Sir Martin Wood

 

This is my tribute to

 Sir Martin Wood

Photo from Oxford Instruments website

 Sir Martin Wood started Oxford Instruments in 1959 in his garden shed along Norcote Road in Oxford, it was the first spin off company to come out of Oxford University 

 

Sourced this photo off the internet. The shed I hear was moved to his place in Little Wittenham during the 1960s the company started to expand and moved to an old laundry along the Botley Road in Oxford. By the 1970's they moved again

 

To this place the Boathouse in Osney Mead industrial estate

 

This is probably the last photo of the boat house take by Don Galloway who worked at Oxford Instruments The boathouse was where I worked when I first started at Oxford Instruments. the building was so cold in the winter the pipes froze  and they had to use space heaters to try and warm it up Sir Martins shed would have been warmer, in the summer it was like a sauna 

And this is how I first saw Oxford Instruments in 1972. By then the company had expanded and had new offices built for the growing workforce. Not long after starting I first saw Sir Martin though back then he was someone you just held in awe and had little contact with. He always showed and interest in the work going on and chatted to the engineers

The last photo and this one were taken in March 2018 by then the building was the Kings Centre, on the right you can see the building that was built over the boathouse, in the middle was the Workshop I moved to from the boathouse and where Sir Martin took great interest In the new Ultra low temperature experiment we were  developing at  the time. During our time here Martin was knighted Sir Martin Wood and we had a big celebration to mark it.

If you ever wondered where Body scanners were developed well it was here in the building I was just talking about. By then I was working in the new part and remember the first body scanner being built. Sir Martin was asked to unveil the plaque.

 By around the 1980s Oxford instruments had become some big it needed to expand again, the medical side of the company had already moved to Abingdon. The company split and this building was where the Cryomagnetic side went along with me. It was where we built high field superconducting magnets along with ultra low temperature instruments that went along with the magnets. The place was built on the site of the old Eynsham Railway station and the track bed still runs out the back where the car park is now.

The good entry side of the building and where we shipped equipment all around the world

 

 This was Oxford Instruments Group HQ and where Sir Martin would have had an office and quite frequently used to pop across the road to see us

The body scanner side of the company became Oxford Medical Technology or OMT as we knew it and was where the scanners you see today are built. Semens bought into the company and eventually bought Oxford Instruments out. It's built on part of the old railway line that it's sister building is built on about half a mile away. The building is enormous inside

By the end of the 1990's we moved again and this is the present day Oxford Instruments

Due to a downturn in the market most of the old satellite groups were condensed and operate from here now. Sir Martin was a frequent visitor and always chatted with the the people who worked here especially the ones from the old place. He always had a smile. He was one of the last people I spoke to before I left. After I left Oxford Instruments I would see him an his wife Lady Audrey around walling ford where they would recognise you and speak asking how you were getting along. Not long after leaving OI I saw Sir Martin at Diamond Light source where he stopped and after you and commented on the marvellous work that we were doing at Diamond. The last time I saw Sir Martin was at the 60th Anniversary celebrations at Tubney. He still had that smile on his face when he saw you.

Sir Martin was a gentleman who would always take the time to talk with you and show an interest in the work you did , I never heard get angry with anyone or he always seemed pleasant and laid back.  He will be greatly missed by is family and all those who knew and worked with him. 

Rest in Peace

British Engineering Stamps

Stamps are something we all use to post or letters and many country's celebrate things by depicting them on their postage stamps. I have been collecting First day covers and Presentation packs for a number of years now and when I realised that the D Day stamps were coming out I went onto the Royal Mail website and ordered the ones I wanted. While browsing I noticed one called British Engineering and one stamp in particular caught my eye. 

 What you have is the Raspberry Pie, the Falkirk Wheel, The Catalytic converter, the Crossrail machine

on the bottom the MRI Body Scanner and the Synthetic bone grafting material 

 Now what caught my eye was the Body Scanner. Something some of you have witnesses first hand no doubt having been put through one.  What was it about the scanner which was so important to me that I had to buy the stamps. Well I worked at the factory where it was made. One day I was walking up to the stores when I passed but the guy's who just happened to be working on the parts for the scanner and saw this rather large object they were working on. At the time It just looked like a load of rings with epoxy resin on and as I did not work with them I just carried on with what I was working on in another part of the factory.

