H. D. Pochin and Co Ltd, clay producers, of Worsley Street, Salford.
Successor to Halliday, Pochin and Co
Henry Davis Pochin invented a process using ammonium sulphate and alumina as a low cost alternative to alumstone in the production of alum cake used in the manufacture of paper. The process required china clay. Pochin bought several china clay mines in Cornwall for this purpose.
1871 Joseph Wadsworth was the Liquidator of the Patent Plaster Foundation Co; his address was Messrs. Henry Davis Pochin and Co's. Offices, Worsley-street, Salford[1]
Pochin's principal china clay works was the Gothers drying complex, near Roche, Cornwall. This consisted of a number of kilns, each served by a narrow gauge tramway, and was considered to be an extensive works in its day. The tramway was known simply as Pochin's Tramway, and ran from the Gothers works, across the Goss Moor to a loading wharf on the St Dennis Branch. The tramway was operated by a small fleet of steam locomotives known as "Pochin's Puffing Billies", carrying clay to the wharf in crude three plank wagons. Upon reaching the wharf, the clay would be loaded in to standard gauge wagons. Coal for firing the kilns was transferred from standard gauge wagons into the narrow gauge tramway wagons for the return journey, the wagons were then cleaned of coal dust at Gothers before being loaded with clay for another trip. Because the crude tramway wagons had no braking mechanism, the train operators developed a novel solution that involved jamming a piece of timber between the spokes of the wheels while the train was in motion.
1887 Maker of materials for Paper Makers and Calico Printers.
In time H. D. Pochin and Co became one of the three largest British producers of china clay
1932 Acquired by the English China Clays to form English Clays, Lovering, Pochin, & Co
See Also
Sources of Information
- ↑ The London Gazette 17 February 1871