Fairbairn Engineering Co

1870. Crosland's direct-acting three-cylinder engine.

1872.

1864 William Fairbairn and Sons, having sold off the locomotive building side of the firm, the large machinery and iron business changed its name to Fairbairn Engineering Co, and incorporated as a public company

1866 'A few years ago the works of Messrs. Fairbairn and Sons was carried out at four separate places, at some small distance from each other, in the Ancoats district of Manchester. Since the formation of the limited company this has been altered, and all the operations are now concentrated in the engine side and the former boiler yard. To this last portion has been removed the present very large foundry. A large fresh plot of ground has here been purchased, affording an extensive area, now being covered by new workshops. Very considerable contracts for bridge work, principally for Indian lines, are now being executed by the company'

1870 Won the contract for the first of the iron-plated forts at Spithead

1871 Contracts to supply iron bridges in Canada and ironwork for the customs house in Montevideo

Supplied the wrought iron roof structure and columns for the Royal Albert Hall; the roof was assembled at Manchester first before being reassembled on site in London. The roof was designed by Grover and Ordish (presumably John William Grover and Rowland Mason Ordish).

1872 Completed the ironwork for the first Spithead fort; had invested in special machinery for the work

1874 'MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES OF LANCASHIRE.— No. 10.
THE WORKS OF THE FAIRBAIRN ENGINEERING COMPANY.
The works conducted under the above designation are situated in Manchester, and occupy a large space of ground. They consist of two separate establishments, each divided from the other by a considerable distance, and may be separately described as the foundry and boiler-making shops, and the engineering shop proper. The former occupies an area of about three acres, nearly one-fourth of which is roofed over. The foundry consists of a shop measuring 215 feet in length by 46 feet in width. It has three cupola furnaces; has two large travelling cranes of great power, together with five jib cranes, also suitable for lifting and swaying great weights. In this foundry ample means exist for making castings from a few ounces in weight up to 20 tons weight. The boilermakers' shop is also very extensive, and is fully supplied with all the requisite machinery for carrying on the different branches of boiler-making, which, in accordance with the practice of the present time, include the construction of nearly every kind of iron fabric made of plates and rivets. These may be briefly stated as consisting of girders of every conceivable strength and span, such as tubular and girder bridges, expansive iron roofs, and, in very recent times, of even the framework of gigantic and impenetrable iron-clad forts for the protection of our great naval arsenals. The latter of these most important fabrics, it is right to state, have been chiefly constructed in the large fitting yard contiguous to the boilermakers' shop, the whole of which large area is fully commanded by vast and powerful travelling cranes ; and these, it ought to be stated, are aided by a powerful locomotive rivetting machine, which greatly assists in expediting the work, while it likewise aids in materially improving the quality of the work executed. The engineering shop proper, which, as has been already stated, is some distanoe from the premises first named, is also of very large dimensions, and fully supplied with all the numerous and complicated tools and implements required in the execution of even the most gigantic undertakings of engineering skill.
In reference to this important branch ef this world-renowned establishment it is no more than justice to allude to the fact that it owes its existence and also its celebrity to the skill and enterprise of a self-made man; one who, in the best sense ef the term, fought his way up from a very humble origin to occupy a place of honour in the scientific world, and likewise in the not less honourable position in the prosecution of manufacturing industry, not only in this country but throughout the world. Sir William Fairbairn, the individual referred to, was born at Kelso, in Roxburghshire, in 1789. ....

