Clay and Pottery Industries, Vol. 1

1914

Mellor Papers

London: Griffin and Co.

In 1914 Mellor’s Clay and Pottery Industries appeared. The papers within reveal the full range of his scientific investigations: from the performance of fire bricks and the nature and behaviour of glazes, to thermal expansions of floor tiles and constituents of clays. During WWI his chief work concerned the improvement of refractory linings of steelmaking furnaces, advising the government when ‘supplies of refractory materials and …many necessary steel alloys were cut off.’ For this work he was offered a peerage, which he refused. No doubt some of the class of 1913 depicted here went on to enjoy the facilities of the new Central School of Science and Technology, built the following year (1914). Mellor was made Head of the new Ceramics Department.