Roland Herbert Allen
Roland Herbert Allen (c1900 -1937)
1937 Obituary [1]
ROLAND HERBERT ALLEN had a very extensive experience of the grading and preparation of pulverized fuel, and of its industrial applications. He was born in Wandsworth and received his technical education at the City and Guilds (Engineering) College, where he graduated in 1920. He then commenced his apprenticeship at the Royal Arsenal, Woolwich, and served until 1923, when he was made assistant to Mr. W. Newton Booth, M.I.Mech.E., for whom he carried out fuel and boiler tests. After a further eighteen months' experience as draughtsman and assistant engineer with a London firm manufacturing forced and induced draught fans, and air heaters, he joined Synthetic Ammonia and Nitrates, Ltd., in 1925, and was engaged in the design and installation of powdered fuel boilers. He was appointed chief designer to The Clean Coal Company, Ltd., a year later, and took charge of research and development on patent coal-cleaning and briquetting processes, and of the design of the associated machinery, including dust extraction equipment. He designed the first commercial plant embodying the company's processes, at Ynisiedwyn, South Wales. In 1932 he joined The Berrisford Engineering Company, Ltd., of Stoke on Trent, and was made chief of the department dealing with dust extraction and collection, air circulation, and similar work. He subsequently took out several patents in connexion with the separation of dust from powdered coal and from gases, the classification of dusts, and the design of revolving tipplers for discharging colliery tubs. Mr. Allen's death occurred on 10th September 1937, at the early age of 37.
He was elected an Associate Member of the Institution in 1932.