Bespoke Products

This time I thought I’d discuss some of the bespoke products we’ve made in the past and the stories behind them.

I remember when I was in school listening to dad telling stories about what he’d been working on that day when we were eating our evening meal and being somewhat bored (being a teenager) thinking I would never work at Fireprotect, not knowing that one day I’d be MD!

One story involved working with Unilever on the plant that was bottling a laundry softener. The plastic bottles were very rapidly heated to very slightly melt the surface of the side of the bottle so that a label could be applied without using glue. Sometimes the bottles would get stuck and jam up the line, so workers would have to lean over and unjam them, this meant that some people were burning their arms and chests on the heaters, and dad needed to design a heat shield that would not stop production and deflect any heat. He designed a U-shaped board that had ceramic fiber glued to it with our FCL 007 high-temperature adhesive and then was sewn into a bag made from quartz silica cloth. It proved to be exactly what they needed and until the machinery was redesigned we made these strange-looking things for about 15 years!

We were contacted in the mid-’90s by a very large tractor company, they had a design problem, the exhaust system was too close to the plastic fuel tank, and on occasions in hot countries, it was beginning to melt, not the best thing for a fuel tank to do! After a few discussions, we came up with a metal plate that had been powder coated stuck to a piece of ceramic board with the FCL 007 on one side, and coated with and modified FCL 100 paint with added elements to make the board oil and water-resistant. They would ship the metal plates to us, we would cut up the boards, coat them with paint and then stick them to the metal and they would pick them up again. As with the other project eventually, the need for the heat shield was designed out and so we no longer make these shields, but we still have all the capabilities to make these or similar items.

We have helped design heat shields for rally cars and worked with several racing teams, the most exciting ones being the F1 teams, we‘re not allowed to name names for obvious reasons but we’ve had some very interesting factory tours and always love working alongside such fantastic engineers, I had an offer to go over with the lorries to the Le Mans 24-hour race with one of the teams we worked with, but as luck would have it, I was 7 months pregnant and thought that even though it would have been loads of fun it probably wasn’t the most sensible of ideas to go with them!

There have been lots of bespoke projects, the first one being Ickie the Firebobby, which was going to be a range of children's books and toys to promote fire awareness. Mum and dad made a mock-up of the book and tried to promote toys being fireproof, but they were deemed too expensive and never really caught on. It’s a shame really because there were some good messages in the book, not only about fire safety but also keeping your community tidy and recycling.

We’ve dug out the book and if you’d like a read, click on the link below.

Ickie The Fire Bobby.pdf

Download PDF • 29.44MB

We have made our self-adhesive backed tapes into gaskets and little packs of cut sizes, we have laminated papers to mica sheets and cut into squares, and pride ourselves in being very adaptive with a good grasp of what the customers’ individual needs are, even down to labels inside center cores and specific labels on boxes.

Let us know what you need (fire protection wise!) and we’ll endeavor to get it made for you.

It's all about the seal

I was really happy how my first "blog" was accepted, thank you for all of your kind words and comments.

This time I thought I'd talk about a subject that comes up most days of the week, which is what tape/seals to fit.

We manufacture three types of tape that can be used for fire rated glazing systems

1) ceramic tape, which has been tried and tested for over 30 years,

2) a bio dispersant fibre (non-ceramic) equivalent tape that has the certification to state that the two will perform identically and

3) intumescent tapes.

It was a deliberate use of the phrase "fire-rated glazing system" , we get asked regularly which tape to use, and it's never our decision to make. Any system which has a certification from a testing house such as Exova to give a Certifire certificate will have to have been tested with everything that goes into that system and has to be used as a whole, the frame, glass, brackets, tapes, fixings etc have been tested together and none of the elements can be substituted.

The ceramic and non-ceramic tapes are mostly used in systems made from hardwood, steel and aluminium frames, using a glass-like Pyrostop, Pyrobel, Pyrobelite or Pyroshield and in some cases Georgian polished plate glass, but it is always the case that a fitter must refer to the Certifire certificate for clarification as to which materials must be used and in which combination as the certificate is very specific, even down to the maximum size of pane of glass which can be used.

When a customer buys a frame or glass it will have been tested and the supplier should be able to give them a test certificate number for them to be able to refer to. This will give them all the information they need as to what tape to use. the certificate will say for instance ceramic tape 3mm x 15mm and this is the only tape that can be used to ensure that the window or door will definitely do its job if and when required, the thought of using the wrong materials and the window or door failing is beyond imagination as to the damage to property and life that can be caused.

I have personally turned customers away who appear to have little or no knowledge of how these systems work and why it is so important for all the components of a system to be used together to ensure that the system works. I also have on many occasions explained this to potential customers and luckily managed to get them to fit the correct tapes within the system but it does make me wonder how many fire rated windows are not fitted and assembled correctly with the correct components.

If you need any help choosing the correct tape, please feel free to give us a ring and we'd be happy to advise you.

Blogging Malarkey

So... I thought it was time I had a go at this blogging lark, its been something I've been meaning to do for a while now, but not got round to it, but I've found some time so I thought I'd start by giving you a bit of the history of Fireprotect.

Going back to 1963 David Powell was born with a problem with his ankles, so his mum and dad, Jean and Ron powell had to take him for therapy at hospital once a month. There was a little girl who was always there at the children's unit at the same time who had been playing with matches and her clothes and toys had caught fire and she was badly burnt. Ron was so appalled that her toys and clothes were so combustible and he was so moved by her plight that he set about researching ways of preventing this from happening. Jean made some toys that were stuffed with a brand new product which was a revolutionary wool called ceramic fibre, it is non combustible and didn't have the same issues as was with asbestos. They took pictures of the toys and made a story book called Icky the Fire-bobby to try and promote their ideas and campaigned in national newspapers and on North west television to raise awareness about fire safety. Ron campaigned for mattresses to be made fire retardent as well as household furniture, but he was ahead of his time and manufactures in the 70's were only interested in how they could save money and his words fell on deaf ears. Although, this had caused a bit of a stir and thankfully legislation was eventually changed. This lead Ron & Jean to think about more industrial products and ended up with 8 international patents on various products ranging form paints, balistic panels and plumbers pads. Ron worked with the Aerospace industry, construction and many other industries campaigning and inventing solutions to fire protection and heat insulation problems.

As with all companies, some of our products are now obsolete and new products have come to the forefront with tapes being our biggest product line. We're still very proud that the company we have today was formed from compassion for a little girl and the need to protect others from being so badly injured.

As Ron & Jeans daughter I'm still very touched by this story and find it inspiring. Im proud that the company is still a very family orientated and caring place to work. Me and my husband Allan now run the business along with staff who are very focused on being a caring an ethical company. Ron and Jean are now in their 80's, have retired and enjoying life, but I'd love to find out what happened to that little girl.