Famous Scots- John Bryson (J.B.) Orr

John Bryson (J.B.) Orr
d. 1933

Contributed by Brian Orr

John Bryson (J.B.) Orr developed and patented a process for the manufacture of a paint pigment called "Orr's Zinc White" (Patent 517 of 1874) which had a novel manufacture as it included a calcining process (heat treatment) of the basic chemicals.

His process led to a major change in the pigment and paint industry. Older people recall the task of "whitewashing" or "liming" the walls of the detached toilet (closet, dry earth type ) and the walls of the backyard because it brought a brightness and sense of space to it. J.B. Orr was the creator of "Duresco", the first washable distemper widely used on both internal and external walls.

J. B. Orr was the son of a dyer and was apprenticed to the firm of Lewis, McLellan and Co., Oil and Colourmen and Drysalters in Glasgow, where he studied chemistry at the Andersonian College, now the University of Strathclyde.

He travelled widely and was in Europe on the outbreak of the Franco-German war so he acted as an unofficial war correspondent for a Glasgow newspaper. He returned to Glasgow and in 1872 set up a factory for the manufacture of "lithopone" which meant merely a white mineral product prepared artificially rather than occurring naturally.

Black is white .... sometimes

An amusing aspect of the earlier products was "a chameleon like behaviour in bright sunlight", rather like the silver compounds used in photographic film.

There is the case of a policeman on point duty in a supposedly white rubber coat but which was in fact black on the sunny side and white on the shady. And that of the farmer whose freshly painted white gate turned black at noon but was white again when the puzzled painter was brought to the scene in the late afternoon.

J. B. Orr's invention produced a lightfast product and in time became the basic pigment for the paint industry. In 1930 the company was merged with the Imperial Smelting Corporation Ltd of which he was a director until his death on 23 September 1933.

The significance of the invention to the town of Widnes was great. Until 1898, J. B. Orr had devoted himself to the colour trade but in that year he expanded into industrial development at the Vine Works, Widnes.

Workers of the area were long used to handling chemicals and with a good hinterland for raw materials, Widnes was a prime location for the manufacture of a product that grew to over a quarter of a million tons annually.

Moreover, the paint works was a significant employer and one renowned - and way ahead of its time - for conferring benefits of pensions, welfare, forums for discussion, and opportunities for job enhancement and advancement.

Contributed by Brian Orr, April 2000

Thursday, December 26th, 2019

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