Derek Denny
Derek belongs to: The Doxford Engine Friends Association
Derek served an apprenticeship at North East Marine before going to sea. He returned to work in the Doxford Drawing Office then transferred to the Technical Office. He worked there until engine building stopped and moved to the Installation Drawing Office in the shipyard until it closed.
Derek was interviewed by Carl Greenwood on 26 January 2005. The interview took place at Sunderland Museum and lasted 24 minutes and 47 seconds.
The Doxford drawing office
"Drawings for components for the engine, and some things were redesigned"
Drawings for components for the engine, and some things were redesigned. Changes were made- many changes over the years, just improvements as we more or less called them. If you could find a better way of doing something or a different way, a different type of engine, there was a lot of work involved in that. The normal 670 and 760 engines were the norm, the 580 was developed, the 580 four cylinder was developed which meant a complete range of new drawings for an engine, not just modifying existing but it was a complete range of new designs, which meant you literally started from scratch, and everything was complete redraw, which involved a lot of work. But it was on similar principles- it was just a matter of scaling and any improvements that you could think of; improvements for manufacturing, improvements for maintenance, and whatever could be thought to make things better. That was the general, all round concept- to improve.
Derek has 10 memories in the memorynet:
Derek's memories with a Sounds and Smells theme:
Sound of the Doxford engineDerek's other memories:
Visit to the Doxford yardThis memory has these themes:
Roles and Routines | Work
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