Visited with Raddog and Speed.
Oilite was just one place in our little Essex extravaganza from last month that I've only just got round to posting up. We had a proper good lab day on the Friday. Each place we went to had more lab equipment than you could shake a very big test tube at. Mmmm chemistry!
It's been quite stripped apart from the labs so we spent most of the time opening bottles of stuff that as probably very dangerous. We didn't find any mercury to play with sadly.
Lubricants........ooooooOOOOOOOOOOOoooooooooo
Here's a press release from the company that took poor little Oilite over.
Bearings and sintering specialist Bowman International has acquired most of the assets of former competitor Oilite Bearings Ltd, after the Ipswich-based manufacturer was placed into administration at the end of 2008.
The trade names, all stock valued at over £250,000, tooling and various other equipment have now been purchased from the administrator.
The acquisition strengthens Bowman’s position in the sintered component market and will greatly expand its exports. It has also increased stock holding to more than £1.75m, with the widest range of stock sintered bronze bearings in Europe.
“The purchase of Oilite has moved us into a bigger league and effectively doubles our turnover,†said Bowman managing director Paul Hancock. “It means we can offer customers an even better service and an even wider range of components.â€
The former managing director of the Ipswich company, Paul Mitchell, has joined Bowman as technical director, further strengthening the technical back up provided to customers.
Oilite Bearings had manufactured self-lubricating bearings and sintered components for more than 70 years. For many years it was part of Manganese Bronze Holdings, best known for making London's iconic black taxi cabs. In 2003 the components division was sold to BSA Holdings, which went into administration in 2006, and Oilite Bearings became a stand-alone company after a management buyout.
Oilite was just one place in our little Essex extravaganza from last month that I've only just got round to posting up. We had a proper good lab day on the Friday. Each place we went to had more lab equipment than you could shake a very big test tube at. Mmmm chemistry!
It's been quite stripped apart from the labs so we spent most of the time opening bottles of stuff that as probably very dangerous. We didn't find any mercury to play with sadly.
Lubricants........ooooooOOOOOOOOOOOoooooooooo

Here's a press release from the company that took poor little Oilite over.
Bearings and sintering specialist Bowman International has acquired most of the assets of former competitor Oilite Bearings Ltd, after the Ipswich-based manufacturer was placed into administration at the end of 2008.
The trade names, all stock valued at over £250,000, tooling and various other equipment have now been purchased from the administrator.
The acquisition strengthens Bowman’s position in the sintered component market and will greatly expand its exports. It has also increased stock holding to more than £1.75m, with the widest range of stock sintered bronze bearings in Europe.
“The purchase of Oilite has moved us into a bigger league and effectively doubles our turnover,†said Bowman managing director Paul Hancock. “It means we can offer customers an even better service and an even wider range of components.â€
The former managing director of the Ipswich company, Paul Mitchell, has joined Bowman as technical director, further strengthening the technical back up provided to customers.
Oilite Bearings had manufactured self-lubricating bearings and sintered components for more than 70 years. For many years it was part of Manganese Bronze Holdings, best known for making London's iconic black taxi cabs. In 2003 the components division was sold to BSA Holdings, which went into administration in 2006, and Oilite Bearings became a stand-alone company after a management buyout.