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PLUTO ....inovation that helped win the war.

butterfly

butterfly

HONOURED MEMBER RIP
Certainly outside my normal collecting field, and for me an impulse purchase, but I was intrigued by this item that I recently acquired. This particular item was presented to the Chief Engineer of project 99, it has seen better days but has in fact been manufactured from a piece of Hamel style PLUTO pipeline. I believe it was originally an ashtray and modeled to represent the Conundrums that were used to unroll the pipeline as it was laid.
Here is a link to a film made by Stewarts & Lloyds about the manufacture of the pipeline..... http://youtu.be/_N1UHU3z44U

thought it was interesting enough to share....

I ought to add that the ridge around the middle is in fact a welded joint of two pipes, this process can be seen in the film I posted above.

regards Kev

pluto 1.JPGpluto 2.JPG
 
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Kev . That's just a fabulous piece , I'm very envious . Any collector would be happy to have found it & thanks for showing it . Mike.
 
Thanks Kev, that was Brilliant. I knew about PLUTO but not how it was constructed. What an amazing feat of engineering. Thanks for the link. Love the model too.
Cheers
Gary
 
Here is a further article I came across which deals with the recovery of the pipelines at the end of the war. There were two types of pipeline, the first of armoured cable type construction and the other of steel (the example I have). The value of the pipe was greater than the salvage costs, so much of the pipes were recovered immediately post war. Its an interesting read if you have some spare time......

http://www.combinedops.com/PLUTO_resurrected2.htm

I never realised just how many pipelines were laid !! Also there is an account of a salvage vessel pulling up a complete German fighter aircraft, which today would be more valuable than the pipe - then it was just cut free!!

regards Kev
 
Any collector will have had a similar experience and can relate to what I am about to say....

....know the feeling when you have owned an item for a while then thought, it doesnt really fit in to the collection, part with it and then........yes, find something to go with it? Well thats just what I have managed to do with the above item. It went to a 'better' home where it would be loved and cherished and then.....

.....I found this one!!

this is a piece of the 'other' type of PLUTO pipeline - the H.A.I.S pipe, which is basically a glorified armoured cable. As you can see it has a platic insert (unfortunately damaged by cigarette burns (not sure it was ever intended for use as an ashtray??)), written on this insert is HENLEY H.A.I.S. CABLE MADE BY W.T. HENLEY'S TELEGRAPH WORKS Co. Ltd. FOR "OPERATION PLUTO"

Although I have come across other examples of souvenir items relating to the 'Hamel' type pipe, this is the only example I have seen for the H.A.I.S. pipe as a souvenir/presentation piece.

you can see a good drawing of it and further details on this link http://www.combinedops.com/pluto.htm

regards Kev

PC110736.jpgPC110737.jpgPC110738.jpgPC110739.jpgPC110740.jpg
 
Thanks Dave,

I think most of the pipeline was recovered post war because of the high value of the lead in it, you can see why when you look at this small piece. There is of course a very nice photographed section on the wikipedia page, this is a layered section, but appears more a showcase example than a presentation piece - I guess it must be part of a museum collection ..... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Pluto

my small piece I assume, like the previous Hamel one I owned would have been for someone working on the project?

regards Kev
 
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