Grace's Guide
British Industrial History
Grace's Guide is the leading source of historical information on industry and manufacturing in Britain. This web publication contains 132,627 pages of information and 209,984 images on early companies, their products and the people who designed and built them.
A. C. Wickman
From Graces Guide
A. C. Wickman Ltd., of Queen Victoria Road, Coventry, Warwickshire, machine tool specialists. Also in London, Manchester and Glasgow.
c1924 Company founded by Axel Wickman and Cecil Douglas Gay. [1]
1928 Tools dealer, of Charterhouse Works, Coventry[2]
1928 Established Wickman Manufacturing Co to make Wimet tungsten carbide cutting tools
1935 Patent - Improvements relating to control arrangements for belt-driven machinery. [3]
1937 Advert for: "Some Interesting Applications of "Wimet" Brand Cutting Metal". Tips and Tools for Boring, Milling, Drilling, Planing and Turning all kinds of metals; also for Bakelite, Glass, Stone and other highly abrasive materials. "Spedia" Lapping Wheels. (Engineering/Metals/Quarry, Roads and Mining/Transport Section - Stand No. D.508) [4]
1937 Machine tool specialists. "Spedia" Lapping Wheels and Hand Laps. "Wickman" 10mm. Automatic. "Wickman-Lang" 5/8-in. Automatic. "Wickman-Moulton" Thread Milling Machine. "Wimet" Tool Metal. [5]
The company designed and patented its own range of multi-spindle automatic production lathes.
1938 Started production of its own design of lathes.
1938 Public company formed to take over as a going concern the business of merchants and machine tool agents Manwick Ltd. (formerly A. C. Wickman) and the Wimet brand tungsten carbide tools business established in 1928 by Wickman Manufacturing Co Ltd[6]. Axel Charles Wickman was chairman and managing director; Cecil Douglas Gay was assistant managing director[7]
1938 AGM: 5-spindle automatic machine would be produced in temporary factory until the new factory was ready[8]
1939 Importing and selling machine tools, and manufacturing machine tools of its own design.
1939 See Aircraft Industry Suppliers
1940 Acquired tungsten carbide tool business of Tool Metal Manufacturing Co Ltd
1940 Established Hard Metal Tools Ltd, in which the company held a controlling interest.
WWII Established Wickman Corporation in America[9]
1947 A. C. Wickman Limited became part of the John Brown Group when Brown's acquired a controlling interest[10].
1948 John Brown and Co acquired the remaining ordinary shares that it did not already own[11]
1948 Public issue of preference shares. Other subsidiaries were:[12].
- Hard Metal Tools Ltd of Coventry
- Powderloys Ltd of Coventry
- Applied High Frequency Ltd
- Arc Manufacturing Ltd of Shepherds Bush and Glasgow
See Wickman Ltd. for the further development of this business as a subsidiary of John Brown and Co. A. C. Wickman continued to report as a public company until at least 1951 after which it reported as Wickman[13]
See Also
Sources of Information
- ↑ [1] Cecil Douglas Gay
- ↑ British Phone Book
- ↑ [2] Wikipatents
- ↑ 1937 British Industries Fair Advert p668; and p434
- ↑ 1937 The Aeroplane Directory of the Aviation and Allied Industries
- ↑ The Times, 22 October 1948
- ↑ The Times, Mar 08, 1938
- ↑ The Times, May 13, 1938
- ↑ The Times , Jun 07, 1946
- ↑ [3] National Archives
- ↑ The Times, Aug 17, 1948
- ↑ The Times, 22 October 1948
- ↑ The Times, Jul 03, 1951