OT Old Job Descriptions

[Frank Erskine]

I have a series of five books called "Electrical Installations" written in 1902 by a Rankin Kennedy C.E. He makes the comment in Vol III:-

"The apprentice "electrical engineer" - using the term for those employed in actual manufacturing, installation, and generating works - must be trained as a mechanical and steam engineer, with an elementary knowledge of electricity and magnetism, and a general knowledge of the principles of dynamos, motors, wires, switches, instruments, &c., such as is found in these volumes. If the young man wishes to be an "electrician" then he need not trouble himself with mechanical or steam engineering, but confine his energy and time to electrical and magnetic studies, the electrical laboratory, test room, and drawing office. "The great mistake made in our technical schools is the attempt to teach too much, giving a very scanty training in many subjects, instead of a thorough training in a few correlated subjects."

It's a fascinating series of books, dealing (in a supplementary volume "V") with the "new" Electronic Theory.

[damduck-egg]

On Thu, 27 Dec 2012 17:12:49 +0000 (GMT), "Dave Plowman (News)" wrote:

Late 40's till late 60's the electrician who ran his business in the village where I went to primary school had a small one room showroom full of domestic electrical appliances,It wasn't staffed full time but his wife or himself would open it when required, their house adjoined it so often the customer would knock on the door. The population of the immediate village at the time was less than 600. What made having the shop a good thing was that rural electrification programme was in full swing in the areas around the village and the electrician was busy wiring premises either from scratch or replacing the myriad of primitive circuits that had been installed for home generators many of which weren't suitable for 240V AC. While wiring a premises he would tell the occupiers of all the wonderful appliances that they could now use and that he could supply. He was quite good as a salesman, carried two electric kettles in his van, one of which was used to "test" the new sockets and a new one ready to be sold to the now impressed customer. The sparkies wife was a good cook and at their small showroom demonstrated Kenwood mixers resulting in a reasonable sale of those. It was a good couple of decades to be a self employed electrician in such an area with a business oppurtunity unlikely to be seen again but almost everyone around there was on the mains by 1966. Business slowed down a fair bit after that but he had made enough to comfortably retire in his early fifties around 1970 and was still living well till he died recently having been "retired" longer than he worked.

G.Harman

[polygonum]

A bit early, but I'd guess that things didn't change that fast between

1902 and 1921 (and I do not know when he started his 'shop').

Thank you.

[mogga]

Are there any old photos of the street? Try local councils, photography clubs etc.

Manchester has tons of old photos from photographic surveys. Not quite google street view but still interesting.

what he did but there was mention in the whispers and memories of

[soup]

's a shop in Juniper green on(in) the outskirts of Edinburgh not Hare street.

[polygonum]

Thanks - in the tradition of silly hairdresser names! :-)

[michael adams]

It was a cheap way of advertising his presence. His wife or one of the children would be in the back room and could answer any questions and make appointments with callers if he was out on a job. And maybe sold the odd item as well. Having his name on the shop along his trade would create word of mouth recognition in the district. This was in days before most people had telephones and few people probably bought local papers simply to scour them for advertisements for electricians or electrical engineers. He possibly made himself known to and had reciprocal arrangements with any local gas fitters who often doubled up with other trades. Bethnal Green may have had factories using newly introduced electric sewing machines band saws etc. Expansive as electric power may have been for home use it probably caught on sooner for commercial use.

michael adams

...

the area was

[meow2222]

In electrical/electronic terms they changed hugely. Radio advanced from coh= erer sets only capable of thuds to multistage reaction sets receiving speec= h & music. Radio even developed enough for the first mobile phone in 1922.

spread of electrification, and the spread of electric motors and heatin= g in a fairly wide range of appliances transformed numerous tasks. Industra= l electrification cut many costs, improving people's standard of living. Tr= ams went from horse pulled, spreading horseshit everywhere they went, to cl= ean reliable electric. The use of electric elevators spread through medium = & high rise buildings. Electrical safety standards were transformed over th= e period from suicidal to risky.

Medical uses of electricity at this time included shock coils, electromagne= ts for removing metal debris from eyes, the violet ray, and diathermy. Ther= e was also the spread of X ray machines through hospitals in this period.

So it was a busy period of fast technological change and rollout.

NT

[The Natural Philosopher]

coherer sets only capable of thuds to multistage reaction sets receiving speech & music. Radio even developed enough for the first mobile phone in 1922.

in a fairly wide range of appliances transformed numerous tasks. Industral electrification cut many costs, improving people's standard of living. Trams went from horse pulled, spreading horseshit everywhere they went, to clean reliable electric. The use of electric elevators spread through medium & high rise buildings. Electrical safety standards were transformed over the period from suicidal to risky.

for removing metal debris from eyes, the violet ray, and diathermy. There was also the spread of X ray machines through hospitals in this period.

You forgot to say that windmills were abandoned everywhere...and replaced with electric mills :-)

[Robin]

In addition the *supply* of electricity expanded massively over that period - in many areas from nil to Council supplies. (A quick look at the LMA catalogue suggests the Bethnal Green Metropolitan Borough Council Electricity Undertaking didn't start supplying until 1916 but I could be misinterpreting it.)

[soup]

And beyond, see my posts.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

What goes round comes round. ;-)

[Owain]

or in the case of windmills, quite often they don't (go round)

Owain

[Dave Plowman (News)]

There used to be one or two on most small farms near Aberdeen when I was a kid. Either charging a battery bank, or pumping water.