed the C.F. oil seal factory (Simmerwerk ) at Weinheim. The seal was named after him – Simmering – a name which was adopted widely for unitary shaft seals throughout Europe, like for example, the name “Hoover” is often used as a synonym for “vacuum cleaner”.
The Angus/C.F. agreement licensed Angus to manufacture C.F. oil seal products in the U.K. for sale throughout the U.K. and British dominions and colonies. Angus was entitled to use C.F. technology in design and manufacture. A separate unit of Angus known as Oil Seal Department (O.S.D) was set up in 1936. The agreement with C.F was that O.S.D was to be run as a separate business with separate accounts within the Angus framework. Angus and C.F. were to be regarded as equal partners in the enterprise. Angus provided the initial capital investment and C.F provided the technical know how. Profits of O.S.D belonged in equal parts to Angus and C.F. The C.F. share of profits was to be retained in the business and accumulated until such time as O.S.D. could be formed into a separate company jointly owned by Angus and C.F., each having an equal stake and each being entitled to half the profits/losses.
(Note:- This intention was frustrated by the outbreak of war in late 1939)
It is interesting to note that at the time of the initial Angus/C.F. agreement all seals were of leather. Synthetic rubber had not been developed as a sealing medium.
Under the agreement C.F. had the right to nominate the General Manager and the Works Manager of O.S.D. subject to the nominees being acceptable to Angus.
Heinrich Beck, a consulting Engineer previously based Berlin, was nominated General Manager of O.S.D. early in 1936. The writer of these notes (Anthony Proctor) a qualified English engineer – was appointed technical assistant. It was decided to set up a sales office in London – at Bury Street St. Mary Axe in the City – which was were Angus had its London Office at the time. The first employees of O.S.D. were H. Beck, A Proctor and Miss G. Hambridge – a secretary and general factotum who remained with O.S.D until the sales office was moved to Newcastle in December 1939.
Initial Activities
At the beginning of March 1936 Beck took up residence in London and made initial customer contacts. He was fluent in English, German and several other languages. His ability as a salesman was formidable. (This could be the subject of a separate treatise) He was an Austrian born in Vienna and not strictly a German – an ambitious businessman and not at heart politically motivated ( in spite of later understandable suspicions to the contrary when war approached).
At this stage I will use the first person and make some digressions. My first assignment – indeed my first day as an Angus employee – was at C.F. in Weinheim where I spent March and April 1936 learning about fluid seals and related technology. My first instruction from Angus took the form of a curt letter from the then Company Secretary - a certain Col. Richard Atkinson – which enclosed third class tickets from Cheshire (where I was living at the time) via London, Dover and Ostend to Weinheim Germany and stated with unmistakable clarity how I would undertake the journey and conduct myself on arrival as an Angus employee of the lowest rank.
My stay in Germany at this time was a period of significance in my life because in addition to learning about oil seals I was enveloped in Nazi Germany at a critical period. Experiences involved being in Heidelberg when the Rheinland was remilitarised – seeing troops drive in among a vast crowd who carried bouquets of flowers for the soldiers. On another occasion I travelled with some C.F. employees to Karlsruhe, where in a tent in a public park we heard Hitler speak for 1 ¾ hours. This excursion involved a railway journey – a walk of 1 mile through massed streets to the park and then a wait for two hours before Hitler arrived. There were more people who travelled long distances to Karlsruhe in order to hear the speech relayed by loudspeaker in the public streets than those who actually got into the tent.
Also notable on this trip was an Easter spent in Stuttgart and Munich – a first excursion to the Black Forest in spring attending an election at which 99% of the electorate (including my C.F. colleagues ) voted “Ja” and my first experience of German opera (Wagner – The Meistersinger at Mannheim Opera House – 5 hours).
Angus – First with Nitrile Rubber in the U.K.
Whilst I was with C.F. in Weinheim a new material, Buna N had just been received from I.G.Farben, the big chemical concern at Leverkusen (now Bayer). This synthetic rubber was outstandingly superior to all other rubbers in oil and heat resistance. The first sealing elements in Buna N were made in the C.F. lab at Weinheim and performed very well on test. By the time I was ready to return to England quite a range of molded elements, packing’s and diaphragms had been produced in Weinheim and I took a bag of samples with me back to London (This was the first physical entry of Nitrile rubber into the U.K.). The availability of this material to Angus two years
before U.K. competitors had access to it was a major factor in our early success as I will mention later.
