Rolling Mill Occupation

Its been hot today but nowhere near as hot as it was in the rolling mills,cogging /bolting down the 4" billets straight from the furnace,three passes through the rolls of a 12" double duo mill,no picnic doing up to 50 tons a shift.After work like that any other job seems easy.

I have seen no mention of the Hook man on this thread, in the 1960s I worked at Hemmings Bar mill, on grange lane off ecclesfield rd. I worked on the Hook with the cog backer, as the billet came through the bottom rolls, the cog backer would catch it with his tongs and I used the Hook which was on a chain anchored above us, I would use my body weight on the hook to lift the billet to the higher rolls,where the cog backer guided it through for another pass, from memory the biggest billets we rolled were 120 lbs in weight.

I also remember sometimes we would Roll titanium billets, these were quite small, but when handled at blood red temp, they would give off bright sparks.

On the other side of the Mill was the wire mill,powered from the same giant electric engine, the speed of the rolls on the wire mill went twice as fast as the bar mill, and the billets came out of the rolls twice as fast! so there were a few accidents and scorched boiler suits.

My Dad was a furnaceman and worked on Claywheels Lane in the 1940s

 

hazel

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Hi Hazel, Would the rolling mills have been called Dunford

and Elliots.