This film contains descriptive intertitles throughout. It begins with views of an open cast china clay mine where high pressure hoses are used to create a slurry containing china clay. We also see large tanks where the slurry is held. Next we see the exterior of the Tywfords factory in Etruria. This is followed by a sequence showing clay being shovelled into a mixing machine. The film then moves on to the process used to make lavatory basins: china clay in liquid form is poured into a mould, which is subsequently opened to reveal the hardened basin. Later toilets are made using a similar process. We then see the drying room where ceramic sanitary ware is drying before being fired. Once adequately dry the sinks and toilets are loaded into a kiln by men who carry them on their heads. Once removed they are glazed manually by a man who immerses them in a bath of glaze. They are then ready for the second firing and we see the kiln being filled and then unloaded again. After this there are shots of the finished products in a huge warehouse fully of carefully stacked toilets and hand basins. The next part of the film shows taps being chromed using the electroplating method. Toilets are tested by temporarily linking them up with a cistern and using the flush. We then see the process involved in making fire clay lavatories, which uses the same process of pouring clay into moulds, drying and firing as used in the making of china clay sanitary ware. The final sequences feature illustrations and footage of bathrooms in a showroom and workers packing sinks on to a lorry using straw as a protective material. Other items are crated up in Twydords' despatch department. The film ends with shots of managers in discussion at a desk.
No credits specified
Twyford is still trading and based in Stoke on Trent. The company became part of the Sanitec Group in 2001. China clay was extensively mined in Cornwall. The pit pictured in this film could well be situated in the south-west of England.