Early Selling and Manufacture in the U.K. : 1936 - 37
It had been decided to start sales promotion in the U.K. before any manufacture was undertaken. Orders were executed by importing the products require from Germany.
Standard size lists in imperial units were drawn up including a complete range of steel pressings for shaft seals. The combination press tools for making these parts were ordered in Germany and used there until such time as the U.K. factory was ready. Moulds for Buna N seals and packing’s were designed and made at Weinheim. Chrome leather sealing elements were initially made in Germany and later at St Johns works Newcastle (Angus leather factory).
In the meantime building of the first O.S.D. factory of 13,000sq ft floor space at Walker, Newcastle was started and Fritz Hartman of C.F. was appointed to the post of Works Manager. He set up a base a Walker while the factory was under construction.
Reverting to the sales front a 4 page glossy pamphlet was published, the trade mark “Gaco” decided upon and the Gaco symbol designed and used in all publicity.
Beck started regular calls on customers in the motor, engineering and aircraft industries. The two first U.K. customers were Aircraft Components Ltd ( later Dowty Equipment) and Automotive Products Ltd (Lockheed). In 1937 stands were taken at three autumn exhibitions, The Motor Show, Commercial Motor Exhibition, and the Engineering and Marine Exhibition. These all took place within a period of two months, two at Earls Court and one at Olympia. The staffing of these stands all day and all evening by the three O.S.D. London employees who were at the same time responsible for keeping the Bury St office going was a task worthy of a separate treatise ( for which time does not suffice).
This early period in which O.S.D. headquarters was in London, ”the works” at Walker (and there was a good deal of involvement with the Angus head office in Newcastle) was characterised by frustrations as well as hopes. Customers were not usually informed that their orders were being executed in Germany. This led to awkward explanations for delays and resolute customers who insisted on visiting the works had to be kept at bay. As the months went by the volume of correspondence between London/Newcastle/Weinheim on matters of detail became ever greater. It was this situation that compelled us to move the O.S.D. management and sales headquarters from London to Newcastle for which an office building was put up at Walker near the factory. Previously the Walker site was clear except for the Angus gear factory. (The site is now that of Dunlop Walker Works).
Before the end of 1936 the O.S.D factory building was completed and early in 1937 the first machines were installed – power presses for metal stamping, some machine tools and leather fly presses.
Personal relations were not always smooth. Soon daggers were drawn between Beck and Col Richard Atkinson (Angus Secretary). The latter attempted to take autocratic control from Angus Head Office but Beck who new the oil seal business and was responsible functionally to C.F. as well as to Angus would have none of it.
Beck to R.A in early 1937:- “I have taken exception to the manner in which you have seen fit to address me in regard to matters affecting O.S.D. I have been seriously disturbed at your lack of consideration…… I greatly resent the tone of certain communications…… I am entitled to look to you for support and assistance and not for continual recrimination….. I therefore propose to detail my complaints and submit them to the Angus Board.
One day in London, believing (mistakenly) that R.A. was sensitive to the use of bad language, Beck telephoned R.A. in Newcastle and used most abusive language (his English vocabulary was extensive) in the hearing of the London staff. Miss Hambridge was profoundly shocked.
Rapid Progress in the Pre-war Years
It had been decided to promote sales by studying customer’s application problems and providing a positive technical design service backed by knowledge of fluid seal engineering and of the relative advantages and limitations of the materials available. Initially customers provided drawings and details of applications which were sent to C.F. Weinheim for study and recommendations. Gradually however technical data was accumulated in London where a drawing office and technical sales function were established. The availability of Buna N and the authoritative advice offered to customers were of paramount importance in gaining Angus a foothold in the U.K. market. The existing competitors, Super Oil Seals and Charles Weston, used the more conventional sales procedures of sending out printed matter and size lists and waiting for orders to materialise. These competitors had allowed and even encouraged tremendous size lists to develop, feeling they had security in the huge ranges of tools they had available. Angus in offering both leather and Gaco seals concentrated on much more compact size ranges and on getting these particular sizes specified in new customer designs. By going for new applications and leaving the replacement trade to competitors, Angus gradually fostered a demand for its limited size ranges. It was much cheaper to restrict tooling for new designs to the limited ranges and competitors found new demand patterns favoured Angus and their efforts to capitalise on their ownership of vast stocks of tools in selling established types proved abortive in the face of new technology offered by Angus in combination with compact size ranges.
