«1964 1967 1967-1977 »

Nationalisation of the steel industry in July brings together 13 major companies with 270,000 employees including 13,000 within the former John Summers and Sons company including 12,000 at Shotton. Their combined annual capacity of 23.9 million tonnes of ingot steel is second only to the USA. Shotton Works becomes part of the Summers Division of the Scottish and North West Group along with Shelton and Stalybridge works and several brick companies in North Wales, previously owned by Summers.

The first painted strip

A new product Galvaprime, mainly for agricultural building use, is produced on the No.2 continuous hot dip galvanising line at Shotton. A rotating head, to spray a modified vinyl paint on to the top surface of galvanised strip, has been installed in the exit section. Green, grey and brown paint coatings are currently available. The same process technique is used to produce Galvaline, light coloured sheets for the interior of doubled skinned buildings.

Nickel coated strip for vitreous enamelling

The world’s first line for the production of pre-treated, multi-purpose steel sheets for vitreous enamelling is installed in Coatings One. The nickel coated sheets are capable of being formed and are virtually ready to accept vitreous enamel directly onto the surface, hence the product name Diron. The sheet has a surface which has been decarburised, pre-etched (pickled) and nickel coated, suitable for all vitreous enamelling operations. The product is intended to simplify the vitreous enamelling process.

The commercial potential of the product has been deemed sufficient to warrant investment in a full-scale line. However, technical problems particularly those associated with welding prevent its widespread acceptance within the enamelling industry. The development also coincides with a general decline in the use of vitreous enamelling in favour of painted steel in the consumer products markets. Poor demand will lead to the line’s conversion to electro plate galvanising in 1977.

A new hot coil temper rolling mill has also been installed. It is capable of skin passing 3,000-4,000 tons of hot rolled and galvanised coils a week. The Cold Strip Mill also has several new annealing furnaces.