30 min film tour of the Mills factory 1935

[coppinpr]

I don't know if we have had this on the forum before. I can't find it. It's the first time I've seen it, a unique look at every aspect of the Mills factory in 1935. I particularly like the girls hand painting the castings. Also look out for the packing dept, they are packing machines addressed to London, England.

[highfield]

Thanks for posting. Really interesting, noticeable how so many of the production machines were unguarded

[13rebel]

Good film and an insight as to what a large scale operation it was. Thanks for posting.

[jimmy55]

I assume all the management died of smoking related illnesses

[treefrog]

interesting film.

Such a shame we don’t have smells with film, but can you imagine what it was like in the paint shop where those girls are hand painting castings.......they would be floating out of the factory. I recall Clubconsoles mentioning about some old Mills factory film for sale at an auction years ago he had seen, maybe the same one as you can hear the old projector whirring away.

I think that Extraordinary says S N Co London.....it might be Samson Novelty obviously one of the larger suppliers here.

[badpenny]

Enjoyable film that, thanks for posting.
Many years ago I was standing at Newark International Collectors' Fair and I had a couple of bandits on show.
An old boy being wheeled around stopped and asked me if either of them was a Mills. They weren't, I had an Aristocrat and a Jubilee. I told him about The Ozzie connection and asked him what his interest was in Mills.
Turned out he had been a bombardier in Lancasters during World War Twice. He explained they used a clockwork mechanism and described an activity along the lines of: -
Wind up the motor
Input settings to actuate the drop. Speed/Height/Distance from target etc.
Open bay doors
Trip motor
Take control of flying from the pilots in order to establish staying on track to target.
Shout Bombs gone, hand control back to the pilots, close bay doors and trip the cameras.

It seems the process varied a bit during the conflict depending on the ordinance, the target and defence. However when the building of Lancasters expanded to Canada in 1942 the Merlins were made under licence by Packhard and most of the instrumentation was of American origin.

The clockwork bomb release management mechanism was made by Mills!
And there was the problem.
Many of The British aircrews weren't happy about dropping death on German targets by using a device sporting a label that proudly proclaimed ...

Manufactured by THE MILLS NOVELTY COMPANY

I don't think he was one of the unhappy ones as he chuckled all the way through the story.
I guess the old boy has gone now, I enjoyed his company and listening to him.

BP

[john t peterson]

The pictures remind me of my summer work in the auto factories of Pontiac Motors during the summer months between college years, minus the safety glasses. Thank you, Henry Ford, for the concept of the moving assembly line. I hope Mills had an on-sight medical facility for all the on-the-job injuries sustained.

J Peterson
Factory rat, USA

[badpenny]

I think back in those days "Common Sense" was much more of an essential life skill.
"So the lathe ripped your arm off when you grabbed the chuck before it stopped, what did you expect to happen precisely? ..... also stop bleeding on my floor"

Sometimes I think we should remove all of the Warning stickers and allow natural selection to thin the herd out a bit.

BP

[coppinpr]

On the other hand BP common sense only goes so far when no one tells you breathing in lead paint all day will kill you or a Doctor on a poster tells you "Craven "A" is good for your throat or the powers that be recommend certain foods as healthy.

[brigham]

It's a black cat that tells you Craven A will not affect your throat...