The availability of Gaco (Buna N compounds) was a tremendous card in Angus hands. The only other commercially available synthetic rubber was Dupont’s Neoprene which, though oil resistant in the sense that it did not perish like natural rubber, had the tendency to swell excessively in oil and was not comparable with Gaco as a fluid sealing medium. Angus not only had the advantage of being first in the field with nitrile rubber but actually enjoyed a monopoly in the U.K. for approximately two years and this situation was created by German government policy!
This arose from the fact the raw material from I.G. Farben – a light coloured crepe like sheet (equivalent to natural rubber smoked sheet in that it had to be compounded with other chemicals in order to meet practical requirements) was the subject of an export ban by the German government. This was to conserve supplies for Germany of a material which had technical advantages and was not available in large volume. In spite of this Angus was able to buy quite freely compound material (Gaco) from C,F. The compounds, containing carbon black and many other ingredients, did not resemble raw Buna N and were not stopped by the German customs. The effect was that for two years Angus had Nitrile rubber but U.K. competitors could not buy either the raw material or the compounds.
During the pre war years Angus developed a first class reputation in the market for (a) good products and (b) superior technical know how combined with readiness to give good advice on fluid sealing problems even in cases were Angus products were unsuitable for the customers conditions. In this way designers confidence was established.
Gaco and the Aircraft Industry
The introduction of Gaco materials to the aircraft industry was extraordinarily opportune. This was mainly because they appeared at the very time when hydraulic controls were being first applied and developed for many uses in aircraft utilising mineral oil as the hydraulic medium. A rubber like material with high oil resistance which lent itself to precision moulding was essential for effective functioning of moving parts in hydraulic systems. Gaco was the material and it surpassed all others. By the time war broke out in late 1939 Gaco was being specified and used extensively in modern aircraft, including seals used in undercarriages, wing flap controls, variable pitch airscrews and gun turret controls.
O.S.D. 1938 - 1939
During 1937 Mr F. Hartmann was withdrawn from the post of Works Manager and a younger man Mr von Loewis was appointed in his place. The volume of communications between London and Newcastle became so great with the multiplicity of technical detail in design and manufacture of parts and the numerous customer queries which necessitated consultation with the works and with C.F. that high costs of telephone calls and postal delays became an increasing burden on the business which was still on a small scale (sales in 1937 had been £12,850 and the first profit was earned that year).
At the outset of 1938 most manufacturing processes were being undertaken at the Walker Works although products with special features were still ordered from and made at C.F. at Weinheim. No mixing (compounding) was being done in the U.K. Fully compounded stock was still being imported and although the basic raw rubber had been released for export by the German government, apart from a small sheeting mill, Angus did not yet have mixing machinery or the chemical formulae of the compounds. There were only two grades, known as N4vP2b (90 shores hardness) and N44vP3 (75 Shore).
With the heightening of international tension the Angus board rightly insisted that the works should be equipped to carry out the complete manufacturing process (including compounding) from raw rubber to finished product. A Francis Shaw mixing mill was installed and preparations made to undertake the initial selection and weighing of the numerous ingredients.
Beck obtained the formulae of the two standard compounds by going to Weinheim and rifling the office of the C.F. Chief Chemist, Dr Nurnberger, whilst the later was absent on holiday
During 1938 there was another change of works manager. Mr von Loewis was replaced at Beck’s request by Mr Ferdinand Hebelka who had been a personal friend of his in Vienna many years previously and although a very capable engineer, had not had previous contact with C.F. or experience in their technology. Hebelka closed down a business he had in Vienna and (making loudspeakers) in order to take up the post of Works Manager at Walker on the strong recommendation of Beck. He came to Newcastle with his wife Anita and took a house of the West Road. Neither had been in England before. At this time Beck was living in Ealing, West London.
