FACTORY WRECKER AND HIS WORK.

Dunstan Times, Issue 3148, 18 December 1922, Page 8

FACTORY WRECKER AND HIS WORK.

(By Frederick A. Talbot).

Demolition, seemingly destructive, is really constructive. The various materials entering into the composition of the fabric ,even if they are hoary with age, have a decided commercial value. True, they are consigned to the iunk-pile, but this is now the sheet-anchor of industry; it furnishes the sinews of war in the form of raw material. Nothing from, a demolished building is ever wasted. This profitable exploitation of waste is a new expression of human endeavor, and one which is becoming more and

mora widely appreciated. The "wrecker" is he who specialises in the demolition and reclamation of structures and material no longer required for their designed'purpose, expressly to feed other industries. When he takes

a factory in hand he not only razes the building to the ground, but clears the site ready for some new pile designed to climb into the air. London has offered one of the most baffling wrecking puzzles encountered. Among its many industrial landmarks was one Which appeared to be singularly incongruous in its setting. This was the famous Meux Brewery, set behind the junction of Tottenham Court road with Oxford street. Its six stacks thrust themselves well above the sur-

rounding sea of chimney-pots. When the working of malt for refreshment was begun at this point, it was in a sweep of sylvan landscape, and the brewery was Btately but lonely. But ahopland officedom, once started westward, crept closer and closer upon the hive until at last it was completely hemmed in. In due time the owners were forced to concede that they could no longer hold the site at a profit, so their activities were transferred to a more roomy point.

Now rose the inevitable problem—the demolition of the abandoned jumble of

buildings. It was a jig-saw puzzle pile. The original building had been submerged dv the many and strange extensions which had been hitched on from time to time to keep pace with trade expansion, according *to the fancy, or rather changing moods, of constructional engineering. But wrecking' hung fire; the "situation was difficult and the potential risks somewhat alarming. The wrecker ie always on the lok-out for a derelict factory, but he

fights shy of possible law suits. One afternoon a quiet, unassuming young man strolled into the yard. He came from the North where he had

heard about this derelict, and how its demolition was hanging fire. Vague taleai of risk, danger and difficulty had reached his ears and they prompted him to take a look round upon his next visit to the metrbpohis. He was curious to learn the reason for the general reluctance. He sauntered through the silent, dismantled rooms, peered into the gloomy, vaulted spans of the roof, coasted round the bases of the chimneys, ricked his neck scanning their heights, and dived into the yawning cellars.

The trip took barely half an hour, but as he finally emerged from tho depths of the derelict he turned to the representative of the owners who was accompanying him, with the quiet remark: "I'll take it on!" The next moment, with a parting look over his shoulder at the ragged jumble, he gave a price for the factory, lock, stock and barrel, which was promptly accepted. Wrecking this historic brewery became one of the passing sights of London. Crowds thronged the surrounding I>avemehts, fascinated %• the apparenty devil-may-care wreckers silhouetted against the sky on the tops of the chimstraddling the lofty roof, and ambling along bared trusses of steel 160 feet above the ground, as unconcernedly as if treading the street pavement below. The demolition of this landmark swelled the London junk-heaps of steel, brick, stone, and timber to a noticeable degree. Where did the materials go? Probably more than one Mr Newlywed throughout the metropolitan area is proud of the substantial character of his recently purchased home—■ the bricks are so sound and have such an attractive old tone; then the furniture is so solid. But he might be surprised to learn that Meux's brewery has contributed the major share of his - own and many another Englishman's home.

