Occupation Query

[IMBER]

There's the possibility he was a Roll Turner, a highly skilled occupation in the steel industry. I think Bolton had a steel works around that time?

Imber

[stanmapstone]

Roll Turner: (iron and steel rolling) turns rolls, or is responsible for turning, facing and setting of rolls, on a lathe, when surface of rolls has become uneven through much use; is responsible for working and condition of rolls, and usually controls work of hot and cold rolling department; supervises work of roll fluters where employed. "A Dictionary of Occupational Terms"

Stan

[youngtug]

Unless you can find who he worked for and what they did it is all conjecture given the amount of different industries in the area.
Rollers are a widely used object in different forms and sizes in many industries. They can be small such as those used in roller bearings, or large like those used in steel rolling or the textile mills, and many sizes between. A lot of things are transported in site on rollers and roller conveyers.   http://www.rootschat.com/links/01fuy/

[youngtug]

Just a piece of fairly useless information;  I once dismantled a printing press at a newspaper premises. It had been bought from a scrap dealer in the 1930s and was supposed to have been originally used by a Bolton newspaper. There were 6 large rollers on it, each weighing three quarters of a ton, also several smaller rollers.

[andrewalston]

There's the possibility he was a Roll Turner, a highly skilled occupation in the steel industry. I think Bolton had a steel works around that time?

Imber

No, lots of foundries, but no steel works. The nearest would be at Barrow-in-Furness, where the rollers would be producing steel plate for ships.

Textile machinery was mostly cast iron, with steel used only where needed, to keep the cost down.

Rollers for conveyors are not precision objects; any old bit of rod would do. In textile machinery, you need a rollers to fit very specific places, made to close tolerances.

[youngtug]

Rollers on conveyors may not be high precision but "any old bit of rod" is going a bit far. In fact, if they are mismatched or not turned true then the conveyor will not work correctly. If they are different lengths then they will not fit between the side rails correctly. We are still talking of tolerances of a few thousandths of an inch. Even belt conveyors, like those in coal mines would have rollers.

[ThrelfallYorky]

When I first read this, I was thinking it might refer to printing fabric, which could use rollers, as well as newspaper printing machinery, which obviously did.

[Mumsiewumsie]

Thanks for all the suggestions. I'm sure it would be to do with the textile industry rather than anything else but I guess I'll never know exactly what it was.