British Coal Utilisation Research Association (BCURA) was a non-profit association of industrial companies, incorporated 23 April 1938 and dissolved 24 February 2015.

History

It was founded in 1938, with an assured income of £25000 per year for five years, supplied by the

Mining Association of Great Britain The Mining Association of Great Britain (MAGB) was an industry association of employers in the mining industry of Great Britain that was active from 1854 to 1954. History The Mining Association of Great Britain was established in 1854 to represen ...

and a grant from the government

Department of Scientific and Industrial Research Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, abbreviated DSIR was the name of several British Empire organisations founded after the 1923 Imperial Conference to foster intra-Empire trade and development. * Department of Scientific and Industria ...

, establishing a research station in

West Brompton West Brompton is an area of south-west London, that straddles the boundary between the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham and Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. The centuries-old boundary was traced by Counter's Creek, now lost be ...

. It was formed from the research department of the Combustion (''formerly Coal-burning'') Appliance Manufacturer's Association becoming a separate entity. Laboratories were also later established in

Leatherhead Leatherhead is a town in the Mole Valley District of Surrey, England, about south of Central London. The settlement grew up beside a ford on the River Mole, from which its name is thought to derive. During the late Anglo-Saxon period, Leath ...

. The first Director was

John G. Bennett John Godolphin Bennett (8 June 1897 – 13 December 1974) was a British academic and author. He is best known for his books on psychology and spirituality, particularly on the teachings of G. I. Gurdjieff. Bennett met Gurdjieff in Istanbul in ...

. During the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

it developed small units for the manufacture of

producer gas Producer gas is fuel gas that is manufactured by blowing a coke or coal with air and steam simultaneously. It mainly consists of carbon monoxide (CO), hydrogen (H2), as well as substantial amounts of nitrogen (N2). The caloric value of the produce ...

from coal to use in vehicles in place of petrol. A £1000,000 five-year programme was also begun with a view not only to the needs of wartime but also for industry afterwards with fuels and chemicals from coal and greater efficiency of domestic appliances. Following the Nationalisation of the British Coal Industry in 1946 it continued as an independent body with the support of the

National Coal Board The National Coal Board (NCB) was the statutory corporation created to run the nationalised coal mining industry in the United Kingdom. Set up under the Coal Industry Nationalisation Act 1946, it took over the United Kingdom's collieries on "v ...

in place of the Mining Association. It developed the commercially successful Satchwell Automatic Controller for small-pipe heating systems. In 1971 the National Coal Board withdrew its support, and the Leatherhead laboratories closed.

Notable People

Rosalind Franklin Rosalind Elsie Franklin (25 July 192016 April 1958) was a British chemist and X-ray crystallographer whose work was central to the understanding of the molecular structures of DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid), RNA (ribonucleic acid), viruses, co ...

worked on porosity of coal during World War II.

Victor Goldschmidt Victor Moritz Goldschmidt (27 January 1888 in Zürich – 20 March 1947 in Oslo) was a Norwegian mineralogist considered (together with Vladimir Vernadsky) to be the founder of modern geochemistry and crystal chemistry, developer of the Goldsch ...

lectured on rare elements in coal ash during World War II.

Marcello Pirani Marcello Stefano Pirani (July 1, 1880 – January 11, 1968) was a German physicist known for his invention of the Pirani vacuum gauge, a vacuum gauge based on the principle of heat loss measurement. Throughout his career, he worked on advancing l ...

was scientific consultant during 1941—1947, concerned with carbonaceous materials resistant to high temperatures.

Meredith Thring Meredith Wooldridge Thring (17 December 1915 – 15 September 2006) was a British inventor, engineer, futurologist, professor and author. Education and career Thring was born in Melbourne, Australia, but moved to England when he was four years o ...

was there from the outset.Rob Thring (his son) ''The Independent'', 30 September 2006
/ref> The family of

have a web site that contains information about him and BCUR

Peter H. Given, Head of Organic Chemistry, went on to Pennsylvania State University, achieving distinction in U.S

BCURA activities were subject of a review published in Nature Volume 153 Number 3873 p 104 (22 January 1944).

References

External links

bcura.org
British research associations Coal mining in the United Kingdom Coal organizations 1938 establishments in the United Kingdom Non-profit organisations based in the United Kingdom Organisations based in Cheltenham Scientific organisations based in the United Kingdom Scientific organizations established in 1938 {{nonprofit-org-stub