The six million bricks recovered were

promptly absorbed in the solution of the housing problem in and 1 around London. The 2,000 tons of steel were shipped as scrap to feed the furnaces in the North for the fabrication of a thousand and one useful articles. The timber was carefully sorted; what was sound found a ready market among the manufacturers of furniture for its quaility and complete seasoning; the odds and ends were reduced to bundles of fire-

wood. The broken and splintered bricks, chips of stone, plaster and mortar were snapped up hungrily for the buildings of roads—nothing was dost. The unassuming young man who came from the/ North to remove a blemish from the physical face of London has become a master "wrecker." This wrecker, William Kayley, is neither an engineer nor a builder. A Lancashire mam, he is a graduate of the school of hard-knocks. In common with hundreds of other lads of his county he wts working hard for his living at the age which is more generally associated with the schoolroom. He commenced as a carrier, but he soon discovered that

fetching and carrying for all and sundry husked that spice of adventure which he Bought. So he abandoned; the way of the road ■for the more exciting calling of buying and Belling. Shrewd 1 buying and selling soon raised the business fledgling beyond the capa- , city of the meet, and the commercial adventurer, now sure of his ground, commenced to give full rein to ambition. He chanced to hear that a rival. a power in the metal 1 world and one of the oldest firms in the trade in the country, was anxious to retire'. Young Kay ley promptly offered 1 a price for the business, premises, and plant. The success of this deal revealed another outlet for energy—the acquisition of businesses for amalgamation with his own: and he has pursued this line so vigorously during his twenty-one years of trading that it is difficult to remember how many established houses he has absorbed 1 to his own advantage, each successive acquisition naturally widening his circle operations. When his brother James came along and asked to be taken into partnership, development was more rapid, tentacles being thrown out in all directions. At the end of eight years the advance had been so complete a« to compel the building of special premises l to cope with the volume of trade flowing through their yards'. The partnership held for fourteen years, when the brother, satisfied with the fortune accruing to him as his share, retired from the turmwft. As he became more firmly entrenched William Kayley discovered that the normal channels of trading did not provide him with sufficient scope or material for his operations. So be decided to widen the source of supply. A large factory specialising in the manufacture of confectionery at Ancoats had' been burned out, and tbe owners desired the clearance of the site to permit the re~ erection of the new works. Kayley tntd'. 1 a hurried inspection, and ■!■•

