....and now i finally get that BI 'joke' around gill as 'perry', dazzlenation...the ex-peri-mental dept....go figure:

The Experimental Department (westwoodworks.net)

“Atomic” Toothpaste

One of the materials on which continuous mixing tests were carried out was toothpaste. Bob Fuller decided that the efficiency of mixing could be measured by adding a radioactive tracer to the mix. Inevitably, this caused some concern to the men in the department, as they were, understandably, unsure of the potential effects of radiation. The advice of Dr. Marshall, the company doctor, was sought and he assured everybody that the use of the trace was not dangerous– a decision that was not readily accepted by all concerned!

Other Oddities

Radioactive toothpaste was by no means the only ‘oddity’. Some strange machines passed through the hands of the fitters in the department. A Sachamatt Press for fusing rubber soles onto leather uppers was tested with the intention of Baker Perkins becoming a sales agent for them. Although not taken up by the company, the tests were successful to an extent, a number of the fitters walking around in new shoes for some time afterwards!

As well as strange machines, it was sometimes necessary to cope with ingredients outside the usual range – not all of which had as useful a potential as that described in The Lighter Side below. Native wit had to be used after carrying out some tests using a quantity of meat. It had to be disposed of somehow. It could not be dumped on the company scrap heap and the weather was getting warm - things were getting serious. Fortunately, the Co-op abattoir had taken over the old Aublet Harry buildings on the other side of Westfield Road and they, of course, had a similar problem with the disposal of offal. The man in charge agreed to take the meat and, apparently, gave or sold it to a man who was breeding mink. That was the kind of problem regularly faced by the experimental men.