Sydney S. Bird and Sons
From GracesGuide
of "Cyldon" Works, Cambridge Arterial Road, Enfield, Middlesex. Telephone: Enfield 2041-2-3. Cables: "Capacity, Enfield"
Sydney S. Bird also manufactured the Vulcan sewing machine; they were made in Poole, Dorset.
Mr Bird is believed to had connections with John Logie Baird, inventor of television, and he may well have helped found the Baird television company.
- 1927 Private company.
- c1932 Before the second world war, a licence was required to produce toys, a market which Bird wanted to get into. To save applying for the licence he bought out two companies that already held one. One was Prestico who manufactured children's construction kits, similar to Meccano, but requiring no nuts and bolts, the components being pressed together. The second company was Morthan, as in "more than a toy", which was already producing sewing machines. Other toys included scales with weights, a cooker using small solid-fuel tablets to heat it up, and a battery-operated washing machine, which heated up enough hot water sufficient to wash a hanky. The local scrapman discovered that the metal off-cuts he collected from Morthan were just the right size and shape as those being used by the Prestico company.
- 1936 Company made public.
- The parent company was located in Cambridge Arterial Road, Enfield, Middlesex, next to the cooker manufacturers, Belling Lee, and was producing walkie-talkies, capacitors and condensers. It is thought that by this time Sydney S. Bird had already taken over a company called Airspace Radio Condensers, of Tring in Hertfordshire.
- During WW2 about 100 sewing machines a week were being produced.
- 1947 Listed Exhibitor - British Industries Fair. Manufacturers of Presses for making Models in metal, measurements being present enabling unskilled operators to work to fine limits. Kits of Parts and detailed Drawings, available for Models, Toys and Domestic Articles. (Olympia, 2nd Floor, Stand No. J.2274) [1]
- Post-WWII production of toy products boomed, and by 1952-3 some 3,500 sewing machines were being made each week, with a lesser number of cookers.
- One of the major products of the Bird factory was the Turret Tuner which enabled old BBC-only TVs to be converted to receive the new independent TV channels, which did not go down too well the manufacturers and retailers of new TVs. It was the demand for this product, and insufficient space at the Enfield site for expansion, that led to Bird relocating, and a partly-built factory was produced in Fleets Lane, Poole, in 1953. The site was formerly occupied by Solway Morgan, who had gone bankrupt. It specialised in refurbishing army tanks, making one good one from two or three bad ones, a gun turret from one, tracks from another, etc.
- By completing and adding to the building, and utilising adjacent premises, Sydney S. Bird occupied 80,000-square feet of floor space. Only 40 key personnel moved from Enfield with the company.
- The new workforce was recruited from the Poole area, where, by 1957, Bird was the town's largest single employer of labour, having some 1,000 people on its staff. Bird's company offered great employment opportunities to the women in the area, and they made up 75% of the work-horse.
- The teletuners were despatched in their thousands each week, along with smaller radio components in similar numbers. Everything was stamped, pressed, drilled and tapped, spot welded and turned in its own machine shops, and there was a self-contained plating department and tool room. Bird's "boffins" even built their own Wobbulator, which was a television station simulator transmitting signals, over a closed circuit, on all the proposed frequencies likely to be used, either here or abroad.
- Sydney S. Bird marketed all its electrical equipment under the Cyldon trademark. This name was dreamed up by Bird's sister-in-law, and was an amalgamation of two of his son's names, Cyril and Donald. Cyril died at a fairly-young age, and the company was run by Donald, and Cyril's son, also called Cyril. An elder brother, Sydney, is thought to have gone out to Australia in the early 1950s.
- Morphy-Richards Cyldon door chimes were two long chromed tubes of unequal length. Mr Richards of Morphy-Richards used to be the sales manager for Sydney S. Bird. On the outside of the factory, a huge "Cyldon" sign was fixed to the wall.
- Other products produced by the company included cine reels up to 35mm and recording spools. All toys were sold under the "Vulcan" trade mark. Sewing machines were made all year round, and production was particularly busy during the run up to Christmas.
- 1956 The next range of sewing machines was designed entirely in-house, it was patented in 1956.
- Bird did not appear in the electoral roll of 1959, by which time he would have been elderly and may have passed away.
- 1961 Manufacturers of condensers and electrical equipment, used by electrical, engineering, television and radio industries. [2]
- 1962/4 Eventually Sydney S. Bird became a public company, and merged to become Astaron-Bird, a holding company comprising three firms: Sydney S. Bird, Astaron Electronics and Morthan Ltd in 1964.
- Bird's was the first firm to produce the 625-line TV tuner, and also made trimmers, variable capacitors and permeability tuners. It was also famous for producing electronic organs loved by teenagers and beat groups of the time, and these were also played in churches, theatres and other places of entertainment.
- 1965 A new amplifier range was launched plus two new organs. One was futuristic and for professionals, the other for home use. Astaron Electrics concentrated on its new radar, called Raymarc, and echo sounders which were being fitted to trawlers and ships all over the word. Secret government work was also part of its remit.
- The Morthan company continued to make the children's sewing machines, selling many thousands in this country and abroad, and were distributed by A. L. Reese who was based in Swansea and Cardiff, Wales.
- By 1966 the company had started to make car radios, and it seems likely that these were either sold as Motorola or Radiomobile, and during the preceding two years had developed its ship-to-shore communications and marine radar. Echo sounders were now affordable, and an output of 2,500-3,000 was being made every week.
- 1970s Astaron-Bird was taken over by the Brocks group of companies, who was well known for its alarms.
- 1979 In June, the fortunes of the company took a downturn. The total staff of the company was down to 600, a fall of 900 in 14 years, and in March 1980 a token walkout by 300 people against proposed redundancies was made.
- 1980 In June, 200 workers were finally made redundant, leaving 370, due to competition from the Far East, high-interest rates and poor foreign-exchange rates. Since the redundancies were announced, the group had diversified into video-display equipment, which projected life-like images from a TV, video cassette or camera, and could be used to promote sales of records with full-size video shows of pop stars. By October a one-day week for the machine shop had been introduced and a three-day week for assembly workers and admin staff. The American market had collapsed.
- 1981 On 3 March, the receivers were called in after a £3 million property deal fell through. The company was reportedly in debt to the tune of £12 million. Shares fell sharply and were suspended on the Stock market at 17p. The remaining 160 jobs were at risk, although trading was allowed to continue, but in May another 100 people were sacked to leave just a slim-line 170. In October another 64 people found themselves without a job, but rescue was at hand. Mike Sykes of Brooks and Bob Spink, formerly a Brocks consultant and how of Seafarer, bought a 70% interest in the company with County Bank, the merchant banking arm of the National Westminster bank owning the remainder. The new company was to be called Seafarer Navigation International Ltd
- Somewhere near the end of all this the American company, Standard Communications, bought the concern and wished it handn't.
[edit] See Also
- [1] ISMACS International