though factory wrecking represented! a novel venture, he offered a price for the shell -which was accepted. He threw himself into the demolition with such; energy, clearing the site so quickly, that when at last he struck the accounts he discovered! that he had netted for himself a handsome profit. From that moment he resolved! to' specialise in this new field, nnd pushed his way in all directions so energetically as to be in general request. This decision came at an opportune moment. The steam turbine was just making its influence felt. Its superiority to the old-fashioned steam engine was so pronounced; ae to persuade many c*f the firms which had clung tenaciously to the beam engine to abandon the old for the new. But although one and! all were anxious to make the change-over, realisation was beset with difficulties. The old! engines were ponderous and occupied considerable space, but for the most part they were installed in very cribbed quarters in the basements of the buildings. Their installation, even with fly-wheels measuring 30 feet in diameter and scaling from 60 to 80 tons', had been an easy task, because they were set in position before the walls of the factory were run np. Kayley "realised the situation, and at once set to work to contrive simple methods for the removal of these handicaps to progress. He would not resort to took: explosives were fair more effective if kept under control. Therewith the most ponderous and bulky machinery was reduced toi tangled scrap, oonvenienct for removal by the aid of tackle. He did 1 this in such a way as not to shatter a pane of glass in the building, indeed so skilfully that no one in an adjacent room could hear the report. "Of course, care and skill are neces>sary in the drilling of the holes and setting of the wheel for the shot. On one occasion we were wrecking a 60-ton flywheel at a factory which was under demolition. Fortunately the drrelict stood in an open position. How it happened 1 do not know, but evidently the workman charged with breaking up' tho wheel just reversed the designed order of things. At all events, when tho shot was fired 1 was amazed to see the section of the fly-wheel rim, about four feet squaire, go flying into the air. Tt took a bee-line upwards for some 200 feet, spinning and humming like a top. Then it came down and struck the earth with such force as to bury itself out of sight, and only a few inches away from the engine room. It was kicky we were not wrecking that fly-wheel in an occupied factory or it would haicp reduced the greater part of th|p building to a rubbish heap!" While shot-firing a fly-wheel is l perfectrv safe when conducted 1 along scientific Vines, it is difficult to convince those in authority upon this point. Mr Kayley relates how, they wctc demolishing an old engine in the heart of a city: by means of the contract ho was expressly forbidden to adopt his shot-fir-ing practice'. "The men started along the normal demolition lines, drilling the fly-wheel rim at intervals with rows of holes and endeavoring by sawing and hammering to remove it in sections. "But that wheel was well-made and obstinate. We spent several days on the job without making the slightest impression and, as it was impossible to say how long it would worry us I resolved to fly in the face, of the contract. I went along to the engineer and communicated by intentions. He was emphatic; he would not hear of it in anv circumsatnees. I explained that it was up to nic to complete the job and I was going to do it my own way because 1 could not afford to stay there all my life. Seeing 1 was determined the engineer washed his hands of the whole affair, hut vehemently declared he would hold me responsible for any damage wrought upon surrounding property. "I explained I had no intention ol buying a law suit and, for my own protection .insisted that he should come along with me. He demurred, but when 1 pointed out that 1 was resolved to have an expert eye-witness who could vouch from immediate inspection that no damage had been caused, to protect me against a possible claim being advanced at a later date when evidence to the contrary would be unavailable, be reluctantly consented to accompany me. Within two or three hours that fly-wheel was out; not a pane of glass was shattered and no one beyond ourselves was a whit the wiser as to the wheel wheel having been wrecked by shot firing. But we couldn't get near the wreck for two hours. The explosion let loose about an inch and u half of dust clinging to the walls!" This wrecker has conducted so many and varied demolition operations that their recital would become monotonous. xVll is grist t ohis mill. He has dropped the loftiest of chimneys, many in difficult situations, either by the underpinning methods, by which the greater part of the base is cut away to be supported on temporary timber baulks which are suhsequently consumed by fire, causing the structure to collapse, or after removing a portion of the base has pulled them over bodily either by crane, windlass, or an engine, whichever happened to he the most convenient. He has never had an accident.

Some years ago, a wave of excitement rippled through the country when the American electrical magnate, George Westinghousc, invaded these islands to establish a miniature edition of his extensive works at Pittsburg on the bank of the Manchester Ship Canal at Trafford Park. It was notable as being the most extensive undertaking of this character ever put in hand in this country as a single entity, and its equipment was among the most modern to be found in the world. The steel making section, including the blast furnaces, represented an investment of tens of thousands of pounds sterling. But the plant had been going less than a handful of years when William Kayley was called in to raze it to the ground. The whole of the steel works were consigned to the scra|v-hoap. and the wrecker only tendered C7o0() for the job! As already explained, William Kayley is not an engineer, leastways not in the constructive sense, but he is a master of another craft which is as vitally important- organisation, with the capacity of getting things done. These qualifications were responsible for his fulfilment of what ranks as one of the heaviest engineering undertakings ever consummated in this county.

"It was the eventful Saturday of August, 1P11." he remarked. "War v\;is inevitable, and I. in common with liiindieds of others, was vaguelx speculating upon the outlook. I was clearing up the week's work when the. telephone commenced clanging violently. I picked up the receiver and the wire grew hot. At the other end was l)r Levinstein, who, at that time, was identified with the dye works at Kllesiucrc Port. He wanted me to rush up at once with all the best, men 1 had at m,\ command 1 to tear out some heavy plant. No! Itcouldn't wait till Monday. I must get right down to it at once within an hour or two.

