Metadata
WORK ID: YFA 3391 (Master Record)
| Title | Year | Date |
| METAL CRAFT | c.1978 | 1975-01-01 |
|
Details
Original Format: Super 8 Colour: Colour Sound: Sound Duration: 15 mins 50 secs Credits: RTV Presents Narrated Paul Lally Filmed by Roy Vickers, Ken Dixon Mercury Movie Makers Subject: Working Life Industry |
| Summary This is a documentary film about the manufacturing of everyday metal objects made by Roy Vickers. |
|
Description
This is a documentary film about the manufacturing of everyday metal objects made by Roy Vickers.
Titles: 'RTV Presents' 'Metalcraft'
The film begins in the showroom of the 'Metalwork Company', where a man examines some cooking pots displayed on shelves. A delivery of aluminium arrives at the factory in Guiseley, West Yorkshire, and is then unloaded. Then a craftsman is shown shaping and trimming some aluminium on a lathe into a canister for the school meal...
This is a documentary film about the manufacturing of everyday metal objects made by Roy Vickers.
Titles: 'RTV Presents' 'Metalcraft'
The film begins in the showroom of the 'Metalwork Company', where a man examines some cooking pots displayed on shelves. A delivery of aluminium arrives at the factory in Guiseley, West Yorkshire, and is then unloaded. Then a craftsman is shown shaping and trimming some aluminium on a lathe into a canister for the school meal service. The commentary explains the process and the materials that can be used. This is then added to the pile of other similar canisters. Another craftsman, Brian Dobson, is then shown making a poaching pan, with Teflon, again using a lathe with an explanatory commentary.
The film then switches to a woman worker using a hand press to shape metal into what will become an electric kettle. These are then trimmed and straightened on a cutting lathe. The oil is removed from the canisters in a vat of solvent ready for spinning. They then go through a process called 'backward spinning', forming the neck of the kettle. They are then smoothed using wire wool and emery cloth. Next the spouts are shaped, sealed and braised onto the rest of the kettle which is then polished. Finally legs are added, the electric element and cable is fitted and the kettles are packed into boxes. Other treatments are shown on various appliances like milk pans. Women are then shown putting handles onto the pans, and making lids; one of them Joan Bishop who has been with the company for 30 years.
The finished boxes are then loaded onto a lorry.
Credits: 'narrated. Paul Lally' 'Filmed by Roy Vickers, Ken Dixon' 'The End'
Context
Armed with tools of the trade, these skilled metalworkers have decades of experience transforming sheets of aluminium into shiny pots, pans and kettles at the ‘Metalwork Company’ in Guiseley. Following the meticulous process, workers are cogs in a long production line of employees who are meeting the ever-growing demands of a ‘70s market, obsessed with electronic and fine finish kitchenware.
In the years leading up to the 1980s, a cosmos of gadgets and gizmos were landing in British homes...
Armed with tools of the trade, these skilled metalworkers have decades of experience transforming sheets of aluminium into shiny pots, pans and kettles at the ‘Metalwork Company’ in Guiseley. Following the meticulous process, workers are cogs in a long production line of employees who are meeting the ever-growing demands of a ‘70s market, obsessed with electronic and fine finish kitchenware.
In the years leading up to the 1980s, a cosmos of gadgets and gizmos were landing in British homes and consumers were becoming thirstier for technology which would make life easier, particularly in kitchens. The ‘Metalwork Company’ churned out 1,000 electric kettles and 12,000 pots and pans every week to home and abroad, supplying to some big high street name brands including British Home Stores. |
