Where Metalock has come from
Working together, improving and expanding
In 1953, the Metalock Association was formed to develop the fledgling organisations using the Metalock process that were emerging in various industrial nations. A key foundation of the Association was the development of technical know-how, research, and Metalock materials, ensuring that the highest-quality repairs are achieved by members of the Association. The MIA continues to provide its own materials, tooling, and expertise exclusively to its members.
A Council of Management was established, alongside the introduction of annual conferences for member countries. These conferences continue to be held once a year in various parts of the world and enable members to update techniques and extend the services they offer.
Since its formation, the MIA headquarters have been based in the UK, which can be your first point of contact if you require support.
The Association has now grown into a unique organisation operating in over 70 countries worldwide. The name Metalock is now synonymous with rapid response and high-quality repairs, often delivered in challenging environments.
HOW MIA ACTUALLY STARTED
Major E. C. Peckham was a Canadian who returned home after the war, uncertain where his peacetime career lay. He was an engineer and encountered the original Metalock process in the oil wells of Texas. A crude form of the process had been developed to carry out repairs where welding, with its associated explosion risk, was impracticable. He immediately recognised its potential and, in 1947, established a one-room office in Grand Buildings, Trafalgar Square, London.
The process initially met with scepticism, and it was shipping that provided Peckham with his first breakthrough. The Sovac was stranded in Purfleet with a damaged main engine.
For the first job on the Sovac, Canadian engineers were flown to England. One of the ship’s engineers, Mr Norman Tinwell, was so impressed by what he saw that he asked Peckham for a job. He was immediately flown to Canada for training and remains the mustard seed from which all subsequent training has emanated.
As demand for Metalock grew, branches were progressively established to provide rapid service throughout Britain. Increasingly, shipowners and other British organisations with projects overseas were calling on Metalock (Britain) Ltd to deploy operators to breakdowns abroad. Shipping stranded in foreign ports quickly became an insistent demand, and Peckham’s energies turned to establishing Metalock companies overseas.
Two highly successful companies were developed by Svein Gulbrandsen in Norway and David Arvidsson in Sweden. They set about identifying individuals in neighbouring countries to finance and establish Metalock companies in their own nations, while Peckham did the same—first on the Continent, then in the Middle East and Far East, Africa, Australasia, and South America, and later in Japan, the Philippines, and across Asia.
By 1953, there were Metalock companies, owned and staffed nationally, in 14 countries. All operated as independent organisations, often overlapping territories, duplicating research and experience, and generally lacking coordination.
The 14 companies formed the Metalock International Association (MIA), deriving its income from annual dues based on a set percentage of turnover. Initially, the MIA’s purpose was to provide a central research and development centre, organise an annual conference (held in a different member country each year), and sustain an interchange of publications and materials. Over time, it grew to issue licences to operate the Metalock process, define territorial boundaries, and provide all member companies with the guarantee and protection of the MIA’s legal department.
In the mid-1960s, a new director was appointed to administer the Association’s offices in London: Mr Dennis Venning. At that time, there was still a tendency for countries to deploy their own operators to repair ships in the ports of other nations. The MIA office therefore assumed a major new role as a Central Control organisation. Through this system, a shipowner of any nationality with a vessel requiring repair anywhere in the Western world could contact the MIA or the local Metalock company.
The interflow of information—including demonstration films and regular bulletins—arrangements for visits by Metalock directors from abroad, and coordination of the network’s activities were all managed centrally. However, by far the most important function was the relaying of requests for technical information—sometimes signalled directly from the site of a repair and transmitted by telex to research and development specialists—and, of greatest value to shipping, the rapid reallocation of work at a speed previously unattainable.
Thus, Central Control became the hub of a network extending to 70 Metalock companies, most with their own national coverage of branch offices and bases, collectively operating across 140 countries.
A robust and strong heritage of repair service and quality
The METALOCK process originated in the oil fields of Texas in the mid 1930’s, to overcome the risks due to the explosive potential of welding repairs. C. O. Spencer and L. B. Scott developed a ground-breaking repair system which successfully eliminated the use of heat, as well as providing other additional advantages. This included the elimination of distortion, which in turn eliminated the necessity of re-machining in most cases. Subsequent development by the U.S.A. defense forces during World War II were responsible for the spread of this technology and its acceptance in the heavy industries, especially marine.
The first Metalock organisations to start commercially were in the US.
1937 Metalock Corporation, L. B. Scott, Long Island
1938 Registration of trademark ‘Metalock’ in USA, 3 May by L. B. Scott.
1939 Metalock Casting Repair Service, and Metalock repairs formalised.
1942 Metal Locking Service, Buffalo
1947 Metalock Casting Repair Service, copyright entry 10 May.
1947 Metalock Casting Repair Service, UK
1948 Metalock Canada registered
The name Metalock has been used so widely around the world, that the trademark is now defunct as a franchise, It simply refers to the process of metal stitching developed by L. B. Scott. Perhaps confusingly, there are many organisations who may use the name Metalock commercially, and they may or may not be a member of the International Association.
The Metalock International Association’s greatest asset
MIA News – April 1953, Volume 1, Number 1.
The greatest asset of the Metalock International Association does not rest in any bank, nor is it something against which we can borrow. Yet it is an asset of which we may justly be proud, and one that we should guard jealously. It is something we must value to the highest degree, for it is our reputation for workmanship of the finest order—and therefore something we should never jeopardise for any reason whatsoever.
Because we are a far-flung organisation, this reputation is entrusted to many hands in many places. This makes it fundamentally more important that there be no compromise on quality by any single member of the organisation, from the Managing Director through the engineering and survey staff to the skilled engineers on site.
From a managerial standpoint, there are two key actions that can be taken to maintain these standards. The first is to ensure that all personnel selected for training are craftsmen of the highest calibre and, above all, individuals with a strong sense of personal responsibility. The second is to ensure that the training programme outlined for these individuals is thorough, complete in every detail, and never abbreviated for any reason whatsoever.
From the surveyor’s standpoint, it is essential that every aspect of a repair be considered with the utmost care, with particular emphasis on any risk of failure. It is far more advisable—and ultimately strengthens one’s standing with the client—to decline a repair rather than undertake one where success is doubtful. This is especially true for work requiring the approval of marine classification societies. When this careful approach is followed, acceptance of a repair by a Metalock surveyor should be tantamount to a guarantee of its subsequent acceptance by the society surveyor.
The engineer should recognise that poor or questionable workmanship may be temporarily concealed but, in the long run, even if not directly attributed to him, will reflect on the company that employs him. This will be to the detriment of the company and, consequently, to his own detriment through loss of business.
At all levels, there must be no sacrifice of quality in the name of service. While we rightly pride ourselves on the service we provide, under no circumstances should a job be rushed or compromised for the sake of speed. If a job cannot be done properly, it is better not to undertake it at all.
MIA News – April 1953
Volume 1, Number 1.
The Metalock Repair Process
The Metalock process was first developed during the 1930’s in the oil-fields of Texas, where the open flame of welding presented serious problems. The metalock method, being completely cold, eliminated any danger in this connection. The word ‘developed’ is used rather than ‘invented’ because the Metalock process is based on sound engineering principals which have been accepted for more than a century.
The Metalock International Association has developed and tested a new stainless key (MN555) to facilitate component repair at high temperatures of up to 550 degrees Celsius.
