"The Iron Duke", Kingston Street, Bradford on Avon, Wiltshire 13 March 2018
The Iron Duke is a calender, a machine designed to bind mixed rubber and reinforcing fabric into sheets which, after vulcanisation, became waterproof material. Some of the earliest such products were waterproof capes and footwear for troops in the Crimean War. This calender, the first of its kind in Britain, was designed in America and built in Britain in 1848. The rollers were cast in the Highfield Foundry in Bilston, Staffordshire, the huge cast frames were made by Bush & Co, Bristol, and the vertical wrought iron rods holding the machine together were forged in Coalbrookdale. Other parts were made by millwrights and iron founders in Bradford on Avon. When the machine ceased work after 120 years, it was sent to Bristol Museum in 1969 for storage. It has now returned to Bradford on Avon where it played an important role in the town's industrial heritage.
Stephen Moulton founded the rubber industry in Bradford on Avon in 1848. In 1891 he merged with George Spencer to form Spencer Moulton & Co. In 1956 the Avon Indiarubber Company took over the firm, later becoming known as the Avon Rubber Company and Avon Industrial Polymers. By the 1990s, rubber production had become too difficult and the factory closed down in 1995.
"The Iron Duke", Kingston Street, Bradford on Avon, Wiltshire 13 March 2018
The Iron Duke is a calender, a machine designed to bind mixed rubber and reinforcing fabric into sheets which, after vulcanisation, became waterproof material. Some of the earliest such products were waterproof capes and footwear for troops in the Crimean War. This calender, the first of its kind in Britain, was designed in America and built in Britain in 1848. The rollers were cast in the Highfield Foundry in Bilston, Staffordshire, the huge cast frames were made by Bush & Co, Bristol, and the vertical wrought iron rods holding the machine together were forged in Coalbrookdale. Other parts were made by millwrights and iron founders in Bradford on Avon. When the machine ceased work after 120 years, it was sent to Bristol Museum in 1969 for storage. It has now returned to Bradford on Avon where it played an important role in the town's industrial heritage.
Stephen Moulton founded the rubber industry in Bradford on Avon in 1848. In 1891 he merged with George Spencer to form Spencer Moulton & Co. In 1956 the Avon Indiarubber Company took over the firm, later becoming known as the Avon Rubber Company and Avon Industrial Polymers. By the 1990s, rubber production had become too difficult and the factory closed down in 1995.