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If you remember designing, machining, fitting, installing, maintaining, or working with this machine please share your memories at the bottom of the page by clicking on the words Add a comment about this page.
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Chippy! Many thanks for adding your memories of your daily journey’s to Birmingham and back. We are all pleased that you survived to tell the tale! John B
Hi John! I went to Aero Heat Treatment in about 1967 with Ernie Davis and Tim Beard to do some repairs/overhaul on this press. I seem to remember the job we had to do was drop out the main ram and its bush, fit a new bush, re-fit the ram and install new ram packings. If I dig deep into my memory, I think there was a problem with leakage once we had left site after the job was completed. Back at F&P a few comments flew back and forth and which was rather unfortunate. I can’t remember now what the outcome was of the problem or the comments. I was the young apprentice on the job and probably wouldn’t have had much input into any ‘mud slinging’! We were doing what we called a ‘flyer’ in those days, which was claiming overnight expenses, but travelling home each day by buying our own petrol! A nice little earner if you were working in Birmingham or the surrounding area! As there were three of us working on the job, Ernie was using his own car and being paid ‘mileage’ for doing so. That could also be a nice earner too! The day we finished the job and travelled home it was raining quite hard and coming down the M5 in Ernie’s old Ford Anglia was interesting to say the least, as the windscreen wipers on the old Fords were not the best to say the least! If I’m not mistaken, Ernie only had vision in one eye, so how much he could see through his one good eye I don’t know! What I do remember is thinking, I can’t really see very much through all of this spray with my two young, good eyes, so what can Ernie see! BUT, we got back to Gloucester safely, well done Ernie! Chippy Aston
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