 A 'general
engineering' department was recreated by Mensforth in 1919 in order
to cover the engineering work on installations of power plant (including
marine) and heavy electrical plant such as mine winders and rolling
mills; W. Eccles has been chief engineer (under K. Baumann) from the
beginning. In October 1921 J. N. Bailey took charge of the commercial
work associated with the department, and two years later a general
engineering group was set up, consisting of Baumann, Peck, Eccles,
and Bailey. In 1922 a new section was added to deal with mining matters
under J. F. Perry, who had previously been concerned with electric
winders, and in 1928 the department took over the industrial motor
application section under L. Miller (who was followed by F. B. Holt
in 1937).
In
1919 also, after an interval of twelve years, a standards section
was re-formed and a standards committee set up with the object of
promoting uniform practice and preventing overlapping between the
various drawing offices; the whole organization was under the chief
mechanical and electrical engineers. J. Collinson, originally in
charge of electrical and detail standards, became chairman of the
committee in 1922, and in 1934 he took over the whole of the standards
work.
The
commercial organization under W. W. Blunt, who retained the title
of sales director till he retired, went through many vicissitudes
during the years of changing control. Eventually, however, P. N.
Rand, who had been Blunt's assistant, was appointed general sales
manager and leader of the commercial organization, and J. C. Whitmoyer
became contracts manager. Many branch offices changed hands: for
instance D. MacArthur took charge of Glasgow, H. Paterson of Newcastle,
A. S. Kinder of Manchester, and R. G. MacLaverty of Sheffield. At
the London office, which had just moved to 4 Central Buildings,
Westminster, O. H. Baldwin, a survivor from the old 'agency' Company
and before, was succeeded by P. F. Crinks in 1923. Three years earlier
the present London office manager, J. I. Law-Brooks, had begun his
record term of twenty-five years in charge of motor sales.
From
the end of 1923 each department dealt with its own orders, leaving
the contracts manager free to work on composite installations. Since
then the contracts department has handled orders for complete power
station schemes and railway, colliery, rolling mill, and other electrifications
all over the world. It also deals with spares and repairs, particularly
the emergency work required to prevent shutdowns at a power station
or colliery or to avoid delay in turning round a ship, and it functions
as a consultant on the legal side of contracts.
A publicity
department became an independent part of the organization in 1920
under A. E. du Pasquier, formerly at Johannesburg. (The printing
works had been disbanded after the war.)
The
comptroller, J. H. Tearle, resigned at the end of 1920 after twenty-three
years with Westinghouse companies; he was a good friend to the staff,
individually and in social affairs, and had been a wise counsellor
to the new management. Tearle was succeeded by E. H. W. Cooke, who
had been chief accountant of the Birmingham Gas Department and had
installed the first tabulating machine system on general accountancy
in this country.
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