"There was :i scamper round for men. i only wanted the best hands and I laid all the cards on the table. I knew Or Levinstein intimately. His was ;i picturesque figure—familiar throughout) the works of which he wan the master mind—clad in belted trousers, shirt and (lop hat. He bad known me as a boy and had watched me grow up, being 6

highly amused at my having entered the steel and afterwards the wrecking industry. I also knew that, he was a man who, when ho said he wanted a thing done, expected you to start on the job before he had finished talking.

"We hurried down to the dye-works and in the course of an hour or two were going all out. Dr Levinstein had made all preparations for our arrival; his technical staff were there to give us every assistance. The pace was hot. Hut we got the plant out on to the scrap-heap up to time, and I was ing arrangement to return home with my men. But T)r Levinstein willed otherwise. We reached his works on. Saturday, August 2, 1914, and we did not leave them until the end of 1917. Our methods and labor made such appeal to him that we had to instal all the heavy plant which was acquired as it came to hand. When I tell you that those works are one and a quarter miles in length and that we installed 90 per cent, of the heavy plant, and some of the units are the heaviest entering into any industrial operation, you can appreciate something of the nature of our work.

"Those were strenuous times. We ran short of labor, and in the circumstances, with the army and the munition shops pressing for men, we were faced with a formidable situation. But tho presiding genius rose to the occasion. One of his lieutenants hurried over.to Ireland and recruited five hundred men in Dublin. A special boat was sent for them and thev were brought over and discharged on the bank of tho Manchester Ship Canal at six 0 clock in the morning. Then one and all point-blank refused to accepte the work for which they had been sought. 1 was asked to go out to persuade them to reconsider their decision. T harangued them for some time, but only succeeded in enticing half a dozen to take on the job. That argument %vith five hundred recalcitrant Irish laborers I consider to be tho hardest burst ol effort in my whole three and a half years at the dye works—and it was the least productive of results. "The whole time we were working under super-pressure. One Saturdav morning there came a call for khaki dyes tor the army uniforms. The manufacture of the color was to commence at six o clock on the following Monday morning and there was not a single unit of the necessary plant in position .Normally, about a month would have been required to complete the installation, and we had only fortv-eijrht hours in which to do it. The technicians of the dye works helped us out royally. The different labor for the various tasks was marshalled on the spot, one behind the other, readv to take up their jobs. Wo had' to get the plant, including the ponderous agitator into tho building and set if and while we toiled frantically the bricklayers heels.

"We worked without a break, even the periods allotted to meals being cut down to absolute minimum and in relays to avoid suspension of activity. \\e went at it hammer and tongs through the Saturday night, the whole ol Sunday, and continued during the Sunday night. But at six o'clock on the Monday morning, dead' on the minute, the manfacture of the khaki color commenced.

"Week-ends were always our 'drives.' It was no uncommon circumstance to attack a job late on the Friday night and to continue without the slightest intermission for 72 hours: 1 can recall insances where we toiled without a single let-up for 90 hours. The work was gruelling, owing to the lieavy character of the equipment which had to he handled', but we never once failed, and always came up to time. The results I attribute in no small measure to the picked staff of North Countrymen which I have .always retained. Dour and dogged, they were always determined not to bo beaten by the clock."

This was only one of many tasks associated with the making of dyes during the war period' of which the wrecker has vivid memories. By virtue of his associaiton with the serap-mentfcl industry he was entrusted with another heavy responsibility. Cast-iron borings—the waste from* the drilling and boring of objects fashioned from cast-iron —were suddenly required, and' upon a huge scale, for the dyeing industry. Dr Levinstein was at his wits' end. He hurried down to the works in search of Kayley to make good his deficiency. The instructions were brief and to the point: "Ransack the country. Get all you can; and buy at any price!" The wrecker, within a few hours, was on the trail. Telegrams were flying in all directions; telephones to all the industrial centres working in cast-iron buzzed like bees; while agents liy train and motor-car were rushing hither and thither arranging for trucks. speeding-up loading and dispatch of consignments, and sparing no effort to get the stream of borings flowing Manchesterwards. So energetically was the whip-up conducted that within a very short time a volume of 8,000 tons per year of this scrap was pouring into the dye-works from all corners of the country. This chase was paralleled, if not exceeded' in intensity, by that which subsequently ensued for scrap metal. William Kayley had visualised the part which scrap would play in the production of shells, and he had realised thei Government's short-sightedness in this respect long before public attention was called to the shell shortage. When the authorities' at last awoke to the fact the wrecker was urged to lend a hand. He had carefully jotted down potential sources of supply in anticipation, and when he was urged to retrieve every ounce of the waste upon which he could lay his hands, he dived into his pigeonholed reservoirs, and to such effect that within a very short time he was sending the material forward to the order of the Government at the rate of 2,000 tons a week.

