Renold and Coventry Chain Co
Renold and Coventry Chain Company of Manchester.
Chronology of this group:
- Hans Renold Ltd, up to 1930
- Renold and Coventry Chain Co from 1930 to 1954
- Renold Chains from 1954 to 1967
- Renold Ltd from 1967
1930 Merger of Hans Renold Ltd with Coventry Chain Co created Renold and Coventry Chain Co.[1] The new company had works in Manchester, Coventry and Birmingham, together with the former Brampton works at Calais. Chain production in the UK works was concentrated in Manchester and Coventry, and free wheel manufacture at Coventry was given up.
Arthur Brampton became chairman
1932 Chain supplied had chamfered plates, some being doubled chamfered (i.e. both sides). Patented the early design of bi-planar chain, (The patent being applied for in 1928).
1933 Supplied chain with a notched bush.
1933 Acquired the goodwill and stock in trade of Alfred Appleby Chain Co and Atlas Chain Co and the pressed lug part of the business of Charles H. Pugh Ltd[2]
1935 See Renold and Coventry Chain Co:1935 Review
1937 Agreement with Tube Investments that the company would discontinue the manufacture and sale of cycle fittings and accessories; the general business in chains and transmissions would continue as before[3].
1937 The Birmingham works and the Brampton cycle fittings business, which was concentrated there after the merger, were disposed of.
1939 See Aircraft Industry Suppliers
WWII During the Second World War, temporary premises were leased at Newton Mill in Hyde, Cheshire, for arms-related production.
1946 A new factory in Cardiff was acquired in 1946; this took over the wheel manufacturing department previously at Burnage and also manufactured chain clutches and couplings. An Australian manufacturing subsidiary was set up in 1949.
1947 Renold established its first green-field manufacturing operation overseas in Melbourne, Australia, and this was followed by the establishment of other owned sales and sometimes manufacturing operations in Austria, Denmark, Malaysia, New Zealand, Singapore, South Africa, Sweden and Switzerland.
1950 Renold and Coventry Chain Co chain plates had reamed holes.
The 1950s saw the expansion of Australian sales and manufacturing operations.
1954 The sales division and administrative services departments moved from Burnage to the new Renold House in Wythenshawe, Manchester. By this point the company had built up a world-wide sales organisation based on its selling subsidiaries and its agencies, which covered over seventy countries.
1954 Company becomes Renold Chains Ltd. and introduced their improved design of bi-planar chain with their patent.
1955 A factory in Burton-upon-Trent, Staffordshire, was acquired for the separate manufacture of conveyor chain and agricultural chain machinery.
1956 Renold acquired Anchor Chain Co of Oldham. With the introduction of nuclear power at Calder Hall, Renold Chains entered the Nuclear Age with the supply of control rod lifting chains.
1958 Wheel manufacture in Canada began in 1958.
1959 Merged with Perry and Co.
1959 Renold Chains Ltd. were innovators in the chain industry of progressive die tooling (i.e. follow-on tooling) in the manufacture of chain plates. Chain plates for pitches between 1.0" and 1.5" were being produced by this method. Smaller pitch chain plates had begun being produced by this process many years earlier.
1960s In addition to the Holroyd merger, the 1960s saw expansion in Europe.
1961 Engaged as manufacturers of driving chains and wheels for cycles, motor cycles, automobiles, conveyor and general power transmission equipment. 5,200 employees. [4]
1963 Motor Show exhibitor. Timing chains. [5]
1963 The company acquired the manufacturing companies Manufacture Lilloise de Chaines S.A., of Lille, France, and Arnold and Stolzenberg GmbH of Juliusmuhle, Germany, and established a new wheel manufacturing plant at Charleville-Mezieres in the French Ardennes. Renolds also gained an interest in local manufacture in Spain during this period. Sales companies were established in Spain, in 1962; Austria, in 1964; Denmark (Renold A/S, of Copenhagen) in 1965; Switzerland, in 1968 and Sweden (Renold Svenska AB) in 1969. Outside Europe, the decade saw the formation, in 1968, of Renold (Southern Africa) (Pty.) Ltd., of Pietermaritzburg, South Africa, a chain manufacturing company. This later combined with the former Crofts establishment at Benoni, to form Renold Crofts (South Africa) (Pty.) Ltd.
1963 Renold acquired Arnold and Stolzenberg GmbH of Einbeck, one of the largest and oldest-established chain manufacturers in Germany.
1964 A significant strategic development of the Renold Group was the acquisition of John Holroyd and Co and this marked the start of the transition from purely chain manufacture to manufacture and supply of a complete range of power transmission products and precision machine tools. Further acquisitions brought more gearing, couplings, clutches, brakes, variable speed drives and various hydraulic products into the Group.
1996 Renold acquires the Holset couplings business in Halifax, and renames the company Renold Hi-Tec Couplings.
1967 Company now called Renold Ltd.
1960s In the late 1960s, Renold commenced press extrusion of bushes and rollers for transmission chain. Renold develops a range of Non Lub chains with sintered bushes.
1970 Renold begins the cold extrusion of rollers for transmission chain using multi-station extruders.
1970 A new selling subsidiary was established in Kenya in 1970.
1971 Renold opened a precision conveyor chain factory in Lille.
1972 In 1970, the company had gained a controlling interest in a firm in Auckland, New Zealand. This began manufacturing worm gear units in 1972, as Renold Christian Ltd.
The 1970s also saw the acquisition of manufacturing bases in the U.S.A. The Ajax Flexible Coupling Co. Inc., of Westfield, New York State, was acquired in 1972, and Atlas Chain and Precision Products Co. Inc., of West Pittston, Pennsylvania, in 1974.
1975 The company introduces GP Motor Cycle Chains.
1998 In December, Renold acquired A. A. Jones and Shipman in the UK, and with it a range of precision production and tool room grinding machine tools, "superabrasive" machine tools from Edgetek in the USA and electronic control systems from Goodwin in the UK.
2000 In March, the company acquired Jeffrey Chain a leading manufacturer of industrial chain in the USA. Jeffrey Chain has strong US brands and established relationships with major US distributors, of power transmission equipment, and original equipment manufacturers.
2006 Renold employs around 2,000 people in more than 23 countries around the world.
See Also
Sources of Information
- ↑ The Times, Saturday, Jul 26, 1930
- ↑ The Times Sep 02, 1933
- ↑ The Times, Friday, Apr 09, 1937
- ↑ 1961 Dun and Bradstreet KBE
- ↑ 1963 Motor Show