John Petrie and Co
John Petrie & Co. Ltd., of Phoenix Foundry, Rochdale, engineers and ironfounders, manufacturers of steam driving engines for cotton mills.
Between 1819-1909 they built 100 non-condensing and 394 condensing engines.
c.1811 John Petrie began business as an engineer in Rochdale.
1814 Established the Phoenix Ironworks, later known as Petrie and Co.
1838 William McNaught joined the company
For a long time (by 1861) their engines had been fitted with self-regulating expansion gear.[1]
1857 Patent to James Petrie and William McNaught, of Rochdale, in the county of Lancaster, Engineer, for the invention of "improvements in steam-engines."[2]
1858 William McNaught left to set up his own business as J. and W. McNaught.
1861 Partnership change. '...the partnership business heretofore carried on by the undersigned as Engineers, Millwrights, and Ironfounders, at Rochdale, in the county of Lancaster, under the firm of John Petrie and Company, so far as regards the undersigned John Petrie and William Petrie was dissolved, on the 1st day of April last, by mutual consent....John Petrie. Joseph Petrie. William Petrie. George Petrie. James Petrie.'[3]
1871 Employing 195 hands. James Petrie was head of the firm[4]
1883 Dissolution of the Partnership between George Petrie and John Edward Petrie, trading at Rochdale, Lancashire, as Engineers and Ironfouudere, underthe style of John Petrie and Co.[5]
1888 Dissolution of the Partnership between John Petrie and Edward Burford Petrie carrying on business as Ironmongers and Iron and Steel Merchants, at Yorkshire-street, Rochdale, under the style of John Petrie[6]
1898 The new Era Mill, Rochdale: The following description of the engine has bean supplied by the makers, Meters. Petrie and Co. "It is of the horizontal, side by side, four cylinder triple expansion type, with one high pressure cylinder, 23 inches diameter, one intermediate cylinder, 36 inches diameter, and two low pressure cylinders, 42 inches diameter, by five feet stroke, 62 resolutions per minute, for 1,500 indicated horses power, with a boiler peerware of 160 lbs. per square inch. The fly shaft bearings are 15 inches diameter, 36 inches long, provided with self-acting oil pumps. The two low pressure cylinders are in front bolted to the engine frames, and the high pressure and intermediate cylinders behind. The high pressure and intermediate cylinders have double-ported Corliss valves, and the low pressure cylinders, piston valves. The high pressure cylinder Corliss valves are fitted with Petrie and Dowell's patent automatic trip motion controlled by the governor giving an effective range of cut off from 0 to two-thirds of the stroke. The two air pumps are worked behind with crossheads and slides by the piston rods. The fly rope drum is 26 feet diameter grooved for 44 ropes of 1 5/8 inches diameter. A barring engine is provided for turning the main engine through pinion and internal speer wheel attached to rope drum rim. The fly wheel shaft, crank pins, and piston rods are all of steel. The four steel steam boiler, 6 feet diameter, 30 feet long, and mountings for 160 lbs. pressure are also made by Petrie and Company Limited.' [7]
1899 Horizontal steam engine on display at the Discovery Museum, Newcastle
By 1903 also referred to as Petrie and Co (makers of air compressors)
1907 The company was acquired by John Holroyd and Co but continued to trade under the Petrie name with its own board of directors.
1911 250 HP Horizontal mill engine on display at New Lanark World Heritage Site
1920 Merged with J. and W. McNaught to become Petrie and McNaught
Notes
- A listing of over 325 steam engines made by John Petrie between 1819 and c.1889 has been compiled[8]
- A history published in "The Flywheel" April 2022. Published by the Northern Mill Engine Society.
Manchester Archives: The company was established in 1814. Their main product was steam driving engines for cotton mills. In addition their foundry produced iron, bronze and brass castings. The firm was acquired by John Holroyd and Co. Ltd. in 1907. Minutes of Board of Directors, 1891-1933 (PC) and 1932-1941; register of directors of Petrie and Co. Ltd., 1907-1941 (PC); wages book, 1814-1822; inventory and valuation of Phoenix Engine Works, Rochdale, 1919 (JH); patents, 1840s and 1850 and notes on patents; reports, tenders etc. relating to steam engine installations, 1890-1908; memorandum of agreement relating to foundry, 1840; photographs of Petrie companies staff, workers and steam engines, circa 1910 and no date (JP and PC); published material relating to Petrie beam engines, circa 1820 and 1841; paper on steam engine building in Rochdale, 1943; notes on early history of Petrie companies.
See Also
Sources of Information
- ↑ The Engineer 1861/08/16
- ↑ London Gazette 9 January 1857
- ↑ The London Gazette Publication date:3 May 1861 Issue:22507 Page:1919
- ↑ 1871 Census
- ↑ London Gazette 4 May 1883
- ↑ London Gazette 17 July 1888
- ↑ Heywood Advertiser, 22 July 1898
- ↑ ‘Steam Engine Research Resources’ compiled and published by Stanley Challenger Graham on LULU.com. 2009
- [1] Manchester Archives