Trying to remember but back in the 70s when I was a young mechanic working on minors, minis, A40s every day and the odd exotic Jaguar or Armstrong Siddeley etc, brake bleeding was a two man or even 3 man job. One sat pressing the pedal up and down on request , the mechanic who's doing the job at the bleed nipple and often little me keeping a very small master cylinder topped up while bleeding before it made that awful sucking noise which meant it had run dry and we needed to start over again. The master cycls weren't always easy to get at and some fluid usually got spilt to be quickly washed off with water.
I recall having to clamp off the 'idle' brake hoses in order to get some kind of pedal for bleeding and we even had a spring loaded tool that screwed to the top of the cylinder to keep pressure on. Farthest nipple first as most of the air could be got out that way and then the remaining ones to remove what's left as we took each clamp of in turn.
Girling Green or Red in tins and some red rubber grease was used when assembling brake cylinders, repairing with new rubbers was usual rather than a replacement cylinder... Springs often flying around the workshop when fitting new shoes was common, some were darn awkward to get at with hub flanges in the way, seized adjusters, stuck drums, emery papering rusty surfaces, the air thick with brake dust blown by air guns.... Hardly the healthiest environment!
Happy days...
