Teesside Iron and Steel Memories Interview: Alan Shakespeare

Background & early work:
Born 7/3/1925 in Station Street, Middlesbrough, one of 6 children
Moved to Newport, then Grange Hill
Marton Grove School @ 5yr old, then Beechwood, then Marton Grove senior School for 2 years. Middlesbrough Jnr Technical school in 1938
Left in 1941 for Cargo Fleet Wks as an Apprentice Electrician
Dad worked there as a labourer, but most jobs then were in the steelworks
At 18yrs, volunteered for the Navy but rejected due to Reserved Occupation
Accepted by the RAF in 1944 & served 3 years, then back to Cargo Fleet in 1947 to complete apprenticeship
Went to night-school 3 nights/wk but after the RAF didn't want to go at that age
Apprenticeship at Cargo Fleet: good as it covered a wide mix of practical work & study
Most Works bought in parts, but Cargo Fleet made most of their own
Armature windings, coils, running their own wiring, made up commutators
They had all of their own machines - lathes, shapers, saws etc - to make their own parts
Lots of use of asbestos, but no concern in those days
Used as hard sheets & cut up for use as separators
Work generally carried out during holiday shutdown periods
During his apprenticeship, AS worked 6mnths on the armature winding bench, then 6mnths in the Drawing Office, though he didn't enjoy that - often just used as a runabout.
Resumed apprenticeship in 1947 after the RAF, initially in the electric shop but after 3 months moved to wire-in a new Ore Pellet Plant (made iron pellets from ore for the blast furnace)
Wired up the plant, but did not commission it
Moved to Ormesby Mill for some time
21" rolling mill made angles & flats
Lots of manual operations to get hot steel into the mill
Moved on to the coke ovens
Made coke but also by-products such as benzol & naphtha, which went to a South Bank plant known as 'Pest Doom' which made mothballs etc.
No resident electrician so called one in as needed from Cargo Fleet works
Briefly worked on the steel-plant until came out of his time & took up a full time electrician role

Post Apprenticeship:
Continued at Cargo Fleet working on the steel-plant and then looked after the Test Houses in a maintenance capacity
There were several Test Houses - chemical, mechanical, machining etc
Left Cargo Fleet in 1955 and started at Dorman's South Bank Coke Ovens (SBCO) in 1956
1st electrician to be employed there as the plant was not finished by then, so did not really have a job to do (contractors were still on site)
Worked for a spell 'contracting' at the Blast Furnace (3 new furnaces were being built at Clay Lane), but had to return to SBCO as he was not being paid by the blast furnace
Watched the contractors to learn what he needed for later operations
SBCO started operation in Nov 1956 with a ceremonial first firing and AS took up role as maintenance electrician
Initially worked 8.00/4.30 day routine but soon onto continuous 6/2, 2/10, 10/6 shift pattern as the ovens operated continuously
Pattern modified to 7/1, 1/9, 9/7 with 10hr night shift
Plant comprised coke ovens, by-products plant and loco shed
Work involved routine maintenance (changing motors etc) and dealing with plant breakdowns
Almost all night shift involved breakdowns
Nearly all power was DC (Direct Current) then as it was easier to control than AC (Alternating Current). A large mercury arc rectifier was used to rectify AC to DC

Coke Ovens Operation
Coal delivered from tippler trucks and transported by wagons, mostly underground, to a blending house
Different coals mixed & fed by belt to bunkers high above the ovens - oil added to make the coal burn better
Delivered from the bunker to 1 of 2 coal chargers which moved across the tops of the bank of ovens, charging them as needed
Chargers were electrically powered from collecting wires (like trams) and had electric vibrators to stop the coal from sticking
Coal burned in the ovens just sufficient to make the coke solid
Larger coke pieces went to the blast furnace & the smaller pieces to the Domestic Coke Plant to be sold for retail domestic use
Heavy gas & smoke extracted from the oven tops through condensers & coolers and removed to an Exhaust House which removed useable gas for storage in gas tanks
Remainder of the exhaust cooled and sent to by-products plants which had electrostatic converters - a 1500V charge which produced naphtha which was broken up & collected
Maintenance men had to go in and clear out the naphtha - they became immune to the camphor smell & just breathed easily
Other by-products were benzol (used in petrol) and ammonium sulphate, used as a fertiliser

AS left SBCO after 13 yrs in Sept 1969 to join Dorman's Chemical Works