Grace's Guide To British Industrial History

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Grace's Guide is the leading source of historical information on industry and manufacturing in Britain. This web publication contains 167,085 pages of information and 246,711 images on early companies, their products and the people who designed and built them.

Grace's Guide is the leading source of historical information on industry and manufacturing in Britain. This web publication contains 147,919 pages of information and 233,587 images on early companies, their products and the people who designed and built them.

Francis Preston and Co

From Graces Guide
1858. File cutting machinery.

of Limekiln Lane, Ardwick, Manchester

See also Francis Preston

1825 Baines Directory lists John Preston as a spindle and fly maker, Ancoats Bridge; house - 127 Great Ancoats Street.

1855 Government contract for bayonets and ramrods for the army.

1855 Patent, January 12, 1855 by Francis Preston of Ardwick, Manchester and Thomas Kennedy of Kilmarnock, Ayrshire: “Improved Projectiles for Ordnance”

1856 Machinist, of Ardwick Spindle Works, Manchester

1858 'PRESTON and McGREGOR’S PATENT MACHINES for FORGING and CUTTING FILES, at One-Third the Cost of those made by Hand, may be seen at Work daily, on the Premises of the Maker, FRANCIS PRESTON, ANCOATS BRIDGE WORKS, MANCHESTER.'
Sheffield Daily Telegraph, 26 October 1858

1859 Advert: 'BULLETS for the ENFIELD and LANCASTER RIFLES, made by patent machinery, to be had wholesale from the maker, FRANCIS PRESTON. Ancoats Bridge Works Ardwick, Manchester. Established 1816.— Contractor to her Majesty's War Department and the Honourable the East India Company.'[1]

1866 Sale notice: 'To Bayonet Makers, Fire-arm Manufacturers, Engineers, Brokers and others.
T. M. FISHER & SON have been instructed to SELL BY AUCTION, Wednesday, June. 27th, 1866, at twelve o'clock neon, at the Ancoats-bridge Works, Limekiln-lane, Ardwick, Manchester, all the MACHINES formerly used in making fire-arms, bayonets, sights, bands, rods, &c., for the Government (the Government now making their own, and the room being required for another branch of business), consisting of patent bayonet rolling machine for forming grooves in blades, by F. Preston; stamping and blocking machine for bayonet sockets, with 8ft. slide; bayonet setting apparatus on cast-iron bed 3ft. long; lifting pump with 1in. ram, 3in. stroke, with eccentric motion; blocking machine, with 22in. traversing slide, for bending bayonets; double geared pointing machine; two shaping machines, each with sliding heads, 7 1/2 in. stroke, circular self-acting motion, by F. Preston; profile copying machine, slotting machine, for lock rings, with self-acting and regulating motion; ditto, for bayonets ; two drilling machines, for stud holes, with treadle and driving motion; recess cutting machine, for lock rings; shaping machine, with eccentric and sliding motion; slotting machine, 1 in. lift; ditto, for bayonets, 2 in. lift; wood glazers, 30 in. diam.; cast-iron blocking furnace, 1 ft. 9 in. 1 ft. 9 in. by 2 ft. 6 in. deep: grooving and heading machine, for ramrods, with sliding motion ; grinding machine, with headstock; steel-cutting machine, with 5in. lift, self-acting slide and other lathes; quantity of vices, ditto grinding troughs, and special tools for the machines. The slotting, shaping, and drilling machines are equally applicable for engineers and machinists. On view on Tuesday, June 26.—For particulars apply to the Auctioneers, 16, Tib-lane, behind the Bank of England, Manchester.'[2]

1869 Advert: 'Velocipedes, manufactured by PRESTON BROTHERS, Ancoats Bridge Works, Ardwick, Manchester (Established 1826). Wholesale and for Export. The various parts are made interchangeable upon the same principle as now pursued by the English Government in their manufactory of Rifles, so that if an accident happens to any part of the Velocipedes the damaged parts van be easily replaced. Agent for Birmingham: T. Heath, 94 Hatchett Street.'[3]

1870 'SPEIGHT’S DOFFING PATENT for SPINNING and TWISTING FRAMES.— Notice is hereby given, that by an Agreement, dated the 26th of January, 1869, the sole LICENSE to make the fliers, tubes, wharles, oil cups, &c., &c., was GRANTED to Messrs. FRANCIS PRESTON & Co., Machinists, Ancoats Bridge Works, Manchester — Dated February, 1870.
A. & G. W. FOX, Solicitors, Manchester.
Bradford Observer, 28 February 1870

See "'Clay's' Breech Loader 1862" by Steven Roberts for a summary of Preston's involvement in arms production [4]. The source also refers to his partnership in the Ardwick Spindle Works with William Seed, and with Preston's involvement with the Lancashire Steel Co.

See Also

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Sources of Information

  1. Manchester Courier and Lancashire General Advertiser, 10 September 1859
  2. Manchester Courier - Saturday 23 June 1866
  3. Birmingham Daily Gazette, 11 June 1869
  4. [1] "'Clay's' Breech Loader 1862" by Steven Roberts, 2010