On the sales front things were developing fast. Most of the leading aircraft and aircraft equipment manufacturers had been approached by Beck and had provided him with copies of assembly drawings which were necessary to enable seals to be designed to suit specific applications. Many of these drawings revealed aircraft design data – a fact which led later to strict security regulations being imposed on Becks movements.
Becks sales promotion activities were aided by an elaborate card index which he had built up over a period of years. This included his business friends and many contacts throughout the world. (He spoke seven languages). Each individual had a card which in addition to recording the business association included reference to private contacts, hobbies, personal whims, weaknesses and vices. The latter information was not infrequently used to establish advantageous relationships with influential customers!
Beck often met customers socially. For example on one occasion he met a number of senior executives and technicians from British aircraft firms to join him on a visit to the Berlin Motor Show. He disappeared from the London office for about ten days and on his return said he had never been to bed before 3am and had shown his guest the night clubs and numerous distractions of pre war Berlin. He was able to do without sleep for long periods and make up afterwards. After this trip he went back to his Ealing flat and – according to his account – he slept for three days.
On one occasion during this pre war period when Hitler’s government desired to absorb Austria (the “Anchluss”) Austrian citizens resident abroad were encouraged to vote in a referendum (“Ja” or “Nein” for the Nazis) . The facility for Austrians resident in the U.K. took the form of a voting ship sent from Germany to anchor in the Thames estuary and they were invited to visit the ship to register their votes. Mr Beck took his wife and they voted “Ja” . Mrs Beck - a good looking, well dressed lady – was photographed photographed by the press in the act of voting and her photograph appeared on the front page of the London Daily. Mr Beck bought a number of copies of the paper and sent them to several of his friends at British firms. The publicity was well remembered when, later, security measures restricting the movements of “enemy aliens” in the U.K were imposed.
The office building at Walker was built next to the works during 1938. During the year the problem of communication between Bury St. and Walker became more and more acute. Telephone wires buzzed all day. There were many delays and misunderstandings. In December, the office building being ready, the “London Staff” (in fact only H.E. Beck, A. Proctor and Reginald Goodwin – draughtsman and technical assistant) moved north and started a period of naturalisation as Geordies. Our London friends expressed deep sympathy for us; a business friend of mine regretted that I had to go the land of slag heaps, gales and snowdrifts.
Sales in 1938 had increased to £32,000 and O.S. Department employed 75 personnel at the end of the year.
1939, the last year of peace, was a time of rapid development and darkening political skies. We started a research department at Walker on the first floor of the office building. Beck personally ordered from a Manchester wholesaler a vast range of chemicals looked most impressive ranged along the laboratory shelves in bottles. The chemicals were later pronounced by our chemist Dr. Mark Balkin – the first chemist ever employed by the Angus Group (transferred from Bentham Works to Walker) to be completely irrelevant for a rubber processing laboratory and more appropriate for a school inorganic lab. We also set up a test stand which became the nucleus of our eventually very fine engineering laboratory.
Sales continued to build up, considerably helped by Charles Cooper, our first full time sales representative who had joined us early in 1938 and who worked from a base in Birmingham.
Compounding of Gaco was now fully established at Walker. The chemical ingredients, known only to Beck, were given code names mainly Greek letters – and at the board’s insistence a list of actual ingredients with codenames and quantities needed for mixing was prepared by Beck for Angus Head Office (Westgate Road) where it was locked in a safe. No one at Walker knew the real chemical names of ingredients which were received and coded by Beck personally. A mixing mill operator was appointed. It was his job to mix the ingredients on the mill. He weighed out the ingredients such as raw rubber and carbon blacks knowing them only by codes. All the other ingredients were weighed out personally by Beck in a weighing room above the mill room. For a good many months Beck spent most of the day in the weighing room which he kept locked and out of bounds to all employees. By this means he was able to maintain his position as the exclusive guardian of the mixing data until after the outbreak of war in September 1939.
In the spring of 1939 Angus was approached officially by the War office who requested that Beck should cease visiting aircraft and engineering works and that neither he nor Hebelka should in future have any access to customers drawings of equipment for aircraft, armoured vehicles etc. I was approached by the Secretary )Col. Atkinson) and instructed to deal with all such visiting and use of customers drawings myself and to ensure that details did not reach Beck or Hebelka (rather awkward as I was Becks subordinate).
