Michael Nairn and Co
of Kirkcaldy, Scotland
The first floorcloth factory in Scotland was built by Michael Nairn in 1847-48 in the Fife town of Kirkcaldy his place of birth.
1804 Michael Nairn was born.
1828 Nairn started to produce canvas to sell to the floor-cloth trade.
1847 Company was established when he set his factory to manufacture floor cloths. He licensed a patent from Frederick Walton in order to make painted linoleum floorcloth
1851 Nairn exhibited his Scottish Floorcloth at the Great Exhibition at Crystal Palace. Although he won no prizes, he was determined to succeed.
1858 Michael Nairn died, but the company, Michael Nairn and Co, continued to expand, run by his widow Catherine, son Robert and a manager.
1861 Michael Barker Nairn, another son, joined the company, and was granted patents for his inventions relating to floor-cloths, power looms and linoleum.
At the 1862 Exhibition in London and the 1867 Paris Exhibition Nairns Floorcloth came into its own and won the prizes Michael had tried for before his death.
1870 Nairn and Co built a six-storey factory in Kirkcaldy.
1877 Frederick Walton's patent on linoleum production expired.
1877 Kirkcaldy soon became the largest producer in the world of the new floorcovering, linoleum.
1886 Nairns established a U.S. branch of the company in Kearny, New Jersey, shipping product from Kirkaldy.
1893 Incorporated as a limited company.
1900s The Nairns business flourished as they continued to manufacture linoleum through the early 1900s.
1914 Linoleum and floor cloth manufacturers. [1]
1922 Michael Nairn and Greenwich Ltd was incorporated to acquire Michael Nairn and Co and the Greenwich Inlaid Linoleum Co (Frederick Walton's New Patents) Ltd[2]
1924 The Nairn Linoleum Manufacturing Corporation was acquired by a supplier in Erie, Pennsylvania, which manufactured a three-foot wide simulated wood grain product used to border area rugs and linoleum. This product was known as "Congoleum", because the asphalt materials used to make it came from the Belgian Congo in Africa. The new company was called Congoleum-Nairn.
Congoleum-Nairn continued to sell "Congoleum Gold Seal Rugs" and "Nairn linoleum" in the USA through the late 1930s, until its researchers started experimenting with a new material called vinyl. However, further research into developing vinyl flooring was interrupted when World War II began. Following the war, the company continued to grow in the rapidly expanding housing market of that period.
1962 Michael Nairn and Greenwich Ltd merged with James Williamson and Son Ltd. The holding company's name was changed to Nairn and Williamson (Holdings) [3]
1979 The name of Nairn Williamson Ltd was changed to Nairn International Ltd
Nairn International Ltd was owned by Unilever plc
1985 Forbo bought Nairn International from Unilever for an undisclosed sum. Forbo was a Zurich-based holding company for a federation of European decorative products firms. At the time Nairn had 2,300 employees with manufacturing sites at Kirkcaldy, Lancaster and Cramlington. The acquisition remedied Forbo's shortage of linoleum production capacity.[4]
1985 The name of Nairn International Ltd was changed to Forbo UK Ltd
2008 Forbo-Nairn was the UK's only linoleum manufacturer.
Forbo now own the UK operations - see Forbo UK website.
See Also
Sources of Information
- ↑ 1914 Whitakers Red Book
- ↑ Companies house filing
- ↑ The Times Sept. 21, 1962
- ↑ The Scotsman 23 May 1985