At a time when we are debating whether to refurbish or demolish our chimney stack, this ghostly image was taken last night. Its steam not smoke.The annealing ovens had been fired up and the dampness was being burned off. Another load of castings becoming malleable iron to make the best door and window fittings.
Its debateable whether its an atmospheric shot or just bad photography. Answers on a post card or by e mail etc etc
In 2007 Kirkpatrick Ltd was approached by Keith Pacey of Traditional Window Fittings. He had identified a gap in the market place for a traditional antique iron monkey tail window fastener which would suit a double or triple glazed window. To work with double glazed units the fasteners needed to operate an espagnolette system and also have a much narrower back plate than a normal fastener for single glazed units.
By working together Traditional Window Fittings and Kirkpatrick came up with a workable solution and put new patterns based on the traditional Kirkpatrick curly end fastener into production, (protected with a patent held by Traditional Window Fittings). As with any new product there were teething problems to be ironed out but these were quickly solved and subsequently many thousands of these products have been specified on double and triple glazed windows.
Following on from the success of this product additional variations were developed based on the same method so that a bulb end fastener was also available. The obvious next step was to develop matching window stays in both antique and smooth iron versions in different finishes. Traditional style lever handles and letter plates suitable for modern doors were also subsequently developed.
As the only remaining UK manufacturer of traditional malleable iron door and window furniture Kirkpatrick was the obvious partner for Traditional Window Fittings. By using the skills and methods accrued over the last 160 years Kirkpatrick was able to react quickly and efficiently and expand into a market that had previously not been open to its products.
