28th February 2007
Members visited the engineering works of Pyroban in Shoreham Pyroban are leaders in the field of explosion protection in hazardous areas and have works in Shoreham, their HQ, Cannock, Holland and China. They sell their products internationally. They remain a family owned company, the founder of which, a local man, Phil Tyrer, is still active at the age of 84.
The main output of Shoreham is the flame proofing of vehicles intended for operation in hazardous atmospheres.
The :MD welcomed us. After which the Manager of Engmeering and Group Development gave a talk covering the history of the company and its products. We then split into three groups, each led in turn by a senior member of staff who showed us round his own area of speciality. These covered technical developments, the works itself and hazard protection with an explanation of the three Zones of hazard. Most of their work covers Zones 2 and 3. In the works we saw examples of both diesel and battery vehicles undergoing flame proofing. The vehicles were mainly forklift trucks of various makes.
We were made most welcome and fed well! Our guides gave excellent and clear descriptions of their area of work and answered our questions with patience. At the end of the visit we were all given a copy of a book by PhiI Tyrer tracing his own history from a 16year-old apprentice in the service workshop of the Southdown Bus Company in Brighton to the present day Pyroban. It is a fascinating read. He is not an engineer but describes himself as an entrepreneurial mechanic.
I think that our visit was most interesting and it was good to see some real engineering in West Sussex.
Richard Norton
