The Reyrolle Story: Thirteen - Utopian Years
...Looking back, the Reyrolle Technical Conference is remembered as an excellent example of technical co-operation between managers in different countries. It was ironic however, that such co-operation worked so well at an international level for so long, whilst comparative exercises with manufacturers in Great Britain, rarely succeeded...
Robert Owen tells of attempts to organise national power grid systems.
To read earlier chapters of his history of the huge engineering concern Reyrolles please click on http://www.openwriting.com/archives/the_reyrolle_story/
To celebrate 25 years at Hebburn, Reyrolle produced a fifty-page hard-back booklet in 1926 entitled, "Souvenir of a Visit to our Works." It included many photographs but names were to the fore with D Department being known as Robert's Shop, N Department - Sandy's Shop, G Department - Fenwick's Shop and H Department -Nicod's Shop. Amazingly, the second half of the booklet was devoted to a musical entitled "The Tribune of Borcovies" or, "The Lord who lives in the Heather." It claimed to be an entirely original operetta with words by Roger Walker and music by S.M.Ashton. It took place at a Roman Camp on Hadrian's Wall and thereby lays the link between an early system of protection and Reyrolle's system of automatic protection of electrical plant. Cultured engineers in the twenties?
Reyrolle produced its first 66KV switchgear in 1926. It was also a significant year because of the well-known General Strike and the lesser known Electricity Act. The General Strike called by the Trade Union Congress in support of the miners, had little impact on Reyrolle, with only the Joiners withdrawing their labour. Work continued but the Company was accused of black-legging when it used some of its own lorries to assist employees to get to and from work when normal transport was on strike. Their 'black-legging' got even greater publicity, when a seventy-one year old factory worker named Thomas Downey, fell as he was getting off a Reyrolle lorry and struck his head on the ground. He tragically died the following day.
During the early decades of the 20th century the growing electricity supply system in the U.K. continued to be unorganised. By 1916 there were 537 different suppliers of electricity, most with assorted voltages, and in 1922 there were 23 different types of plugs in use. Charles Merz campaigned for a national system of one voltage and one plug or what he called a 'Grid Iron'.
To make recommendations to improve the above, the government set up the Weir Committee in 1925. Giving evidence to the Committee, Charles Merz advised on the economic feasibility and practicality of an efficient national electricity supply system. His recommendations were built into the 1926 Electricity Supply Act, which established a new Central Electricity Board and a National 132 KV Grid System fed by a small number of large power stations. During the following years, this resulted in a major increase in the electricity generated, the standardisation of supply and a massive increase in the number of users.
The 1926 Act also produced many advantages for Reyrolle by stimulating demand and allowing simplification of manufacture. Orders for switchgear 'rolled in', causing Sales Offices to be opened throughout the country. Given the basis of a firm home market, exports increased as agencies were established abroad. In addition to Holland, licences to manufacture Reyrolle products were granted to firms in France and Germany and later to Japan and the U.S.A. Reyrolle was indeed now an international company.
It was not long before Hezemeyer of Holland, the first company to be granted a licence to manufacture Reyrolle switchgear, suggested a meeting of those similarly favoured in other countries. The aim of the get-together was to exchange views on the design, development and marketing problems in different countries. The Reyrolle management jumped at the chance, and the first gathering was held at Hebburn in 1931. Although more akin to an overseas Manufacturing Association it was entitled, "The Reyrolle Technical Conference or R.T.C. The two-day conference was a huge success and held biannually - with the exception of the war years - in different countries during the next five decades.
Looking back, the Reyrolle Technical Conference is remembered as an excellent example of technical co-operation between managers in different countries. It was ironic however, that such co-operation worked so well at an international level for so long, whilst comparative exercises with manufacturers in Great Britain, rarely succeeded.
The specialised task of installing and commissioning switchgear also grew with increased sales. The old team of Outside Erectors became the new Installation Department. In the 1920's, it employed about a hundred men and a handful of vehicles; three decades later it employed 1200 men and over 100 vehicles.
Considering the major economic depression in the north-east of England, the closing of Hebburn Colliery and the Palmer's Shipyard at nearby Jarrow, the years 1925 to 1935 were Utopian years for Reyrolle. With an overfull order book, it was a time of major expansion. Prospective employees were practically queuing outside the gate office seeking work.
