Bertram Oscar Morris
Bertram Oscar Morris (1887-1938)
1938 Obituary [1]
BERTRAM OSCAR MORRIS was an authority on the manufacture of precision lathes and screw gauges, jigs, and small tools. He was born in Redditch and was apprenticed in 1902 to Mr. E. White, engineer and ironfounder, of Redditch, who specialized in the production of machinery for making needles and fish hooks. After the termination of his apprenticeship in 1909 Mr. Morris studied engineering at Redditch Technical School and after the outbreak of the War in 1914 he became chief inspector of the Small Tool Department at Coventry Ordnance Works. Two years later he was promoted to be chief inspector of the Gauge Department; his duties included the final inspection of all screw and other gauges before their dispatch to the National Physical Laboratory. He was appointed manager of Precision Gauges, Ltd., of Wrentham Street, Birmingham, in 1918, and was responsible for the design and production of machine tools, jigs, and gauges.
A year later he became a director of the firm. He developed a method of hardening screw gauges without producing distortion, whilst among his other inventions were a design of precision lathe, a patent turret vice, and a jig-boring chuck. In addition, he recently founded the Birmingham firm of Messrs. B. O. Morris, Ltd., patentees and manufacturers of grinding machines and abrasive disks. Latterly he lived at Shirley, near Solihull, Warwickshire, and took a keen interest in local and county council affairs.
He was elected an Associate Member of the Institution in 1921. His death occurred at Shirley on 18th May 1938, at the age 51.