Norman Whincup (c1890-1953), technical manager of the Whitecross Co
1953 Obituary [1]
WE have learned with deep regret of the death of Mr. Norman Whincup, which occurred on April 6th at Widnes, following a long period of Illness.
Mr. Whincup, who was sixty-three, was the technical manager of the Whitecross Company, Ltd., of Warrington, and was an acknowledged authority on steel wire ropes generally.
Norman Whincup was born at Halifax Yorkshire, and spent the early part of his engineering career in the machine tool industry.
In the first world war he was concerned with machine tool layout at the National Shell Factory at Bradford, and for a few years after the war was a partner in a machine tool business in Halifax.
In 1922 Mr. Whincup joined the Whitecross Company, Ltd., and was mainly responsible for the design and layout of that firm's new ropery, which was opened in 1925. He served in the company's engineering department until 1931, and then transferred to the technical staff of the wire rope department, of which he was subsequently appointed technical manager. In that appointment he was responsible for all the technical details of the ropes produced by his firm, taking particular interest in the design and service of locked coil ropes.
Mr. Whincup was well known by his extensive knowledge of wire ropes used under all conditions, especially those used in collieries. This experience was acquired by his personal investigations at wire rope installations in this country and abroad.
He served on various committees of the British Standards Institution and was the author of a number of papers and articles dealing with the technicalities of the manufacture and use of ropes. One of Mr. Whincup's articles, entitled " Wire Ropes for General Engineering Purposes," appeared in THE ENGINEER of May 26 and June 2, 1944, and for several years he had been a valued contributor on the same subject to Kempe's Engineer's Year-Book.