Wheels off at Droyt’s

So we have a load of old stuff in the factory. In fact let us call it ‘Heritage’ equipment. Sounds much more valuable. A lot of this stuff was built in the days when obsolescence was a dirty word and when over-engineering was the same as engineering. Why make something extra light and manoeuvrable when the simple addition of some extra steel would make it extra strong and require only three or four extra people to move it? One of these things is the large steel frame we use to pour the hot liquid soap in once it’s made.

These are VERY HEAVY as you can imagine, even more so when they’ve got a tonne of soap inside. So the wheels are like ancient cast iron things which are at least 60 years old. And one broke! While the soap was being rolled into the cutting area! The cutting area is a part of the manufacturing area where the soap is cut up. It’s not officially called the cutting area, but I am just calling it that to differentiate it from any other area of the factory and also to explain why the soap was being moved. And also to add dramatic tension. So the wheel breaks in two as if cleaved by a hefty blow from Mjolnir.  Unlikely in downtown Chorley on a Wednesday afternoon, I grant you, but  these things are really tough and would be really  hard to break on purpose. Apparently we’ve had trouble with that one before. About 25 years ago.  So the whole thing tips to the side and becomes an immovable object.

Well, we managed to save it. With the fork lift truck, a pallet truck and some blocks of wood, we moved the whole thing a few metres to the appropriate area for cutting (the cutting area), although with the wrong orientation so cutting had to occur ninety degrees to normal, which is unheard of and also which may have affected the feng shui. Can you test soap for that? Anyway, the point to the story is that you think ‘Old cast iron wheel? How are we going to  get another one of the those?’. Well as it turns out, you can buy them. On the net. A quick google, some informed discussion (informed, that is, by the discussees, rather than the discussor), and we are now the proud owner of two brand new cast iron wheels, now improved with a polyurethane tyre for extra something. They are being fitted as I type and I expect the next time that frame is used, the whole batch of soap can be moved around with the push of a finger. That might be a little unlikely, but the new wheels certainly look good. If they last 60 years, then that will be even better.