James Fletcher Wiles

History

Early Life

From Ballarat, James Fletcher Wiles was known by family and friends as ‘Jim’.

During World War One he opened an engineering works in Ballarat to produce this equipment for the Australian Army. With the end of the 1914-1918 war Jim Wiles sold the engineering works and moved to the Murray River region to become part of the dried fruit industry. In the time just before the Great Depression - due to circumstances beyond his control - the dried fruit business failed and Jim was left destitute. He subsequently moved to Adelaide. As a resident of Adelaide Jim Wiles became known as the founder of a plating works company he began in 1929. He died 11 August 1939, having expressed a wish that his four sons submit to the Army for use of the steam cookers should war again break out.

Legacy

James Fletcher Wiles was the inventor of Wiles Mobile and Stationary Steam Cooker. His patent provided the basis for a second incarnation - created by his four sons at the Adelaide works for World War Two - known as Wiles Double Oven Stationary Cooker.

Obituary

Death of Mr. J. F. Wiles Mr. James Fletcher Wiles, chairman of directors of Wiles Chromium and Electro-plating Co., Ltd., died today, aged 57. He was born in Ballarat, and started working on the New Era Block, near Cadell, in 1917. He came to Adelaide several years later, being employed first with the Ford Motor Co. Later he started in business on his own. Mr. Wiles was a keen supporter of the South Park Bowling Club. He is survived by a widow, a daughter, and five sons.

Newsworthy

WILES COOKER THE INVENTOR HONORED. In the immediate future Mr J. F. Wiles, inventor of the cooker that bears his name, will proceed to England for the purpose of extending his sphere of business activity. Mayor Hill yesterday entertained Mr Wiles at the City Hall, and in the presence of a large and representative gathering of citizens wished him bon voyage and a full measure of success. The Mayor, after submitting the loyal toast, proposed "Success to Mr Wiles." In so doing he referred to the diversity of interests represented in that gathering, which he regarded as a tribute to the grit and determination of Mr Wiles in securing recognition for his meritorious invention. Prior to perfecting the "cooker" Mr Wiles had worked long and arduously, now its success has been demonstrated beyond question. While on a visit to the city recently the Russian Consul had predicted a great future for the cooker, and is was difficult to foresee at present in what way the distinguished visitor's re marks would apply. He wished Mr Wiles all the success his industry inventive genius, and mechanical skill entitled him to. Lt-Col Bolton referred to Mr Wiles' association with the 7th Regiment, as a member of which his interest in the cooking had induced the speaker (Lt-Col Bolton) to appoint him to supervise the cooking for the 3rd Battalion. That position awakened Mr Wiles to an appreciation of what was required for the proper feeding of soldiers in the field, and the splendid cooker which now bore his name stood as a monument to his seal and ability to combine the theoretical with the practical. Mr W. H. Chandler referred to the gratifying accounts received from the men at the Front regarding the Wiles cooker, and to the fact that it had fulfilled all its inventor had put forward in support of its adoption. Mr W. H. Middleton. president of the School of Mines Council, after joining in the general theme of congratulation, remarked on Mr Wiles "stickabilty" in his efforts to secure proper recognition for his cooker. Mr C. H. Burrow regretted that the a magnificent cooker did not exist in his soldiering days, because be realised its value in active military operations. For four months, while the kitchen at the Benevolent Asylum was under construction, a Wiles cooker had done service, and during that period it daily cooked for 230 inmates, together with sick patients and the staff, without a single hitch. Mr W. F. Coltman, president of the Forward Ballarat Movement, testified to the efficiency of the cooker. which had stood the severest tests to which it had been submitted. Mjr M. Baird. M.L.A.. who had had practical inexperience of the cooker in actual warfare, stated the feeding difficult ties of his battalion had been greatly lessened by the Wiles cooker. Cr A. Bell, Messrs J. T. M'Gregor, W. H. Gent.and M. M'Callum supported tho toast. Mr Wiles, in reply, said ambition had always played an important part in his life: his desire from boyhood being to get to the top. He was soldiering in the South African war at the age of 17 years, and it was there he realised the inadequacy of the arrangement for feeding the soldiers. He had been asked why he did not go to Melbourne and there establish his industry". His answer was he had faith in Ballarat. He had enjoyed his life here, all his interests had always been centred here. Although only 39 years of ago he had a wife, and the nucleus of a family in five sons and one daughter. (Laughter and applause.) He owed much to Ballarat: he had learned much by being associated with different local institutions, and he would always be delighted to return to it. By the aid of the "Forward Ballarat" movement he hoped before the lapse of many years to see the present policy of centralisation substituted by a system of fares and freights that would place country manufacturers on the same basis as the Melbourne competitor. He was deeply indebted to the press of Ballarat for the assistance it had rendered in bringing the merits of the cooker before the public. Local politicians of all creeds had assisted him by their influence. He was confident of success on the "other side," because his cooker had proved superior, on the admission of indisputable authorities, to all others yet placed at the disposal of the military. The use of steam for cookers had been disapproved of by many experts, but he had proved that high pressure steam was the most efficient method of feeding the fighting men. In his manufacture he had been greatly encouraged by Col (Dr) Hardy, who was really the father of the cooker. If the conscription referendum had been carried he would have been in a position to employ 200 more men at his works, but he hoped to overcome that disappointment by the success he would achieve in the Old Country.

See also

Wiles Mobile and Stationary Steam Cooker

External links

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--Beth Kicinski 13:05, 23 May 2012 (EST); --C.K.Gervasoni 12:27, 6 June 2014 (EST)