This is the original scanner Oxford Instruments made, I borrowed the photo from a Book written by Lady Wood about Oxford Instruments so I hope she will not mind an old employee using it. Not long after this it was shipped to Nottingham University where I happened to go a while later to install some equipment. While I was there I went off to lunch with one of the Grad Students and walked passed this room where I could see the scanner you see above, there were a pair of feet and leg's sticking out of the end of the scanner. I mentioned this to the student who told me that it was a a body from the morgue over in the nearby hospital, seems they send them over to be tested out in the scanner. I found that a little creepy. That was the last I saw of the scanner till I went to the Science Museum in London where I saw it again on display least part of it, I was told they could only use two rings as the other two added were to heavy for the floor. I wonder if it is still there.

 The factory I worked at was in this building in Osney Mead Oxford the place is now called the Kings Building

On the wall you will find this plaque. Does make you feel proud to be associated with the company that built the scanner in the first place and that it became such a success. The one thing I will always remember about the scanner is those feet poking out of the scanner.

Taking Part in Our World Tuesday

Story on my Desk

This item has been on my desk at work since I started working at Diamond Light Source. It has a little story behind it. The Name Murphy which you see on the hammer was given to me on the first week I started at Oxford Instruments and has been with me all my working life

This was given to me to mark 25 years at Oxford Instruments which was a big occasion because if you had been there that long you were taken out for a meal at a place of your choosing. The trophy you see was made by my friends for me

So what is the story behind it

The one thing you might not see at first is the Botley Road sign which is slightly bent, the story behind that is a bit of a legend in Oxford Instruments.
Oxford Instruments rented an industrial unit in Minns estate where they wound magnets and tested some of the low temperature equipment. Once finished it was transported back to the main factory at Oxford Instruments in Osney Mead Indutruial Estate to be cleaned and packed before shipping on to the customer. On one occasion my apprentice (Jaffa) and I went down to Minns facility to collect some equipment to be shipped. It was taken apart and roughly assembled and put in the back of a Sherpa pickup truck, the largest part, the cryostat, was tied to some hoops by the cab. I drove down the access road of Minns industrial estate to the Botley Road and pulled out into the road before turning right to go towards Osney. Just as I turned the cryostat went out the other way and started rolling down the Botley Road towards Seacourt Tower. I had hardly stopped and Jaffa was out chasing it down the road where he caught up and managed to turn it towards the gutter by the time I had reversed up. We threw it in the back of the truck and headed back to work where I told the supervisor what happened. Before he could look the MD walked out and spotted it where he said something obscene and walked off. Two hours later he came back and told me to fix it. It was shipped three weeks later. I might add it came back for an upgrade and was shipped back to Berlin where I went to help install it. The last time I saw it, it was in Denmark.

Now this item is Called a VSM or Vibrating Sample Magnetometer something I used to make at the time and install them, above it you see a Hammer. Now this could be one of two story's. First story:- I picked up a bit of a reputation using a hammer which was duly noted one day when I found some of my Colleagues trying to fit top plate on a magnet about the size of one you would find in a Body Scanner (OI came up with the body scanner). They were fighting it with clamps and beating the hell out of the plate to fit  it in the tube. I came along and see what they are doing, I then jump up on top of it and ask them for a mallet. (The mallet was the size of a sledge hammer that would have made Thor proud) and with one over head swing I hit the plate in one spot and it falls into place much to every ones surprise. When asked how I knew what to do I told them I worked for a blacksmith before I started working. I think I went up in their estimation that day.

The second story:- this could take came a short time after when some posters were put on the wall of the factory, one showed a photos of a VSM with the words Highly sensitive VSM. I wrote under it "Not after Murphy has hit it with his hammer" my boss walked past it and was shocked and said I'll sack who ever wrote this. He was even more shocked when I said I did. he walked off and never spoke to me for two weeks. Needless to say I did not get the sack and outlasted him at work.
So that is a little piece of my life that has sat on my desk now it will go with me when I retire the end of the week

The Blue Plaque

Back in March just after we had the snow my son had problems getting to work I Oxford so I dropped him off so he did not loose out on his pay. I had read about a Blue plaque  and I wanted to go and get a photo of it as it meant a lot too me.

 This is the old Oxford Instruments building, back in 1972 I walked through the door you see for the first time. I had finished my apprenticeship the weekend before and was starting a new job

 This looks down the side, just you can see an entrance which used to be the loading bay, the building behind was not there but a few outbuildings and a Boathouse which is where OI started life on this plot of ground before expanding to become the one of the biggest manufacturers of Superconducting  Magnets. 

  On the wall near the entrance you can see this Blue plaque. It was unveiled by Sir Martin Wood who started Oxford Instruments 

It tells you that the first Superconducting Magnet for MRI scanning was built in this building

Now you can see why it meant a lot to me, I was there when they built it and remember seeing the first body scanner in the building.

Taking Part in Our World Tuesday