'Another and stupendous work of constructive mechanical engineering was entrusted to the Fairbairn Engineering Company by the British Government, an amount of confidence which at once proclaimed the high standing accorded to the firm, and by the execution of which that confidence was fully justified. This was the construction of the iron framework for one of the principal forts for the defence of Spithead. The work was unique as an astonishing piece of mechanical and engineering achievement. It is a circular framework, the diameter of which is 200 feet, and it is intended to be armour-plated with three thicknesses of 6-inch plates, having spaces of five inches between each two, the interspace to be filled with Portland cement concrete; but opposite to each gun there is a plating of 17 inches thickness of armour-plating, besides 10 of concrete, the whole secured to the upright piers and bars. The plating and concrete, however, do not necessarily present themselves for consideration in this sketch, as they have been undertaken by Messrs. Cammell and Co., of Sheffield; the iron framework alone being constructed by the Fairbairn Enginering Company, on their premises at Manchester, in point of fact in the large fitting yard already referred to. This vast framework, which, as has been stated, is 200 feet in diameter, with a height of 26 feet, this entire structure weighing in all upwards of 2,600 tons of wrought iron. The whole of this vast, complicated, and ponderous fabric was fitted and fully constructed in the Manchester establishment, and after having been so completed was taken to pieces, and transferred to its permanent site by railway, in sectional portions weighing from 17 to 20 tons each. As may naturally be supposed, the engineering appliances of the establishment were severely taxed in the execution of so extraordinary a structure, but they proved equal to the strain to which they were subjected. Some of these appliances were unique in their construction and power. Conspicuous among these may be noted the hydraulic rivetting machine already alluded to. This implement, which works with great rapidity, is even more remarkable for the excellence of the work it produces than for the rapidity with which that work is got through. Ihe superiority of the work referred to will be readily understood by practical men from the statement that the rivetting by it is not done by percussion, but by instantaneous and sustained pressure whereby the length of the rivet is forcibly compressed, and made to completely fill the rivet hole, an effect which has been found to be almost impossible by the ordinary hammer rivetting processes; and another, although minor advantage, is found to characterise the hydraulic process in the absence of the ceaseless and deafening noise attendant upon the use of the hammer. Another implement of precision, used, if not indeed invented, certainly made for the execution of this immense contract, is a multiple drilling machine, which regulates and simultaneously works thirty-eight drills, with a precision and accuracy which could not possibly be attained by single drill processes. This last-mentioned implement is stated to have cost £500, and is believed to be well worth the money, considering the accuracy and celerity with which its work is accomplished. In further illustration of the importance of this immense undertaking, it may be excusable to state that the fort is fitted to carry 49 guns, arranged in two tiers, the upper carrying 26, and the lower 24. To provide for this arrangement, the framework was necessarily constructed as a skeleton structure of two stones. The lower-tier guns are 12-inch. of 26 tons each, and each throwing projectiles of 600 lbs with a charge of 86 lbs of new pebble powder. The upper tier carries 10-inch 18-ton guns, throwing projectiles of 400 lbs with a charge of 70 lbs of pebble powder. Before the actual construction of this mighty fabric could be commenced, the planning and arranging of so bewildering a multitude of details involved much study and careful preparation. This labour was effectually carried out by the Fairbairn Company's engineer — Mr. H. M. Harman, C.E. — in accordance with the general designs supplied by the authorities at the War-office.
Besides the vast works already alluded to somewhat in detail, it may be interesting to know that the Fairbairn Company constructed the iron roof for the Albert Hall. This roof, which is of elliptic form, measures 210 feet on its longer and 180 feet on its shorter axis, with a rise of 60 feet from its springing level — a span and form of roofing necessarily involving the application of great scientific knowledge, combined with a very large amount of practical skill. The company has also constructed a roof for the Custom House of Monte Video, a fabric which required for its construction upwards ef 2,000 tons of wrought iron.
In addition to other contracts of great magnitude and importance, so large portion of the resources of the firm is now engaged in the construction of the roof of the Great Eastern Railway Station, in Liverpool-street, Bishopsgate-street, London. This also is an undertaking capable of exercising the faculties, and employing a large share of the resources, of even such an establishment as that now under consideration. The principal portion of this roof is about 480 feet in length, which is carried on 13 complete bays, each of 30 feet span, at one end of which is to be a transept having a span of 90 feet. This roof, which is of a highly ornamental character, was designed by Mr. Edward Wilson, engineer, Westminster. The roof, which is almost entirely of wrought iron, is supported on cast-iron columns, and the whole will be of the weight of 1,700 tons of wrought and of 800 tons of cast iron. It is being constructed in the same fitting-yard which afforded room for the construction of the skeleton forts, already alluded to in detail. The work is far advanced towards completion, and it is expected that the station will be opened for traffic in the course of two or three months. The company is also under contract to complete 12 spans of girder bridges for the Manchester Central Railway, some of which will be carried over the already existing railway.
From what bas been stated it must be evident that the Fairbairn Engineering Company possesses an immense amount of working plant, and is abundantly supplied with skilled labour of a very high order, and it cannot be otherwise than pleasant to redact that the great degree of public confidence reposed in this establishment and its able managers, in different departments, are the legitimate results which have arisen from the energetic intelligence and integrity of the unfriended young man, who, within the span of his own lifetime, created established a great and beneficial industry, earning for himself the respect and confidence of those who, from becoming his friends and patrons, were proud to be associated with him as explorers in the inset field of philosophical inquiry, in which he ably assisted and led them. Honoured by the leading scientific men of his time, he was also recognised by the learned societies of this and other countries; and eventually had the honour of a baronetcy conferred on him by his Sovereign, both he and his son having previously declined the honour of knighthood. Throughout the whole of long and busy life Sir William Fairbairn was an assiduous inquirer after scientific truth, and wrote many able papers on subjects connected with his more immediate pursuits; and also had his mind actively employed in practically carrying out the remits of his investigations. As might have been supposed from the vigorous activity of his mind he was a prolific inventor of means for saving labour, and improving the processes by which mechanical operations could be simplified and increased in usefulness. Among the latest of his inventions was a new form of boiler which combined the advantages of comparative immunity from explosions, and a great economy of fuel. One of these boilers, or rather series of boilers — for it actually consists of three horizontal boilers, of comparatively small diameter, placed two below as a basement, and one above in a pyramidal arrangeinent — is at work on the premises now, and its advantages are loudly proclaimed by those who have the management and responsibility of working it. It is also a matter of deep interest to view the identical instrument with which this profound and accurate investigator tested the relative merits of the different kinds of iron upon which he experimented and reported. It is still in its original place in the engineering shop, and is pointed out with pride as one of his own inventions. It is to common observers a somewhat rude and unpretentious instrument; but it is still regarded as valuable for its accuracy and easy application. Numerous relics of the wise experimentalist and persevering discoverer are to be met with in the establishment, and it can hardly be regarded as reckless idolatry to find that these dumb witnesses of the fertile genius from which this mighty establishment took its origin are treated as cherished memorials of one to whom society owes so much.'

