THE BRITISH FORD

Otago Daily Times, Issue 21362, 16 June 1931, Page 5

THE BRITISH FORD

WONDER WORKS AT DAGENHAM REACH. RIVER THAMES Progress that is little short of amazing has been made with the construction of the vast new Ford works at Dagenham (an illustration appears above). This tremendous factory—one of the largest of its kind in the world, with an output capacity equal to that of every other English motor works combined, is planned to employ more than 15,000 workers. Towering above the Essex marsh arc the huge strack stoves and chimneys of the biggest blast furnace in England. Endless vistas of steelwork, under glass roofs so wide that they scarcely intercept the view of the sky, and standing on acre after acre of concrete, are the main shops of the factory, soon to resound to the hum and clang of giant Ford machines producing two vehicles every minute. Night and day for 18 months, thousands of British workmen, aided by unique building machinery which reduces laborious tasks to automatic processes, and performs them at astonishing speed, have been at work on this land. The visitor would not refuse to believe that twice- that length of time had been occupied in bringing about so amazing a change. One of the biggest of the undertakings has been the work of piling the land to withstand the enormous weight of concrete and steel buildings closepacked with machinery. The_ whole of the structure stands on massive pillars of steel and concrete, driven down_ 40 50, CO, and in some cases 70 feet into the ground, until blow after blow with the four-ton driver is unable to move them another half-inch.

The work is now practically completed, 13.800 of these piles have been driven—--125 miles of them if they were placed end to end. In places they arc packed so tight that the surface of the ground has bulged two and three foot into the air due to the pressure created below. An undertaking of hardly less formidable proportions has been the laying of the reinforced concrete floor of the three main shops. These three shops alone — the foundry, the manufacturing shop, mid the assembly shop—cover over 20 acres of ground, and almost the whole of this area has now been covered by a thick concrete slab reinforced with steel. The walls and roofs of these engineering shops provide further examples of high-speed construction; 13,500 tons of British steelwork were ordered for these buildings, and practically all of it is now erected.

One of the most striking examples is the splendid natural lighting in every corner of every shop, obtained by the extensive use of glass in the roof. The area of roofing glass is approximately 000,000 square feet—nearly 14 acres—and it is one of the largest contracts ever given out for British glass roofing. Those parts of the roof that are not glazed arc covered with a special protected metal coated with aluminium on the inside—another feature that adds to the excellent illumination. The method by which each shop will be kept well ventilated is another of the minor wonders of this factory. Warm air will be blown in during the winter, cool air in the summer; nearly 250 ventilators, ranging from four to three feet in diameter, will extract the air, while nearly six miles of glass roof, three and threequarter feet wide, can be opened by touching a series of electric switches. One switch will lift eight tons of window, while other switches operate the sash windows in the sides of the buildings. The blast furnace —now almost completed—is the only one in the south of England, and one of the largest in the world: 500 tons of pig iron can be ; produced in this furnace every day. Nearly 10,000 tons of coal, ore, and limestone will be brought into the Thames every week to feed this voracious furnace. The ore yard (now in course of construction) from which the furnace will be supplied entirely by electrical means, will hold 34.000'ton's of coal, 122,000 tons of ore, and 11.500 tons of limestone.

Work on the 45 ovens forming the coke-oven block is also well advanced; SOO tons of coal will be carbonised here every 24 hours. By means of a special installation—the first to be used in this country—steam is generated from the coke for use in other sections of the factory. The by-products section is also situated near the ovens. Among other valuable derivatives will be a large amount of benzol which will leave the works in the fuel tanks of new Ford cars! The power house will generate enough current to supply a big town with light, heat and power, and will consume London’s rubbish at the rate of 1000 tons a day. Tile construction of the jetty has been one of the biggest tasks in the whole of this vast undertaking; costing over £323,000 to build, it is over 1800 feet long and 51 feet wide.

The Dagenham factory to-day represents a noteworthy achievement by British architects, British contractors, British manufacturers of concrete and steel. Only a little more than IS months ago they were shown 500 acres of waterlogged land on the banks of the Thames, To-day the home of a new industry is in being on that same spot