Who are Gloster SARO….?

I did some research for another forum recently reguarding Boulton & Paul “flat pack” buildings, (see pic below) came up with loads of local info about all sorts of products, B&P were heavily involved in the design of R101 framework, later agricultural and industrial steel framed buildings, and even later the steel structure in motorway bridges etc etc. Keith.

That’s the ones I remember. Nice to see one again.

Hello again, Newforest.

Westland Engineering certainly was a division of the aircraft company and had a variety of products. However, the garage door was the most successful and ultimately the company was re-organised as Garador.

Getting back to the original theme of this thread, Gloster Saro designed and manufactured hydraulic valves among other things (principal other thing being what I believe were the original aluminium petrol tankers with something other than cylindrical section.) I was a user of mechanically operated servo valves made by Gloster Saro in the mid sixties.

PS. Got a Westland garage door on our house.Would that be “the” Westland?

Don’t think so as WEL (Westland Engineering Ltd) is now out of business and enquiries should go to Garador.

I did some research for another forum recently reguarding Boulton & Paul “flat pack” buildings, (see pic below) came up with loads of local info about all sorts of products, B&P were heavily involved in the design of R101 framework, later agricultural and industrial steel framed buildings, and even later the steel structure in motorway bridges etc etc. Keith.

Boulton & Paul supplied all sorts of prefabricated buildings to the far flung corners of the empire.Those small corrugated steel churches on Caribbean islands for example.Can’t be many companies with flatpack churches on their product list! Also there’s a Boulton & Paul fridge at the BPA heritage centre.
PS. Got a Westland garage door on our house.Would that be “the” Westland?

Aha! I knew I’d seen the Junkers name on something. I beg to differ on MBB though, they beccame part of Eurocopter which is why Eurocopter are now the design authorety for support of the (aging ) BK117 and the equally aged MBB Bo-105

Boulton & Paul was a general manufacturing company started in 1797 in Norwich. They manufactured machine tools and stationary engines. They also manufactured pre-fabricated wooden buildings. They supplied the huts for Scott’s Antarctic Expedition.

The aviation division was sold off in 1934 to become Boulton Paul Aircraft Limited and moved to Woverhampton.

There is an interesting web page here:
http://www.localhistory.scit.wlv.ac.uk/Museum/Transport/planes/boultonPaul.htm

Junkers did indeed merge into the MBB (Messerschmitt-Bölkow-Blohm) Consortium. MBB became part of EADS to become EADS Germany.

MBB has/had the following subsidiaries:
MBB Umweltsysteme GmbH – manufacturing environmental systems.
MBB Liftsystems AG – manufacturing lorry and van lifting systems.
MBB Gelma GmbH – timekeeping and machine control units (now Dorma KG).
MBB Sondertechnik GmbH – lifting systems for military applications and rotors for wind turbines (now FHS Förder– und Hebesysteme GmbH).

Junkers is also a brand name of the Bosch Group manufacturing boilers.

[QUOTE=adrian_gray;1284617]

Boulton Paul made agricultural machinery QUOTE]

I think Boulton and Paul (as the name on buildings usually is) were making prefabricated farm buildings before they ever started making aircraft – in fact, the expertise in pre-fabrication led to the interest in aircraft.

I cannot remember where I read that, however, so treat with care!

Beaumaris was still empty in summer 2007, though there was a hint of life – I tried to persuade the other half to come in for an explore as the gate was open. She refused (killer seagulls being the main objection, I seem to recall, there being rather a lot nesting there), and the next day the gate was locked again…

Adrian

Adrian, your remark about B and P making prefab farm buildings rings a bell with me too and I can’t remember where I read it, or where I saw one of their products for that matter. As I recall they diversified their prefab production post war to include what we would call mobile homes these days except that theirs weren’t

I think Boulton and Paul (as the name on buildings usually is) were making prefabricated farm buildings before they ever started making aircraft – in fact, the expertise in pre-fabrication led to the interest in aircraft.n

I can remember seeing trucks when I was a kid with Boulton & Paul Joinery on the side…

Now owned by an American company called JELD-WEN (their caps not mine…)

http://www.jeld-wen.co.uk/

Zeb

Well Curtis Wright seem to be making valves and motion control equipment these days…

http://www.curtisswright.com/

Zeb

[QUOTE=mike currill;1284614]Boulton Paul made agricultural machinery QUOTE]

I think Boulton and Paul (as the name on buildings usually is) were making prefabricated farm buildings before they ever started making aircraft – in fact, the expertise in pre-fabrication led to the interest in aircraft.

I cannot remember where I read that, however, so treat with care!

