Firebrick works, from inside and out
DESPITE its name, the Stourbridge Refractories Company was at Shut End in Pensnett – and here are some views of the place in its hey-day, inside and out.
Refractory is the name given to a particular type of brick widely made in the Black Country, specifically for lining kilns and ovens. The pictures are taken from a booklet issued by the company in, we believe, the 1950s, and there is a brief outline which reads as follows:
“The Stourbridge Refractories Company Limited was founded in 1914 for the manufacture of high-grade Firebricks, Blocks and Tiles for Horizontal, Vertical and Segmental Retorts, Regenerators, Coke Ovens, Generator and Producer Linings, Water Gas Plant and Furnaces in general.
“The Works stands upon 12½ acres at Pensnett, Brierley Hill, and is provided with both road and rail facilities for inward and outward traffic.
“The original Works consisted of a battery of 16 chamber kilns ... each capable of accommodating about 60 tons of ware, together with grinding mills, crushers, grading plant, mixers, tempering and pug mills, storage hoppers and the necessary ancillary plant.
“In 1925 the Works was extended by the erection of a further battery of 14 chamber kilns of slightly modified design but of similar capacity.
“In recent years the Works has been largely remodelled, and much of the original equipment replaced by new plant of modern design. This work is proceeding.
“Fireclay is a natural material which may not readily be improved in quality by chemical methods. In order to obtain the highest quality finished product it is necessary, therefore, to exercise a careful selection of raw materials by laboratory testing, and to conduct scientific control of works’ processes by skilled staff.”