The signing of the Armstice, while it brought an ease-up in the production of munitions, precipitated stress in other directions. In readiness for the contemplated "Great Push," arrangements had been made for the production, of tanks upon an enormous scale—one shop in Manchester alone had laid down plant for the assembly of 100 "whippets" a day. This 1 activity was arrested by a brief telegram, hot on the intimation that the Germans were seeking the Armstice. Every tank-shop was brought to a standstill, but one and all were: littered' with the parts and machines in various stages of completion. The whole of the shops throughout Lancashire and Yorkslure were instructed to forward, without delay, all' material which was on their bands to the base established on the bank of the Manchester Ship Canal. Within an incredible short space of time there was a: huge steel junk pile of 20,000 tons, of which William Kayley was asked to* dispose on behalf of tho authorities, and every trace of which was removed—sent back to the Steeleries— with equal promptitude.

At the tame time the munition factories were Mibmerged by shells either partly manufactured or ready for delivery to the tilling shops. This metal' similarly had to be turned back into the furnace's! for more utilitarian purposes and Kayley came to the assistance of the Government by completing the largest purchaNo of such material eonummated by a 6ingle individual. He

bought no fewer than 250,000 tons if unfilled shells of all calibre©, which* hare also been; absorbed 1 in foundnles. Then there arose the problem of the scrap upon the battlefields of France and Belgium. Its value was purely speculative from the official point of view, and although the belief prevails that the Government has been somewhat remiss in its 1 methodfe of disposal, the national interests have been comw pletely safeguarded. A committee of fourteen experts was appointed 1 by the Ministry—Kayley was particularly requested to a member —and they scoured the area in which the British forces had' been operating. Owing to the magnitude* of the undertaking the battle-fields were divided 1 into zones, to each of which members were deputed', and they made a thorough survey rf their respective districts. They made four visits in all, and completed their work with particuilair care, viewing anything and everything having any value, no matter how small, and in this manner the authorities obtained; a comprehensive valuation of the whole' of the material 1 littering the face of Prance and Havre to Ypres, and the Somnio to Calais.

Tne wrecker is now returning to hi a chosen field of activity. He is in greater demand to-day than at any other period. The necessity to "cut the cost" is pressing on every side, compelling the adoption of new methods and principles, plant and machinery, Whichi otherwise would hare been tolerated despite its lack of efficiency. The demolition of pumping plants, blast furnaces, effete power-raising installations, brickworks, and factories is proceeding apace. "There is only one regrettable feature of wrecking," commented 51r Kayley. "The big men all finish tip the same way. 'I ho end is. pathetic, but rashness will always exact the penalty. One may instal the most elaborate precautionary measures, but these dare-devils resolutely decline them. The slogan 'Safety First 'conveys nothing to them. Many years of perilous work renders them sublimely indifferent to the hazards they run. Sooner or later 1 know full' well that the telephone will bring me the sad tidings that Jack. Bob, Will, or another of my first lieutenants has gone down, probably before the eyes of his colleagues. The latter are shocked, but it is- a passing phase; a few hours later they are just as adventurous, and continue to be so until their turn comes round to be claimed. And. human mature being what it is, there is no remedy."