George Richards and Co of Broadheath, Altrincham were makers of Machine Tools and Line Shaft Fittings and Pulleys.
1880 Company founded by George Richards, an American, who established a factory (Atlantic Works) in City Road, Hulme, Manchester for building woodworking machinery, in partnership with Mr A Atkinson (probably E Atkinson - see Richards and Atkinson). Atkinson retired in 1885, by which time the company had moved to a new larger factory in Broadheath, Altrincham.[3], also known as the Atlantic Works.
1882 Description and engravings of combination woodworking machinery 'recently brought out by Messrs. Richards and Co., City-road, Manchester.' The nameplates shown on the engravings identify 'Atlantic Works' as the location.[4]
1884 Description and engraving of a long shaft centring and straightening machine for bars up to 4 in. diameter and 20 ft. long. [5]
1885 Private company.
1886 George Richards and Co started to build patent universal horizontal surfacing, boring, milling, drilling and tapping machines under licence from Frank Pearn and Co. They were advertised jointly by Frank Pearn and Co and George Richards and Co.[6] - Pearn-Richards
1888 Radial arm drill with belt drive to drilling head. Rise and fall table attached to swivelling body, in addition to T-slotted baseplate. See illustration. [7]
1889 Description and engraving of radial drilling machine, the noticeable feature being that the spindle was driven by belt instead of by the usual gearing, enabling it to be run at a high speed for boring small holes. [8]
1891 Released a series of 8 catalogues of their machine tools. [9]
1895 Description and illustrations of multiple drilling machine made by George Richards and Co. for the Horwich works of the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway Company, and intended for drilling through the steel ring, wood cushion, and steel web of railway carriage wheels, automatically and at one setting. [10]
1895 Engraving and description of a double set of rolls constructed by George Richards and Co. for the bending of plates with either straight or convex faces, such as are used generally in the manufacture of wrought-iron pulleys[11]
1896 Taken over by Tilghmans but operated as a separate company
1896 Description and engraving of a plano-milling machine made for Sulzer Brothers[12]. See illustration.
1908 Description of horizonal boring and facing machine. 'In no boring-machine of this size is there permitted an error of 0.001 in. in the squareness of the uprights and stay with the bed, measured over the length of the slide. The cross-traverse is square with the facing head and bed to 0 002 in. in 36 in. No corner of the top table is lower than any other by more than 0.003 in. A test-bar, projecting 12 in. from the socket, must run true within 0.0015 in. The swivel-pin in the top table is central within 0 0005 in. The boring-bar is parallel with the bed within 0.001 in. in 48 in. Finally, the facing-slide is square with the spindle to within 0.0005 in. in the diameter of the head. No machine leaves the shop unless these conditions are fulfilled.' [13]
1911 Makers of Universal Facing, Boring, Drilling and Milling Machines. [14]
1911 Vertical crankshaft turning machine at Marshall, Sons and Co described in American Machinist [15]
1911 Automatic lubricator for shafts. [16]
By 1912, the company had confined its activities to the manufacture of high class machine tools including the Pearn-Richards patent universal horizontal surfacing, boring, miffing, drilling and tapping machines.[17]
1914 Engineers. Specialities: side planing machines, boring and turning mills, facing and boring machines, drilling machines, radial drilling machines, pulleys and line. Employees 700 to 800. [18]
1920 Article on new taper boring head for Vertical Boring Mills in 'The Engineer'. [19]
1932 Detailed description of a 17 - 25 ft vertical boring mill for ships' propellers, up to 25 ft diameter. Made for J. Stone and Co of Deptford. See illustration. It could also be used as a conventional boring mill. For propellers, the table remained stationary during machining. Rotating heads were used for boring and facing, and a slotting facility was provided for cutting keyways.[20]
1933 Description of 18 ft vertical boring mill.[21]
1934 Description of extension-type vertical boring mill. 'The work-table is 9 ft. in diameter, but is increased when large work is to be machined by a ring of 14 ft. in outside diameter. The capacity of the machine thus arranged becomes 16 ft. in diameter, the tool on the cantilever head being used.' [22]
1934 Triple-head facing and boring machine for machining the flanges of valves, tee-pieces, etc, having three branches situated at right angles to one another. The machine consists essentially of a normal double-head machine with a third head in the centre, having its axis at 90 deg. to the axis of the two opposed heads. The work table is situated at the point of intersection of the axes. Flanges 24 in. in diameter could be faced or turned on the edges. 'The work table is of the double type. The lower table has a working surface of 42 in. by 24 in., and has a cross traverse of 33 in. The upper table, which can be detached, has a working surface of 30 in. by 24 in., and can be rotated, accurate squaring mechanism being provided for setting. The lower table has also raising and lowering gear. A range of 10 in. in height from the top of the table to the centre of the heads is provided, the minimum and maximum dimensions being 4 in. and 14 in., respectively. ....'.[23]
1935 See George Richards and Co:1935 Review
1953 Owned by Tilghman's Ltd
1961 Engineers, specialising in boring and turning mills, slot drilling and key-seating machines, and side planing machines. [24]
1965 January: Was still in the red but the owners, Staveley Coal and Iron Co, expected further improvement[25]
1967 The foundry was closed as part of the rationalization of foundries in the machine tool division of Staveley Industries; Kearns had been given responsibility for horizontal table borers, into which factory Richards' production was moved[26] - see Kearns-Richards
Notes
- End Milling Machine. Exhibit at Armley Mill Museum
- Drilling Machine. Exhibit at Bradford Industrial Museum
See Also
Sources of Information
- Directory 1891 Worrall's Cotton Spinners
- 1920 November. Exhibited at the Motor Car Show at Olympia and the White City with
- 'Broadheath 1885 - 1985 A Century of History' written and published by Frank Bamford. ISBN 0-9517225-2-2
- ↑ Engineering 1888/11/09
- ↑ Engineering 1896/06/19
- ↑ 'Famous for a Century' by Curtis Sparkes, published by Erika Sparkes, 2008
- ↑ Engineering 1882/02/10
- ↑ Engineering 1884/10/24
- ↑ 'Famous for a Century' by Curtis Sparkes, Publ. Erika Sparkes, 2008
- ↑ Engineering 1888/11/09
- ↑ Engineering 1889/08/09
- ↑ The Engineer 1891/04/10
- ↑ Engineering 1895/01/11
- ↑ Engineering 1895/09/06
- ↑ Engineering 1896/06/19
- ↑ Engineering 1908/10/23
- ↑ Machine Tools by James Weir French in 2 vols. Published 1911 by Gresham
- ↑ [1] American Machinist, 16 Feb 1911, p.294
- ↑ The Engineer of 15th December 1911 p622
- ↑ Vintage Machinery [2]
- ↑ 1914 Whitakers Red Book
- ↑ The Engineer of 12th November 1920 p485
- ↑ Engineering 1932/07/15
- ↑ Engineering 1933/11/17
- ↑ Engineering 1934/05/04
- ↑ Engineering 1934/08/31
- ↑ 1961 Dun and Bradstreet KBE
- ↑ The Times , Jan 14, 1965
- ↑ The Times, Feb 20, 1968