Old Gillette factory in London, pics and info thread from book.

[alex2363]

Yes they arrived. Both VC2s - one was damaged (but handle still good) and the other was perfect.

I also got some NOS Valet blades which are the sharpest blade I've ever tried, on a par with Feather DE blades and surprisingly make the Valet into a very aggressive razor.
The shave was simply the best SE shave I've ever had!

I owned a few myself, they are a unique and sweet shaver.

 

[mjclark]

I owned a few myself, they are a unique and sweet shaver.

I agree Alex - when I first tried one with a modified GEM blade it was inefficient and disappointing, but with the NOS Valet blade it is changed into a beautiful fierce thing!

 

[BSAGuy]

Wow. Great thread that I just discovered. Those factory photos and the text with them are fascinating. Great historical piece.

 

[bosseb]

Apparently there was a group that explores old buildings that have published these pics from inside the old factory.

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[bosseb]

more pics

View attachment 460497








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[GBinOZ]

Great thread - thanks to Alex for sharing.

Interesting that the authors state that the previous factory at Leicester was closed around 1912.

Cheers, George

 

[alex2363]

Great thread - thanks to Alex for sharing.

Interesting that the authors state that the previous factory at Leicester was closed around 1912.

Cheers, George

I was sent the pics from another member a while back, he sent them email and i posted them for our members to see.

 

[MacDaddy]

View attachment 460497

This one actually looks like the Montreal plant instead. It's been converted into condos now.

 

[bosseb]

This one actually looks like the Montreal plant instead. It's been converted into condos now.

I thought it looked odd in my folder on the hard drive. Might just be something else, at least judging by the build year marking. Sorry for confusing the matter! Like all computer pros my hard drive is a mess...

 

[GBinOZ]

Alex,

I read through the book but couldn't determine when this factory commenced manufacture. This factory is in Isleworth, Middlesex. What happened to the factory at Slough, Buckinghamshire. Did it close or were they running concurrently?

Cheers, George

 

[MacDaddy]

I read through the book but couldn't determine when this factory commenced manufacture. This factory is in Isleworth, Middlesex. What happened to the factory at Slough, Buckinghamshire. Did it close or were they running concurrently?

There are a couple of hits in Volume 97 of Mechanical World and Engineering Record that talk about the start of this project, both sometime during 1935:

Gillette Industries Limited, of 197 City Road, London, E.C. 1, intend building new factories at Lyon Lane, Isleworth, Middlesex. The scheme is in its very early stages, and no contracts have been placed. Messrs. Gillette have workshops under their offices in City Road, and also on the Trading Estate at Slough. Mr. Johnson is head of the purchasing department at City Road.

Gillette Industries Limited, London, have purchased a site of five acres on the Great West Road. A range of factory buildings will be erected covering an area of 100,000 sq. ft. At the time of this writing no tenders have been invited for the building work. The head buyer of Gillette Industries, Mr. Johnson, tells me that although the site has been purchased the scheme is in its early stages and no consideration has yet been given to the installation of new plant, etc.

There's also another hit in The Architect & Building News somewhere in volumes 143-152, which has a collected publishing date of 1935, that has this from slightly later in the process:

Isleworth. — Higgs & Hill, Ltd., who have completed the foundations, have now secured the superstructure contract for the new Gillette factory, Great West Road. Sir Banister Fletcher, F.R.I.B.A., 1 King's Bench Walk, E.C.4, is the architect.​

 

[ERVARGASNY]

Pretty kool pics, Thanks for sharing )

 

[GBinOZ]

Thanks for the research Porter.

So from the dates of those articles it would be reasonable to assume that Isleworth would have started producing in 1936/7 ? It is interesting that they mentioned Slough as a workshop and City Road, London in the same term. I have an Aristocrat #15 which I bought in France and which came with 5 sealed Blue blades and 7 opened blades, and the original instructions. The opened blades were a mixture of Made in England and France. I opened one of the sealed blades, which are all English made, and it has the I1 stamp for 1938. I was hoping the instruction sheet may hold a clue. On the back it says "Gillette Industries LTD London England", which I don't think could be considered an indicator of the location of manufacture.

I seem to recall a shipper for a #77 set which had "Slough, Bucks" printed on it, so Slough was a factory, but was City Road, London also a production facility or just a workshop for repairs?

Looking at the Isleworth "Palace" it would seem reasonable to assume that Slough, or City Road, would not have been maintained for long after the new facility opened?

Cheers, George

 

[MrAstro]

There is something about seeing the pictures when the building is new and what time has done to it now. A bit haunting and makes me feel very mortal.

We are some of the first people to have a photographic record of history. It will be interesting for people in say 500 years to look at what life really like via photographs. It's a pity we can't do the same and look back to say the year 1500 - other than paintings and drawings of course.

 

[MacDaddy]

So from the dates of those articles it would be reasonable to assume that Isleworth would have started producing in 1936/7 ?

Yes, I believe it was operational in 1936, though I don't know for how much of that year.

It is interesting that they mentioned Slough as a workshop and City Road, London in the same term.

This is due to the AutoStrop merger. The City Road facility was AutoStrop's plant originally (the original building is still there), and Slough was Gillette's. Their 1930 merger is likely what ultimately prompted the need for Gillette Corner as a larger combined facility manufacturing both lines.

Looking at the Isleworth "Palace" it would seem reasonable to assume that Slough, or City Road, would not have been maintained for long after the new facility opened?

I'd say that's a pretty safe assumption, but I don't have a guess on dates yet. It'd be hard to tell from advertising, since Slough not being mentioned, for example, wouldn't mean that they'd completely stopped using it. It'd be difficult from packaging, even, both for that reason as well as the fact Gillette seems to have been extremely "frugal" in its use of old stock.

 

[mjclark]

Here's the back of the instructions from my post-1940 Valet VC4

so this must be the plant where they were made.