Beaumaris was still empty in summer 2007, though there was a hint of life – I tried to persuade the other half to come in for an explore as the gate was open. She refused (killer seagulls being the main objection, I seem to recall, there being rather a lot nesting there), and the next day the gate was locked again…

Adrian

Thanks for the replies folks… I kinda figured thats what happened…!

Strangely Gloster SARO weren’t the only ones making vending machines, i remember at Uni about 20 years ago a GKN Sankey chocolate bar machine… of course there other products include the FV432 APC and Abbot self propelled gun…

There does appear to be a gap in the historical record here… what companies did after they stopped making aircraft…!

Zeb

Off the top of my head I can say that Heinkel toyed with bubble cars as an aside to their main work of water heaters. We all know what happened to Kawasaki and Mitsubishi. Junkers are producing some sort of machinery but I can’t remember what although I’ve seen their products around. Messerschmidt, Bolkow and Blohm u Voss amalgamated to form MBB later part of Eurocopter. Vickers used to make filing cabinets. Boulton Paul made agricultural machinery as did Gloster among the other things they did.
If anyone can come up with any more I’d be interested to see them as I also find it interesting what they turned their hands to after aircraft.

Sadly, Faun have moved out of Beaumaris (not sure exactly when), and it is becoming increasingly derelict. A great pity as it’s an uncommon example of an uncommon site with many of its buildings still extant.

Thats a shame, from the pictures in Raymond Wheelers Saro books it looks an interesting site, especially the slipway…! Done some more digging and Faun moved out in ’97, to llangefni, about 6 miles away, however there is still a SARO connection as they seem to be concentrating on building Trackway, SARO’s portable roadway…

http://www.fauntrackway.co.uk/

Zeb

I visited the Beaumaris site about five years ago. It was deserted, but the buildings were very much intact. Not sure what is happening there now.

Planemike

I know the Beaumaris part of the SARO company ended up with De Havilland but thought this eventualy became part of the Laird engineering group and finally the german Faun Company who still build refuse trucks there (something that saro also built)…

Sadly, Faun have moved out of Beaumaris (not sure exactly when), and it is becoming increasingly derelict. A great pity as it’s an uncommon example of an uncommon site with many of its buildings still extant.

Incidentally, for Zoot Horn Rollo, that made me smile given that Clark’s was founded by Quakers, not people who’d usually get on well with QinetiQ (God, I hate that ghastly cutesy spelling!).

Adrian

And if you take your kids to Clarks to get new shoes they will in all probability have their feet measured in a machine with a QinetiQ label on it, which seems a bit of a sad comedown for the Royal Signals and Radar Establishment…

Thanks for the replies folks… I kinda figured thats what happened…!

Strangely Gloster SARO weren’t the only ones making vending machines, i remember at Uni about 20 years ago a GKN Sankey chocolate bar machine… of course there other products include the FV432 APC and Abbot self propelled gun…

There does appear to be a gap in the historical record here… what companies did after they stopped making aircraft…!

Zeb

I don’t suppose you have any left Moggy? Long shot but worth a try!

No. I’m afraid not. In those days data sheet for airfield vehicles were the least glamorous of all my accounts, so I kept nothing.

Moggy

Gloster-Saro.

Didn’t I see their name plate on the back of a coffee/tea machine?

Mark

More than likely! They did also dabble in vending machines – as one does!

Here is an excerpt taken from a patent application of one such machine:

Abstract of GB1079758 1,079,758. Beverage-making apparatus. GLOSTER SARO Ltd. Sept. 28, 1965 [Sept. 30, 1964], No. 39781/64. Heading A4D. In a tea-making cycle, in which the portion of hot water delivered to a brewing vessel 13 passes straight on into a waiting cup, dry tea laves are supported on a sieve (14), in vessel 13, for a single rapid gravitational transfusion of the hot water. In a coin-operated vending machine having a cam-controlled operating cycle, the cycle may end with a measured portion of dry tea leaves in either tray 4 or vessel 13. A new cycle begins with the solenoid-controlled delivery of the tea leaves from tray 4 to vessel 13, or the delivery of a cupful of hot water to vessel 13 through pipe 38. The infusion runs to the waiting cup through outlet 16 (having a grub screw 16A to permit adjustment of the rate of flow) and a mixing shoot 17. Sugar and milk are added, if required, and tray 4 is replenished with a further measured portion of the tea leaves by timed operation of screw-conveyer (2) at a hopper delivery outlet. Finally a solenoid (29) is energized to move rack 23, against its return spring (28), and rotate the vessel 13, which is fast with pinion 22, into an inverted position, in which it strikes solenoid (29) to loosen the spent tea leaves. These fall into receptacle (J). A ventilating fan is operated to extract steam through pipes (41).

Makes a common cuppa sound fascinating!

Gloster-Saro.

Didn’t I see their name plate on the back of a coffee/tea machine?

Mark