30 min film tour of the Mills factory 1935

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coppinpr
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30 min film tour of the Mills factory 1935

Post by 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
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Re: 30 min film tour of the mills factory 1935

Post by highfield »

Thanks for posting. Really interesting, noticeable how so many of the production machines were unguarded
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Re: 30 min film tour of the mills factory 1935

Post by 13rebel »

Good film and an insight as to what a large scale operation it was. Thanks for posting.
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Re: 30 min film tour of the mills factory 1935

Post by jimmy55 »

I assume all the management died of smoking related illnesses :HaHa:
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treefrog
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Re: 30 min film tour of the mills factory 1935

Post by treefrog »

interesting film. !!THUMBSX2!!

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.
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Re: 30 min film tour of the Mills factory 1935

Post by 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 !THUMBS!
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john t peterson
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Re: 30 min film tour of the Mills factory 1935

Post by 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
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badpenny
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Re: 30 min film tour of the Mills factory 1935

Post by 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 :cool:
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Re: 30 min film tour of the Mills factory 1935

Post by 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.
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brigham
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Re: 30 min film tour of the Mills factory 1935

Post by brigham »

It's a black cat that tells you Craven A will not affect your throat...
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badpenny
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Re: 30 min film tour of the Mills factory 1935

Post by badpenny »

I've never listened to doctors or even black cats.
Also I've never smoked because common sense told me it must be harmful.
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Re: 30 min film tour of the Mills factory 1935

Post by coppinpr »

your right it was Camels that had a doctor on their side,but I dont think the Craven A black cat ever said it either ,it was this lovely lady covering her nicotine stained teeth and the bright yellow metal add boards outside buildings.

As to BP..are we to believe he has never had one drink to many because it is common sense not to :lol:

vintage-cigarette-ads-doctor.jpg


craven a.jpg

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Re: 30 min film tour of the Mills factory 1935

Post by jimmy55 »

These Black Cats have had their building tarted up a bit since I did a stint with Brown and Root there decades ago. The old Carreras factory.
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Re: 30 min film tour of the Mills factory 1935

Post by badpenny »

coppinpr wrote: Fri Jan 31, 2020 9:02 pm As to BP..are we to believe he has never had one drink to many because it is common sense not to :lol:
Well Paul
As an ex publican common sense suggested to me that regular male drinkers often reach a stage in their mid 60s where not only do they not recover the next day quite so easily as they used to. Also liver spots on the back of their hands grow as well as twinges in the kidneys. I decided at the age of 37 that I should give up alcohol before 65.
I am 66 this year and by my birthday I shall have been dry 2 years.
Do I feel healthier? No not really, I certainly don't sleep so deeply at night. !NITENITE!
Do I feel better in the mornings? Perhaps, but what I do know is when I wake up that's the best I'm going to feel all day. :#:
Have I more money in my pocket? No, because there's always something that needs it. :!?!:
Sure I used to have one drink too many even though it is common sense not to

BP :cool:
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Re: 30 min film tour of the Mills factory 1935

Post by pennymachines »

A copy of this film sold for £3,800 at the Nic Costa sale of January 2006:
Lot 136. The Mills Novelty Company. Rare silent 16mm film footage of The Mills Company factory in a tour presentation of the premises in circa 1934, showing the various production...
It would be great if the owner would release a high resolution scan of it, but possibly not financially viable. I think the company was at its peak in '34, just before the Dice machine took a massive toll on their profits, followed by America joining the war in '41, and the company's post-war decline.
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Mills Dice in a corner of the showroom
Mills Dice in a corner of the showroom
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arrgee
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Re: 30 min film tour of the Mills factory 1935

Post by arrgee »

Very interesting film, notice how those chaps just lifted up a machine as if it were just an empty cardboard box!!! :shock:
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Re: 30 min film tour of the Mills factory 1935

Post by quadibloc »

I had only recently heard about the Mills Dice machine, a little-known competitor to the Buckley Bones and Bally Reliance.
I hadn't realized, although that certainly sounds plausible, that it was a major debacle for the company. I had learned from another forum that because the design was complicated, early models needed frequent warranty service - but there was a redesign, initiated by the California office, that addressed the issues.
Thus, I learned that there are four kinds of Mills Dice machines: the original prototypes (round 25 cent label, white dice), original manufacturing (round 25 cent label, red clear dice), ones modified and corrected in California (square 25 cent label, white dice), and new production incorporating the improvements (square 25 cent label, red clear dice).
The improvements involved things like lowering the glass at the top by 1/8 of an inch and rounding some corners.
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