Chemring Energetics UK plc

United Kingdom / Scotland / Stevenston /
 factory, explosives, draw only border
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A leading supplier of detonators, actuators, rocket motors, high explosive filling and pyro-mechanical sub-assemblies for military applications.

PRODUCTS
Rocket motors
Propellant materials
Canopy cutting charges
Linear explosives
Cartridge-actuated devices, propellant-actuated devices (CAD/PADs)
Fuze and safe/arm units
Flight termination systems
Pyro-mechanisms and actuators
Warheads and charges
Primers and Initiators

Once the site of a major ICI chemical works, Ardeer lies at the head of the Ardeer peninsula, now part of Stevenston, North Ayrshire, and was a dominant global supplier of explosives to the mining and quarrying industries and a major player in the design and development of products for the chemical and defence industries during the 20th century. The Ardeer peninsula was the site of a massive dynamite manufacturing plant built by Alfred Bernhard Nobel (October 21, 1833 – December 10, 1896), inventor of dynamite, and founder of the Nobel Prize. Having scoured the country for a remote location to establish his explosive factory, Nobel finally acquired 100 acres (40 Ha) from the Earl of Eglinton, and established the British Dynamite Factory in 1871, and went on to create what was described then as the largest explosives factory in the world. The sand and dunes on the site provided natural safety features for the plant and workers, further enhanced by the formation of blast walls and bankings, designed to direct the force of an explosion upwards and away from neighbouring facilities, rather than sideways, which could have resulted in a chain reaction which could have spread throughout the plant. While the production facilities were located on the isolated site at Ardeer, the company's offices were located in Glasgow

This company was one of the original members of ICI when it was formed in 1926, becoming ICI Explosives Division. In 1948, the Division was renamed the Nobel Division because by this time it was producing a range of materials which, although logically allied to explosives manufacture, were not themselves explosive in character. This included a wide range of industrial nitro celluloses and a range of acids, chiefly sulphuric acid, together with a number of heavy and fine chemicals. Following the de-merger of ICI in the early 1990s, this company was purchased by Inabata & Company (a Japanese trading firm). In 2002, Nobel Enterprises was acquired by Troon Investments Ltd, a subsidiary of Inabata & Co Ltd, Japan, having previously been a free standing business within ICI.In 2006 it was aquired by Chemring, a major international manufacturer and supplier of weapons propellent and explosive chemicals.

Troon House : Ardeer Site
Stevenston, Ayrshire KA20 3LN Scotland
Tel: +44 (0)1294 487007
Fax: +44 (0)1294 487230

www.chemring.co.uk/our-business/our-operating-companies...
www.secretscotland.org.uk/index.php/Secrets/ICIArdeer#t...
Wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nobel_Enterprises
Nearby cities:
Coordinates:   55°37'29"N   4°42'58"W

Comments

  • True Story! In the 1950's my Great Auntie worked in one of the explosives sheds at ici where they made detonators. It was all done by women and they worked in groups of around 20 per shed. Everyday one of them had to walk to the canteen and collect the morning tea. One day my Great Auntie was asked to go in place of another girl. On the way back from the canteen with the morning tea, she heard an almighty explosion. When she got back to the shed where all her workmates were, it was gone. 16 young women were blown to pieces that day. She was only 16 but from that day onwards she hardly spoke a word. The last time I saw her she was sitting in the corner of my Great Grans house in Saltcoats, could hardly even say hello. The year was 1990 and she would have been around 52. The guilt of surviving while her friends died was too much for her to cope with.
This article was last modified 13 years ago