Beck was intensely suspicious and worried about commercial spies. One day calling me into his office he said he was convinced I.C.I would attempt to steal the Gaco mixing formulae. He felt it essential to take precautions against intruders at night and stated that we should purchase a watchdog. He then and there drew up the advertisement for the Evening Chronicle:- “Large ferocious dog required to protect industrial premises”. “Must be capable of attacking intruders” “Alsatian preferred”.
This duly appeared and was seen by our Chairman (Col E.G.A) who wrote a memo to Beck on the following lines:-
“I was rather concerned to note your advertisement for a watchdog. Surely we do not want a savage dog might cause injury. A small dog capable of barking at intruders and warning our night watchman would surely meet the cause.
Not withstanding this reaction Beck was determined to have a ferocious dog and when numerous replies to the advertisement arrived I had to draw up a “shortlist”. Having approved this, Beck said “Let us go straight away and see these dogs”. We thereupon departed in his car and spent a morning touring Tyneside seeing half starved Alsatians in slummy back yards. An animal of acceptable ferocity was bought and later delivered to the works were it was chained up, to be released only at night time.
The main outcome was intense fear of the dog by our night watchmen and the loss of the seat of his trousers by an Angus nightshift worker who was pursued whilst taking a short cut over the works fence! No commercial spies were identified.
On another occasion Beck felt convinced that our works inspector, a fussy character called Tibbels, who liked to magnify inspection problems, was out to get the company censured by the A.I.D. (Aeronautical Inspection Directorate). One afternoon some senior A.I.D. officials were to visit the works to investigate a complaint and Beck felt sure that Tibbels who was to be present at the discussion with the officials would use the occasion to make trouble. Beck had the opinion that Tibbels was overawed by the Chairman who was due to visit the adjacent Gear works the same afternoon. Beck accordingly asked the Chairman if he would be willing to don his full military uniform for the visit and appear in Becks office (were the discussion was to be held) at the critical moment. E.G.A. agreed and it was arranged that during the talk with the A.I.D men Beck would place his pencil in a certain position on his desk. This was a sign for me to leave the office, hurry over to the Gear works and ask E.G.A to come over. This he did, entering Becks office imposingly and unannounced, thereby - by Becks reasoning – putting the fear of God into Tibbels who would be too cowed to make any criticisms of the firm to the A.I.D. men. Whether it did have this effect will never be known. In fact Tibbels did not make derogatory remarks but who is to say he would have done, had the Chairman not appeared.
When war broke out in September our contact with C.F. was severed and we were thrown entirely to our own technical resources. Every make of British aircraft had Gaco components in the hydraulic systems or instruments. There was no alternative material. Gaco contained a German raw material (Buna N) which was no longer obtainable. Angus had 80 tons of Buna N 80% of the U.K. stock.
During the autumn of 1939 life became more difficult and austere as blackout restrictions, issue of gas masks and other air raid precautions, rationing of food and clothing and the call up of men to military service were introduced. Demand for Gaco hydraulic packing’s for the rapidly expanding aircraft industry increased sharply and by the end of the year the rate of usage of Gaco had doubled whilst the stocks of Buna N diminished ever faster bringing forward to a matter of a few months only the dreaded date when stocks of the basic raw material would be exhausted.
Wartime
In February 1940 on arriving at my office at Walker I received an urgent message to contact the Chairman who informed me that both Beck and Hebelka had been arrested at their homes on the previous evening and were being held at Newcastle Pilgrim Street police station pending arrangements to transport them to internment camps. Col. Angus informed me that I was now in complete charge of the fluid seal business which of course embraced responsibility for ensuring continuity of supplies of sealing components for the aircraft industry and also seals used in tanks and other military equipment. At age 26 I thus found myself in a very hot seat!
Apparently the police had called at the homes of B. and H. without prior notice and had informed them that they were to leave home within two hours for an indefinite period. Both had wives in this country who were not as well settled into English life as their husbands. Both women suffered painfully indeed as the shock of sudden separation was a precursor of major tragedy. Soon as the wives of “enemy aliens” they were required to move to places not less than 25 miles from the coast. (This was a national security precaution having regard for the danger of enemy invasion of the U.K. by sea).
