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| Version 1 | Version 2 |
|---|---|
| Great northern products No. 345,164: manhole covers | Great northern products No. 345,164: manhole covers |
| (about 1 month later) | |
| A manhole cover has always been a manhole cover to me, and maybe also to you, though I remember a few with affection. In my days on the Bradford Telegraph & Argus, a glory moment was popping up in the middle of the road in the city centre after exploring Bradford beck in its culvert with council staff. On the whole, though, they pass me by; or rather, the other way round. | A manhole cover has always been a manhole cover to me, and maybe also to you, though I remember a few with affection. In my days on the Bradford Telegraph & Argus, a glory moment was popping up in the middle of the road in the city centre after exploring Bradford beck in its culvert with council staff. On the whole, though, they pass me by; or rather, the other way round. |
| Thanks to the unlikely agency of the Duke of York, however, I have become very interested in manhole covers, in the context of that subject much-discussed here on the Guardian Northerner: the future of manufacturing in our three regions. My own line, also pursued vigorously at talks based around my book True North, is that we have a remarkable tradition of inventiveness, skill and entrepreneurial nous and that there is no reason why any of those should diminish. | Thanks to the unlikely agency of the Duke of York, however, I have become very interested in manhole covers, in the context of that subject much-discussed here on the Guardian Northerner: the future of manufacturing in our three regions. My own line, also pursued vigorously at talks based around my book True North, is that we have a remarkable tradition of inventiveness, skill and entrepreneurial nous and that there is no reason why any of those should diminish. |
| It's the things we make which change. Cue the Duke of York, who has just opened the new offices in Barrow-in-Furness of Structural Science Composites. This news was sent to the Northerner by Furness Enterprise, the agency which drums up interest in business in that lovely but marginalised part of the north, and this sentence caught my eye: | It's the things we make which change. Cue the Duke of York, who has just opened the new offices in Barrow-in-Furness of Structural Science Composites. This news was sent to the Northerner by Furness Enterprise, the agency which drums up interest in business in that lovely but marginalised part of the north, and this sentence caught my eye: |
| The visit enabled His Royal Highness to see the manufacturing of the company's range of bespoke and generic composite manhole cover designs, which are in use in 27 countries around the world and in use by 50 public authorities in the UK. | The visit enabled His Royal Highness to see the manufacturing of the company's range of bespoke and generic composite manhole cover designs, which are in use in 27 countries around the world and in use by 50 public authorities in the UK. |
| This led in turn to a happy hour of Googling about manhole covers and the ingenuity which SSC has shown in producing a 'composite' alternative to the traditional metal version, made of fibreglass bonded with a matrix resin which is extremely strong. | This led in turn to a happy hour of Googling about manhole covers and the ingenuity which SSC has shown in producing a 'composite' alternative to the traditional metal version, made of fibreglass bonded with a matrix resin which is extremely strong. |
| You won't bear with me if you think that this is turning into advertising copy, but the advantages of this product had me repeatedly saying out loud: "Oh yes..." and "Why hadn't I thought of that..?" and suchlike. Like Percy Shaw's catseyes in Halifax, the covers are one of those products which meet a need which the vast majority of us would never think of. To take one topical example, they are immune from the plague of metal theft which is opening up frighteningly large numbers of holes in our pavements and roads. | You won't bear with me if you think that this is turning into advertising copy, but the advantages of this product had me repeatedly saying out loud: "Oh yes..." and "Why hadn't I thought of that..?" and suchlike. Like Percy Shaw's catseyes in Halifax, the covers are one of those products which meet a need which the vast majority of us would never think of. To take one topical example, they are immune from the plague of metal theft which is opening up frighteningly large numbers of holes in our pavements and roads. |
| You can read a fascinating patent here, including another curiosity-arousing line: | You can read a fascinating patent here, including another curiosity-arousing line: |
| There is a need for further manhole covers, and in particular, thermally and electrically insulating manhole covers. | There is a need for further manhole covers, and in particular, thermally and electrically insulating manhole covers. |
And SSC's own site is full of further interesting detail and links. I hope that they will develop all manner of patterns which we can brass-rub, like the cast iron ones. | And SSC's own site is full of further interesting detail and links. I hope that they will develop all manner of patterns which we can brass-rub, like the cast iron ones. |
| Meanwhile I shall add them to my armoury of modern northern products, such as Bolton University's amazing power-generating textiles, and historic ones, like Professor Spooner (of Spoonerisms)'s son devising a tumble dryer after watching street washing lines dance up and down in the wind on his train between Ilkley and Bradford. | Meanwhile I shall add them to my armoury of modern northern products, such as Bolton University's amazing power-generating textiles, and historic ones, like Professor Spooner (of Spoonerisms)'s son devising a tumble dryer after watching street washing lines dance up and down in the wind on his train between Ilkley and Bradford. |
| Anyone got any more? | Anyone got any more? |
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