Jarrow, British Steel’s Basic Refractories Plant

HER Number:
8502

District:
S Tyneside

Site Name:
Jarrow, British Steel’s Basic Refractories Plant

Place:
Jarrow

Map Sheet:
NZ36NW

Class:
Industrial

Site Type: Broad:
Brick and Tilemaking Site

Site Type: Specific:
Brickworks

General Period:
Modern

Specific Period:
C20

Form of Evidence:
Documentary Evidence

Description:
Works established in 1952 by the Consett Iron Company. Output was 350 tons per week. Raw materials were brought in by rail, road or sea. The raw materials passed through a double-toggle steel-framed jaw crusher and delivered beneath a magnetic head pulley to remove any ferrous material, and then to one of ten 120-ton capacity bunkers, each with a different raw material. The material then passed through a secondary crusher (Nordberg 24-inch cone crusher), via conveyor belts, and on to a Nordberg double-deck vibratory screen, which separates material into various sizes. A conical ball mill grinds some material to a very fine powder. The raw materials were mixed in a batch mixer, which vary from 7 feet in diameter (1 ton), to the smaller Cumflow machine (1/2 ton). The material was discharged down a chute into a skip and taken to the three presses: a Fielding & Platt hydraulic press, a John Shaw Ltd hydraulic press (from Templetown Works, Consett), and a Whittaker & Co mechanical press. A tunnel dryer and kiln were in operation in 1954. The dryer (68 feet long) was heated by waste gases of combustion from the tunnel kiln. Bricks were allowed 18 hours drying time, and up to 175 tons could be handled per week. The tunnel kiln (225 feet long) had preheating, firing and cooling zones. Cast iron cars loaded with bricks were pushed through the kiln by a hydraulic ram for a period of 65½ hours. There were 22 burners in the firing zone, 11 on each side, and the kiln reached a temperature of up to 1650º centigrade. The kiln was designed and built by personnel from the Consett Iron Company and the bricks to build the kiln came from the Templetown Works. A batch kiln was used for burning large and awkward shapes. It measured 15½ feet wide, 41 feet long, and 8½ feet high, with ten oil burners. It operated on a 14 day cycle, giving an average output of nearly 50 tons per week. The burning process lasted five days, leaving nine days for cooling, drawing and re-setting. Chemically-bonded ware was hardened off by passing it through a separate tunnel dryer over a period of 24 hours, which could handle up to 140 tons per week. During the 1950s, about 126 people worked at the Basic Refractory Plant. By the 1970s this had been cut to 67. In 1975 a new gas-fired tunnel kiln was built by Gibbons Brothers Ltd. The works closed in 1985 when Stein Refractories Ltd took control of British Steel’s Refractory Division in County Durham. 1952-1986 Source: Davison, P J, 1986. Brickworks of the North East, 122 site 12, 124-6. Works established in 1952 by the Consett Iron Company. Output was 350 tons per week. Raw materials were brought in by rail, road or sea. The raw materials passed through a double-toggle steel-framed jaw crusher and delivered beneath a magnetic head pulley to remove any ferrous material, and then to one of ten 120-ton capacity bunkers, each with a different raw material. The material then passed through a secondary crusher (Nordberg 24-inch cone crusher), via conveyor belts, and on to a Nordberg double-deck vibratory screen, which separates material into various sizes. A conical ball mill grinds some material to a very fine powder. The raw materials were mixed in a batch mixer, which vary from 7 feet in diameter (1 ton), to the smaller Cumflow machine (1/2 ton). The material was discharged down a chute into a skip and taken to the three presses: a Fielding & Platt hydraulic press, a John Shaw Ltd hydraulic press (from Templetown Works, Consett), and a Whittaker & Co mechanical press. A tunnel dryer and kiln were in operation in 1954. The dryer (68 feet long) was heated by waste gases of combustion from the tunnel kiln. Bricks were allowed 18 hours drying time, and up to 175 tons could be handled per week. The tunnel kiln (225 feet long) had preheating, firing and cooling zones. Cast iron cars loaded with bricks were pushed through the kiln by a hydraulic ram for a period of 65½ hours. There were 22 burners in the firing z

Easting:
324

Northing:
657

Grid Reference:
NZ324657

Lats/Lons:

Sources:
P.J. Davison, 1986, Brickworks of the North East, p 122, site 12, pp 124-126