On my first day as chief executive of O.S.D. I naturally sought opportunities to confer with my predecessor – Mr Beck in particular – as normally a considerable overlap in time is needed for transfer of responsibility in industrial management and there was much information I lacked and advice I needed to equip me for my new job at a critical time. In fact I was allowed 1 hour for discussion with Mr Beck at Pilgrim Street police station and thereafter I never saw Beck or Hebelka again – nor did their wives. The internees were escorted to a internment camp in South Devon and after some months there they embarked for Canada on the ill fated “Arandora Star” which although full of German and Austrian internees was torpedoed and sunk in mid Atlantic by a German U-boat.
At the works at this time, in addition to the loss of two top managers with all that that entailed in loss of experience and competence, was the major headache arising from the certainty that Buna N would run out in less than six months at the current consumption rate (which was increasing fast) and the fact that no known substitute was available. Angus having done all possible to encourage the use of Gaco compounds over several years had assured users of continuity and to back this up had wisely imported considerable stocks of Buna N. What had not been foreseen was the huge increase in consumption rate (arising from war production) and the total cessation of imports.
The Struggle for Raw Material
Soon after inheriting the “Hot Seat” I was required two accompany Col. Angus to Harrogate to attend a conference set up by the Ministry of Aircraft Production to investigate the raw material supply situation. The meeting took place in one of the large hotels, most of which had been commandeered by government departments. There were about twelve officials present including the two of us and the meeting was chaired by a senior civil servant whose name was Murdoch. He was a “Bumbler” but he was accompanied by a much more astute official of the Ministry who acted as a secretary. After a brief introduction Murdoch looked towards us and asked “What is this Buna?” We explained (rather inadequately as we were neither of us chemists). We were then congratulated for having had the foresight to acquire what was virtually the whole U.K. stock of nitrile rubber and informed that its use would now be subject to government control. In a national emergency we could not expect otherwise. There followed a discussion about continuity of our production of aircraft components and two courses of action were agreed. First at our suggestion, the ministry agreed to explore the possibility of importing further lots of Buna N from Germany via Italy which had not yet entered the war. Second, the aid of I.C.I. would be sought in synthesising a base rubber which would serve as a substitute for Buna N.
Some days later the minutes of the Harrogate meeting arrived and we were interested to note that “In opening the meeting Mr Murdoch gave a rapid resume of the origin and history of butadiene acrylonitrile synthetic rubber.
A good many weeks later a small parcel arrived at Walker from the Ministry of Aircraft production in London. On opening it I found a sample of Buna N obtained via Italy and submitted to us for examination and confirmation that it was the right material. Handling it like a hot brick I rushed up to Dr Balkin who subjected it to visual examination, density and swelling in benzene tests. Other tests would take longer but results of the quick tests were favourable so we immediately cabled the ministry to the effect that the sample was O.K. and bulk supplies were eagerly awaited. More weeks went by. It was reported that several tons had been loaded on a ship in Genoa and could be expected in due course. Regrettably Italy declared war before this ship could be cleared from port and no shipment was ever received.
The outcome of the other course of action initiated in Harrogate was more favourable. I.C.I had close links with Dupont in U.S.A. – the developers of Neoprene. Whilst Neoprene as then available was not a satisfactory substitute for Buna N, I.C.I. Dyestuffs Division at Blackley Manchester rigged up a pilot plant and succeeded in developing a much more oil resistant grade which became known as Neoprene Z. This was an acceptable substitute but it suffered from the severe limitation that within a few days of synthesis in its raw state it tended to “set up” in storage , i.e. become prevulcanised and useless. It was therefore necessary to compound it and mould it into its final shape within 5 days of its being despatched from Manchester to Newcastle. This meant that the raw material had to be sent in steel drums by passenger train and fully used up in the O.S.D. factory within 5 days. It was also prohibitively costly by commercial standards but in wartime this did not matter. A soon as we received Neoprene Z we used it – at first in a 50:50 blend with Buna N and later, as stocks of Buna diminished , in blends of less and less Buna content until the latter was exhausted.
