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Alf Vickers (1904-1997) - Water tank manufacturer, Mt View, [n.d.], [Part 1/1].
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Summary300A ALF VICKERS
0:46
Alf is the son of a tank maker. His father made tanks in the St Albans area. Charlie Luscombe. Bob Armstrong transported cream in the 1920's after Charlie Luscombe.
1:32
Alf was born in 1904.
1:38
Ditton and Hill on the Aberdare Road were the first to build bus chassis using oxy acetylene welding.
3:09
Albert Joass taught Alf's father to make tanks out of corrugated iron.
3:33
Hand rollers were used to bend the metal. 400 gal and 800 gal.
4:36
Brazing was done using a hammer.
6,000 gallons was the biggest tank Alf ever made.
The railways used to use square metal tanks.
8:59
Alf used to shoe horses when he was a young fellow.
10:03
His grandfather was a sea captain who was away at sea all the time. Alf's father was picked up for pinching and was "put on the state" - he was illiterate and ended up on the south coast. Here he met Alf's mother and they came up to the Mount View area where they lived in a bark hut.
His parents lived in a bark hut until his father built a house on 40 acres and found work with a surveyor.
12:45
Alf describes the explosion at Bellbird. "It looked like a bomb had gone off".
15:57
Alf describes his process of soldering.
19:27
Growing corn. Taken to market at Cessnock (with cauliflowers) on a bullock dray and possibly exchanged for flour and sugar. They had fowls for eggs.
22:54
The markets were in Cumberland Street, Cessnock.
26:54
Alf talks about smoking cigarettes.
27:50
Peppercorn trees were popular in the old days.
32:23
Alf's son was a Presbyterian minister.
34:00
Tools and methods of stopping the gal. iron from stretching.
34:41
Working on the ground before a level concrete floor was built - "its hard to get a buckle out of the iron".
36:53
Fitting the three rings of the tank together, the base is the smallest and the two top rings are 1/4" smaller to fit in. Then it is riveted together about 7 - 9" apart. Rivets haven't changed over time.
39:01
Alf's eyes are still pretty good - he can still read a newspaper without glasses.
39:32
Alf's "new-fangled tools" wouldn't have suited his father. His regulated soldering iron made in Sweden - "best bloody iron ever made". It could be used as a blow lamp too.
41:39
End of Tape 300 Side A, Part 1/1
SubjectWater -- Storage -- CessnockWater tanksMount View (N.S.W.)Vickers, Alfred Lindsay, 1904-1997PersonJack DelaneyDelaney, Jack, 1919-2010CollectionVoices of the HunterPlaceCessnock, NSWLocation[1] Mount View, NSW[2] Cessnock, NSWIdentifier300A
0:46
Alf is the son of a tank maker. His father made tanks in the St Albans area. Charlie Luscombe. Bob Armstrong transported cream in the 1920's after Charlie Luscombe.
1:32
Alf was born in 1904.
1:38
Ditton and Hill on the Aberdare Road were the first to build bus chassis using oxy acetylene welding.
3:09
Albert Joass taught Alf's father to make tanks out of corrugated iron.
3:33
Hand rollers were used to bend the metal. 400 gal and 800 gal.
4:36
Brazing was done using a hammer.
6,000 gallons was the biggest tank Alf ever made.
The railways used to use square metal tanks.
8:59
Alf used to shoe horses when he was a young fellow.
10:03
His grandfather was a sea captain who was away at sea all the time. Alf's father was picked up for pinching and was "put on the state" - he was illiterate and ended up on the south coast. Here he met Alf's mother and they came up to the Mount View area where they lived in a bark hut.
His parents lived in a bark hut until his father built a house on 40 acres and found work with a surveyor.
12:45
Alf describes the explosion at Bellbird. "It looked like a bomb had gone off".
15:57
Alf describes his process of soldering.
19:27
Growing corn. Taken to market at Cessnock (with cauliflowers) on a bullock dray and possibly exchanged for flour and sugar. They had fowls for eggs.
22:54
The markets were in Cumberland Street, Cessnock.
26:54
Alf talks about smoking cigarettes.
27:50
Peppercorn trees were popular in the old days.
32:23
Alf's son was a Presbyterian minister.
34:00
Tools and methods of stopping the gal. iron from stretching.
34:41
Working on the ground before a level concrete floor was built - "its hard to get a buckle out of the iron".
36:53
Fitting the three rings of the tank together, the base is the smallest and the two top rings are 1/4" smaller to fit in. Then it is riveted together about 7 - 9" apart. Rivets haven't changed over time.
39:01
Alf's eyes are still pretty good - he can still read a newspaper without glasses.
39:32
Alf's "new-fangled tools" wouldn't have suited his father. His regulated soldering iron made in Sweden - "best bloody iron ever made". It could be used as a blow lamp too.
41:39
End of Tape 300 Side A, Part 1/1
SubjectWater -- Storage -- CessnockWater tanksMount View (N.S.W.)Vickers, Alfred Lindsay, 1904-1997PersonJack DelaneyDelaney, Jack, 1919-2010CollectionVoices of the HunterPlaceCessnock, NSWLocation[1] Mount View, NSW[2] Cessnock, NSWIdentifier300Aloading google map....
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Delaney, Jack, 1919-2010, Alf Vickers (1904-1997) - Water tank manufacturer, Mt View, [n.d.], [Part 1/1]., [300A]. Living Histories, accessed 08/12/2023, https://livinghistories.newcastle.edu.au/nodes/view/55986