Electric Furnace Co
of Weybridge, Surrey
1909 Founded by D. F. Campbell and W. S. Gifford[1] in Birmingham, manufacturing electric furnaces for the emerging steel processing and automobile component industries[2]
1921 Company incorporated. Name subsequently changed to Electric Furnace Co.
1928 Public company incorporated as Electric Furnace Co; makers of EFCO equipment[3]. Cooperation with AEI to develop high frequency furnaces.
1930 Formed the Electric Resistance Furnace Co as a subsidiary to deal in industrial furnaces heated by electric resistance heating[4]
WWII Installed 1500 electric furnaces, especially important for treating aluminium and magnesium alloys for aircraft. Also important uses with alloy steels for aero engines and gas turbines. Manufacture of metals for radar uses. More than 8 million tank track links were cast from electric arc furnaces. The TOCCO high frequency process was used for surface hardening. Electric steel, with excellent armour piercing properties, had become standard for tank turrets. Also used in brass melting for shell cartridges. Developed knowledge in use of molten salts. Electro-chemical process for cleaning shell cases[5].
1955 Name changed to Efco.