Before America became involved in the war the U.S. concern, Standard Oil Co had entered into an agreement with I.G. Farben under which the former obtained full manufacturing rights for Buna N in the U.S.A. Fortunately for Angus and in a wider context the allied aircraft production programme, Buna N became available from the States in time to ensure continuity of synthetic rubber component supplies following the exhaustion of German stocks. The first American materials were Stanco Perbunan (Standard Oil) and Hycar (Goodrich) and as time went on they became abundant and the basic raw material crisis was ended apart from the ever present danger during the war of U boat attack on transatlantic shipping.
Gaco Essential for the War effort
The foundation of the outstanding success and reputation enjoyed by the Angus Fluid Seal Division was built in wartime. Such was the quality and reliability of Gaco sealing units that throughout the period of hostilities the performance of a wide range of war equipment, embracing aircraft, armoured vehicles, artillery, torpedoes, hydraulic and pneumatic controls, machine tools, precision instruments, radar equipment, and special secret projects like “Pluto” (Pipe Line Under The Ocean – the submarine pipeline used to feed oil under high pressure across high pressure across the channel on D-Day and thereafter in support of the allied invasion forces) depended on the proper functioning of Gaco parts, failure of which could prove fatal.
The Division (or “Oil Seal Department” as it still was) earned also a name for rapid service. On more than one occasion an aircraft designer from the Midlands or South drove all night to Newcastle and presented himself at Walker with drawings of a new application. One in particular I remember was a variable pitch airscrew problem. The application was considered in detail in collaboration with our specialists, seals were designed and drawn out in detail, moulding tools were designed and made and samples were produced for the engineer to take back with him all within 24 hours.
During 1941 the Minister of Production ( Sir Oliver Lyttleton – later Lord Chandos) visited the works. Gaco was used in every make of British aircraft and in many cases Walker was the sole source of supply – a security risk which called for action. At the end of 1941 the division was still of moderate size. There were 245 employees and 3 ½ million parts were produced during the year.
At the request of the government we agreed to set up a “shadow factory” – a second establishment capable of producing parts for the supply departments in the event of enemy action putting the walker Works out of production. Initially a small workshop on the Team Valley trading estate was equipped with a few key machines. It was soon realised as demand increased that this would be totally inadequate in a real emergency. In 1942 a larger factory (to be known as D104) was accordingly projected – also at Team Valley – a large government store on the site had to be virtually demolished and rebuilt to suit our needs.
At this time we had no system of budgetary control or realistic management accounting, let alone long range planning. The trading results were not known until long after the end of the financial year. The late John Heslop – our Office Manager (an Angus long service employee transferred from Angus Head Office) was in charge of the Divisional accounts. He used to work out preliminary profit and loss figures and appear in my office with a profoundly disturbed expression, hinting at a serious situation. He would not disclose the real facts until he had me quaking with misgivings. This at least provided a belated morale boost in that the results were usually much better than he liked to admit – sometimes even very good ! In spite of this John was a major contributor to our progress on the administrative side.
Fire at the Works
In 1934 work on our dispersal factory D104 started. At the beginning of the year we had 440 employees and our 1942 production had been double that of the previous year.
In the early summer of 1934 the National fire service organised a practice at our works. Officers appeared in smart uniforms along with fire engines, hose pipes, alarms. We were informed that we were No. 2 risk in Newcastle (after the R.V.I.) and that all resources of NFS would be at our disposal if we had a fire.
A few weeks later fire started in the small hours at a store on the first floor at the west end of our main factory building at Walker. Within half an hour it had spread to the other end along the bitumastic roof. Twenty minutes after the alarm was given one fire engine arrived – collided with the factory wall and was immobilised. We had a small fire fighting squad of our own employees who tackled the blaze resolutely and with considerable courage. Help from the N.F.S was belated and inadequate. Our official record of the event went - “In the summer of 1943 a disastrous fire occurred in the works and extensive damage was caused Plant suffered considerably and all of the 130 hydraulic moulding presses installed at that time were put out of commission. Destruction of small plant, work in progress, tools, gauges and certain stocks was almost complete.”
The day after the fire there were queues of civil servants at the works entrance requesting the completion of forms to indicate the extent of damage caused to war production.
The efforts made by Angus employees to restore production were truly remarkable. Our Works Manager led a team in the work of salvaging machines, tools and stocks.
