Report - Elster Jeavons Engineering, Tipton, Oct 08

[Oxygen Thief]

Me, Raddog and Dweeb were getting some miles in, having a nose around for some new sites, and we came across this place. It's a lot bigger than the sum of all these pics, and worth a visit if you're passing.

Labs...

One of the big sheds...

The calibration room, with lights !...

Old documents and plans...

External...

and this was nice, the old company offices...

Be careful though, this seems to be partially live, or at least, there is security on site and that building is well lit up.

 

[DaveHarris]

I worked there from 1988 to 1997 and looked after the computers for the offices and the factory.

The big shed pictured looks to be the upstairs part of the main factory. There was a production line here that made I believe the J77 regulator which was used in homes next to the gas meter (British Gas used a lot of them). The production line was pretty much all female workers and they were all made by hand from machined or bought in parts. Assembly was simple with there being about half a dozen parts that then moved on to a test process. They let me have a go but I was slow and rubbish at it and I messed up their piece work timings! :-)

The place didn’t change much in the time I was there and closed 9 years later. Some people worked there their entire lives. It was on the brink for many years really so the closure was inevitable.

The wooden staircase pictured was lethal and I slipped on there loads of times!

I had fond memories of this company as my first full time job and it took me out of boyhood into a man.

Happy to answer any questions anyone has.

 

[DaveHarris]

The company offices pictured were a lovely part of the building but sadly never used inn the time I was there. Just left empty and as a dumping ground for old files and computer bits.