Cole, Marchent and Morley
Cole, Marchent and Morley of Prospect Foundry, Wakefield Road, Bradford.
formerly Cole, Marchent and Co
1889 Herbert William Morley joined the company
1890 The business and premises were purchased by Morley
1893 Started to build larger engines for the new electric power generating stations.
1894 June. Royal Agricultural Society's Show. 4-inch and 6-inch pumps. [1]
1894 September. Prospect duplex Pump. [2]
1899 Incorporated as a limited liability company.
1900 Compound horizontal engine for the City and South London Railway. Article and illustrations. [3]
C.1901 Three engines made for Auckland Electric Tramways Co Ltd, of the horizontal cross-compound Corliss type, each capable of 475 ihp normal and 700 ihp. maximum output, running at 100 r.p.m., with steam pressure at the stop valve of 150 lbs. per square inch [4]
1907 A vertical engine, 'Mary', built for Huddersfield Corporation's power station, was described and illustrated in The Engineer[5]. Cylinders 24" and 48" bore, 42" stroke. The main point of interest is the steam admission drop valves and their operating mechanism. Referring to the 1907 illustrations reproduced above: the steam valve is opened by rocker J. Chamber C on top of the valve contains a spring to close the valve, and a dashpot to cushion the final movement. The means of opening each inlet valve is provided by a rotating eccentric with a rod connected to lever K. A catch, M, which pivots on the curved arm K is able to press down on lever J to open the valve.
The steam valve is tripped (to close) when catch M releases lever J. The point at which this occurs is determined by cam H which acts on lever G. Cam H is rotated by a shaft whose position is determined by the governor, according to the speed. So, for example, if the load on the engine reduces, the speed will tend to increase, and the governor will act so as to unlatch the valve operating lever J at an earlier point.
The latching ends of J and M have hardened tips.
1907 Barring engine. Exhibit at Bradford Industrial Museum
1914? Supplied an engine to St David's Tinplate Works
1914 Engine builders and general engineers. Specialities: high-class stationary engines ranging from 100 to 3,000 hp for electric traction and driving mills of all descriptions; condensing plants, heavy millwright work, crude oil engines, piston drop valves, surface condensing plants. Employees 500. [6]
1916 Vertical engine for Arkwright Mill, Preston [7]
1917 Supplied engine to Stewarts and Lloyds Tube Works at Newport
1919 Installed an engine at Pontardawe Alloy Co
1920 May. Issued catalogue on central exhaust and tandem compound steam engines. [8]
1922 Article in 'The Engineer' described and illustrated the works and some of its products. The large machine tools included: three Asquith radial arm drills with arm radii of 6, 7 and 8 ft; four Pearn-Richards horizontal boring machines; a pit lathe for turning flywheels up to 30 ft diameter; a flywheel faceplate lathe accommodating wheels up to 18 ft diameter; a Buckton planer with capacity 10 x 10 x 20 ft; a Lang lathe for turning piston rods up to 26 ft long [9]
1928 Ceased trading
1935 Listed to be struck off.[10]
1953 Company continues to trade.[11]
A former engineer of the company, Arnold Throp, wrote an excellent account of the company and its engines, with a rare insight into the methods of manufacturing large steam engines [12]
See Also
Sources of Information
- ↑ The Engineer 1894/06/29 p565
- ↑ The Engineer 1894/09/21 p249
- ↑ The Engineer 1900/10/05 p347
- ↑ [1]] Article in ‘Progress’ (NZ) Vol 1 Issue 4, 4 February 1906
- ↑ [The Engineer, 1907/07/19]] The Engineer, 19 July 1907, p.54ff
- ↑ 1914 Whitakers Red Book
- ↑ [2] Photo of engine in Preston Digital Archive - "A Lancashire Cotton Scrapbook"
- ↑ The Engineer 1920/05/28 p564
- ↑ The Engineer 1922/02/24
- ↑ The London Gazette Publication date:2 July 1935 Issue:34176 Page:4267
- ↑ Bradford Observer - Thursday 31 December 1953
- ↑ 'The Last Years of Mill Engine Building' by Arnold Throp. Available from the publishers, International Stationary Steam Engine Society (I.S.S.E.S.). ISBN 1-872986-07-2
- Steam Engine in Industry by George Watkins in two volumes. Moorland Publishing. 1978/9. ISBN 0-903485-65-6
- Stationary Steam Engines of Great Britain by George Watkins. Vol 10