The D104 factory consisted at this time of a large concrete floor. There was no roof. The presses from Walker were basically salvaged although platens, thermostats, hydraulic valves and electric wiring were in the main just scrap metal. Press lines were set up at D104 on the floor (open to the sky) and work on the roof was speeded up. One government department known as E.S.O. (Emergency services Organisation) provided excellent support and to our surprise and delight we were provided with much vital equipment of a type we had been trying to obtain previously over long periods without success.
At Walker the only press capable of moulding Gaco was that in the Chemical Laboratory which was kept busy. Soon the tool room was brought back into operation under tarpaulins as the roof was gone. Our tool room workers used to grumble previously about draughts and poor ventilation did ma marvellous job for weeks with no heating and rain pouring through holes in the temporary roof and winds whistling through the shop. Only when the building was renovated and complete comfort restored were the complaints resumed.
The record went:-“The factory was reconstructed entirely from fire proof materials, e.g. steel, concrete and asbestos and a sprinkler system was installed throughout the buildings. The layout of machinery was greatly improved and the galleries, which formed a feature of the old buildings, were dispensed with, with consequent improvement of lighting, heating and ventilation.”
Full production, mainly from D104, was restored after 8-12 weeks from the date of the fire but the loss of output during the intervening period was not made up for many months and management suffered from after affects for about a year.
In autumn of 1943, the Minister of Aircraft Production, Sir Stafford Cripps visited the Division and congratulated us on a remarkable recovery.
After the War, 1946-1946
The purpose of these notes is to record the early history of Fluid Seal Division and primarily the happenings up to the end of the Second World War. V.E. day came and with it the end of the blackout and many other irksome restrictions. I had the good fortune to visit the United States with Mr Mountain Angus between V.E. and V.J. days. We were in the last transatlantic convoy of 60 ships and were 16 days onboard a New Zealand freighter. There were only 18 passengers onboard whom we got to know very well. The convoy was dispersed in mid Atlantic and one morning we saw a bare horizon without a ship in sight were previously we had had ships all around us.
Our entry into New York was a classic one, now experienced by few. We all stood on deck as we steamed past the Statue of Liberty and approached Manhattan with tugs hooting and seagulls crying. We all sang “The Star Spangled Banner” with all our might and for us this moment was unique – the end of the war and sight of the promised land. The atom bombs had not yet been dropped on Japan.
For Fluid Seal Division the change from wartime to peacetime operation was not too easy. We had our first loss in 1946 since our very first year -1936. However, by concentrating on new technology, in both design and manufacture of our products – aided by first class research departments – and by looking to new markets both at home and abroad further chapters of growth and achievement were to be written in the annals of Fluid Seal Division.
People Make Progress
I will not attempt in these notes to name the many people – both on the staff and in the works – whose efforts were vital in the achievement of outstanding success for the Fluid Seal Division. Without, however, mentioning at least some of those who helped to build foundations in the early years no report would be complete.
Rex Chinnery, Eddie Corbitt, Sid Dixon, Douglas Easdown, Joe Galloway, Ralph Galloway, Reginald Goodwin, John Heslop and Jack Hope are names which arise in the earliest years. Unhappily Joe Galloway is John Heslop are no longer with us.
Men who played a decisive part in the technical development from wartime onwards are Mark Belkin, Ernest Jagger and Percy Saker, the latter becoming prominent later in the build up of sales to an expanding international market.
Pioneers of our outside sales force Charles Cooper and Harry Cox, followed by Roland McHugh and David James. Charles and Harry both died some years ago in well earned retirement.
As the Division grew the list of key staff expanded with the addition of many new names but they belong to a later period of the Divisions history.
From the start and throughout the early years a basic team evolved whose members special knowledge, imagination, co-operation and mutual regard played the major role in developing a very successful business – a business geared to providing good products and good services – and thereby serving the community and making money in the process!
Last but not least I wish to mention a very important name. All will join me in paying great tribute to Colonel Graham Angus, for many years Chairman and later President of George Angus & Co. Ltd. – a fine British Company which bore his family name from its start in 1788.
What I have mentioned in this brief history all happened under his leadership and because of his foresight. As an employer he won widespread respect and loyalty. As a man he showed understanding and gave encouragement in all his dealings with people. In all things and at all times his integrity was and is never in doubt.
A.Proctor
April 1980