1874 After the death of William Fairbairn, his heir Thomas wound up the firm, having little intrest in it, and having failed to establish succession management.

1875 The company was liquidated.

A superb account of William Fairbairn's life and work, and of the activities of the Fairbairn companies and products up to the demise of the Fairbairn Engineering Co., has been written by Richard Byrom, and was published in October 2017

Liquidation of Canal Street Works in 1875

1875 Advertisement: 'Manchester.—The Fairbairn Engineering Company, in liquidation. Messrs. Fuller, Horsey, and Co., are instructed by the Liquidators to sell by auction, on Tuesday. October 19, and following day, at twelve precisely each day at the Works, Canal-street, Great Ancoats Street. Manchester, in lots, the first portion of the costly TOOLS, PLANT, MACHINERY, and STORES of the Fairbairn Engineering Company Limited, including five Whitworth's self acting radial drilling machines, one ditto by Roberts and Fothergill radial drilling machines, two Whitworth’s self-acting multiple drilling machines, one ditto by Craven, one very powerful eccentric punching and shearing machine by P. Fairbairn, Leeds, two ditto by De Bergue, fly-lever and eccentric punching and shearing machines, one De Bergue's patent riveting machine. one Fairbairn's riveting machine, two Craven's plate planing machines, Shank's very powerful eccentric cutting machine, a set of 10 feet plate straightening rolls, two sets of plate bending rolls, one Bennies' patent bar straightened, one Peel's hydraulic angle iron press, one new patent Tweddell's portable hydraulic riveting machine, by Fielding and Platt Gloucester, one bar straightening machine, four self-acting planing machines, by Collier: one very powerful self-acting wall boring and drilling machine, one large surfacing lathe, seventeen self-acting slide lathes, various, four Buckton's horizontal boring and drilling machines, five vertical drilling machines by W. Muir. Smith and Coventry, and others ; five self-acting wall drilling machines, three screwing machines, Smith and Coventry and others; one very powerful slotting machine by Hetherington; two smaller slotting machines, three shaping machines, a 5 cwt. steam hammer, one hydraulic locomotive wheel press, one testing machine (Fairbairn's), 2000 feet turned wrought iron shafting with hangers and pulleys: two Fairbairn’s pillar high-pressure steam engines with and inch cylinders; two Fairbairn's high-pressure steam with 12 and 13 inch cylinders, one double-flue Cornish steam boiler, two single flue ditto, one Fairbairn's patent five-tube steam boiler of 30 horse power, pair of hydraulic pumps, two 10 ton Wellington travelling cranes 40 feet span, one smaller ditto, two 6-ton travelling cranes by Ellis of Manchester, 38 feet span, wish timber gantry 170 feet long, two 20-ton overhead travelling cranes, 18 feet span, four iron post cranes, ten smiths' cranes, ten smiths' anvils, several tons smiths' and engineers’ tools, vices, sets of steel gauges, surface plates, grindstones, double and single purchase crabs, powerful blocks, chain slings, portable forges, 50 tons shaping slabs, 25 tons rod bar iron, and numerous other effects. To be viewed on Saturday and Monday previous to the sale by catalogues only, without which no person will admitted. Catalogues, 6d. each may be had ten days prior the sale, of Messrs. Fuller, Horsey, Son, and Co., 11, Billiter-square, London, EC.’

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