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| Clive in his office, circa 1968. |
Kevin Garland phoned me on the 4th. October to advise that he'd seen a funeral notice for a "Clive Edward Smith", of Narrabeen, in the Courier Mail and could this be our Clive to whom it referred.
Sadly, it was confirmed when I received an email from John Inglis later that same day.
When I went from "the tools" and into the "drawing office" (no-one called it the "Engineering Department"....it was always just "drawing office"), which was around 1967, Clive was my immediate boss.
My job was that of an Electrical Detail Draughtsman.....I drew up the wiring diagrams which were printed and ended up in the motor-rooms of lift installations. Hydraulic pipelines were also detailed for manufacture and site installation.
In addition to overseeing my draughting work, Clive introduced me to the wizardry of setting-up and adjusting the hydraulic valves on pump-units; I still remember the name of the brand - EECO - and two types of valve - the UV3 and DL3.
Outside of work, Clive introduced me to sailing.
He crewed on a small yacht, Tampico II (designed by the not-then-famous Ben Lexcen), which was based at the Spit Bridge marina.
I nearly went on its first (and perhaps only?) Sydney to Hobart race in 1970 because they were down a crew member but, thank God, at the last minute were able to press-gang the navigator of HMAS Melbourne. I say "thank God" because that was the roughest race to date and I am sure I would have been sick from start to finish!!
At least the yacht made it to Hobart, finishing about 24th, I think.
At least the yacht made it to Hobart, finishing about 24th, I think.
However, thanks to Clive, I continued sailing, crewing for a member of the Middle Harbour club and racing on Saturdays on Sydney Harbour. What more could you ask for on a beautiful summery day?
The photo at the top is how I still see Clive in my memory. He invariably wore a white shirt and tie, with his sleeves rolled up exactly as shown.
Just like his compatriot in that little office, Warren Watt, Clive was a terrific bloke to work with. Fond memories.
My condolences are extended to Clive's wife, Dawn, and their family.
The following information is courtesy the Lift Engineering Society of Australia and was extracted from a collection of reminiscences by Clive which were featured in the October 2017 issue of their newsletter.
Clive gave a talk about his working life at the August 2017 meeting of LESA - the last that he attended.
CLIVE SMITH - Recollections of Life in the Lift Industry.
Clive started work in the lift industry in February 1952 and his first introduction to lifts was to walk into the motor room at Gowings at the corner of Market and George St Sydney.
He is not sure whether he was assisting John Inglis or the foreman, Stan Butler.
There was a GE gearless machine, a Smith Major Stevens 480V DC machine and an Otis Ward Leonard control system and an old goods lift. It was quite a scary introduction to lifts but it showed the need to set goals – to work on the best jobs; learn as much as possible; gradually work up.
Professor Lewin developed a magnetic amplification system with saturable reactors to control the speed of a motor supplied from a generator. There was an installation at the Mercantile Mutual building in Pitt Street. This was an indication of where lift controls were heading.
Clive had a lot of adventures at the Snowy Mountains site with John Inglis, Pederick Spencer and a few others in the winter as well as the summer. It was a very challenging project.
Clive enjoyed the lift industry. As a 16 year old apprentice, he had to go to the office, pick up the pays, and take them to the Roberts Hotel, and give them to the workers.
He and another apprentice would also chat up the usherettes in the theatres to get in and see the movies!
When Otis Elevator bought Arnold Engineering in 1972, Clive moved on and established Eastern Elevators in partnership with Warren Watt.
In 2014 Warren became seriously ill and sadly passed away in April of 2015.
Many years ago they established Eastern Elevators in Guangzhou, China.
Manufacturing started in Chongquing in 2002. Chongquing was developed in World War 2 to be a heavy industry centre far from Japan.
Prior to his death Clive was Service Manager for Eastern Elevators and assisted with running the company, although he no longer had any share-holding.
He communicated with Singapore and Indonesia branches also.
Clive was planning to retire at the end of this year.
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Clive gave a talk about his working life at the August 2017 meeting of LESA - the last that he attended.
CLIVE SMITH - Recollections of Life in the Lift Industry.
Clive started work in the lift industry in February 1952 and his first introduction to lifts was to walk into the motor room at Gowings at the corner of Market and George St Sydney.
He is not sure whether he was assisting John Inglis or the foreman, Stan Butler.
There was a GE gearless machine, a Smith Major Stevens 480V DC machine and an Otis Ward Leonard control system and an old goods lift. It was quite a scary introduction to lifts but it showed the need to set goals – to work on the best jobs; learn as much as possible; gradually work up.
Professor Lewin developed a magnetic amplification system with saturable reactors to control the speed of a motor supplied from a generator. There was an installation at the Mercantile Mutual building in Pitt Street. This was an indication of where lift controls were heading.
Clive had a lot of adventures at the Snowy Mountains site with John Inglis, Pederick Spencer and a few others in the winter as well as the summer. It was a very challenging project.
Clive enjoyed the lift industry. As a 16 year old apprentice, he had to go to the office, pick up the pays, and take them to the Roberts Hotel, and give them to the workers.
He and another apprentice would also chat up the usherettes in the theatres to get in and see the movies!
When Otis Elevator bought Arnold Engineering in 1972, Clive moved on and established Eastern Elevators in partnership with Warren Watt.
In 2014 Warren became seriously ill and sadly passed away in April of 2015.
Many years ago they established Eastern Elevators in Guangzhou, China.
Manufacturing started in Chongquing in 2002. Chongquing was developed in World War 2 to be a heavy industry centre far from Japan.
Prior to his death Clive was Service Manager for Eastern Elevators and assisted with running the company, although he no longer had any share-holding.
He communicated with Singapore and Indonesia branches also.
Clive was planning to retire at the end of this year.
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