Greenwood and Batley
Greenwood and Batley, a large engineering manufacturer with a wide range of products, including armaments, electrical engineering, printing, of Albion Works, Armley Road, Leeds. Telephone: 20011. Telegraphic Address: "Greenwood, Leeds". (1937)
See also -
- Large Lathes
- Locomotives
- Steam Turbines
- 1963 Brochure - PDF Download: Mining and Tunnelling Electric Locomotives Brochure
1856 May. The partnership of Fairbairn, Greenwood and Batley was dissolved. [4]
1856 Thomas Greenwood and John Batley first set up their business, both having previously worked at Peter Fairbairn and Co in Leeds.
1856 Their first premises, the Albion Foundry, was taken over from T. W. Lord formerly Lord and Brooke. The foundry was located on East Street by the River Aire (Aire and Calder Navigation), however this quickly became too small for their needs.
1856 September. Mention as Greenwood and Batley of Leeds. [5]
1859 They constructed the Albion Works, Leeds.
1861 Employing 270 men and 112 boys [6]
1862 Machine for tensile, compression and torsional testing of materials made for Charles Cammell and Co of Cyclops Works, Sheffield. See illustration.
1873 Thomas Greenwood died and the running of the company was taken over by his sons George Greenwood and Arthur Greenwood, his nephew Henry Greenwood and John Henry Wurtzburg their brother-in-law. [7]
1876 Members of the Iron and Steel Institute visited their machine and tool making works. [8]
1878 Built a tramway locomotive for Brussels tramways.
1881 Employing 670 hands [9]
Early 1880s Supplied nearly 900 machine tools to the Terni Arsenal in Italy.[10]
1885 Description and illustrations of two of the machine tools exhibited by G&B at the International Inventions Exhibition: a Kreutzberger cutter grinder, and a Saget's vertical cutter milling machine [11]
1885 Description and illustrations of a double-headed milling machine for the flutes of twist drills, having two tilting milling heads [12]
1885 The company branched out into Flour and Oil Milling Machinery as a result of the acquisition of the business of Joseph Whitham and Son of the Perseverance Iron Works, Kirkstall Road, Leeds.
1886 Description and engraving of bevel gear shaping machine [13]
1888 July. Public company. The company was registered on 7 July, to take over the business of the firm of the same name, engineers and machine makers of Leeds. The four family members remain as managing Directors. Mentions John Batley but not in an active role. [14] [15]
1888 The works covered eleven acres and employed around 1,600 men.
1888 May. The 'Leeds' dynamo with 100 volts at 180 amps for electric lighting. [16]
Late 1880s: Invited to manufacture the torpedo that had been developed by Robert Whitehead, so as to supplement the resources of Woolwich Arsenal.
1889 'Immense' boring machine for Creusot Works. [17]. See 'Large Lathes' below.
1890 A rail connection with the Great Northern Railway was installed to bring in raw materials and to deliver finished products.
1891 Exhibited 14 in. torpedoes[18]
1894 An early innovation was the installation of their own electricity generating station, completed in 1894. This allowed machine tools to be electrically driven rather than the traditional common shafts driven by steam. This development was to prove profitable in other ways, as the company was able to provide similar generator stations for both public supplies and industrial applications e.g. tramways, as one of its range of products.
1894 Royal Agricultural Show. Exhibitor of the 'Excel' pneumatic hammer. [19]
1896 A further acquisition saw Greenwood and Batley take over Smith, Beacock and Tannett, Victoria Foundry, Water Lane, Leeds. This company were the successors to the Round Foundry and were principally involved in the manufacture of Machine Tools.
1899 National Cycle Show: Greenwood & Batley exhibited several machines, including two electrically driven lathes, a gantry-type vertical milling and profiling machine of a design originally built for the L&NWR for milling the outsides and insides of connecting-rod straps, a bevel gear planer, and several de Laval turbines. [20]
Greenwood and Batley rapidly became a giant of a company, manufacturing an incredible range of products. Their primary business was military equipment both in terms of machinery to make armaments and the production of components such as bullets and shell cases.
By the turn of the century Greenwood and Batley offered the following products:-
- Machine Tool Department: every description of General and Special machine tolls for Railway, Marine and General Engineers, including Hydraulic and other Forging and Stamping Machinery, Lathes, Punching, Shearing, Planing, Milling, Shaping, Drilling and Boring Machines. Bolt, Nut and Screw Machinery. Testing Machines for strength of Material. Wood Working Machinery.
- Special Plants and Machinery for making Armour Plates, Ordnance, Gun Mountings and Ammunition: also for Small Arms Cartridges, Gunpowder, etc., and every description of War Material. Rolling Mills for Metal Coining, Presses and Minting Machinery.
- Oil Mill Machinery Department: The “Albion,” “Leeds, “ and Anglo-American systems for Extraction of every kind of Vegetable Oil including Machinery for Preparing and Decorticating Seeds, Nuts etc. Presses for making Cattle Feeding Cakes, Seed and Grain Elevators and Warehousing machinery. Oil Refineries. Cotton and other Baling Presses.
- Textile Machinery Department: Improved Patented Machines for Preparing and Spinning Waste Silk, China Grass, Rhea, Ramie, and other fibres. Whyte’s patent Cop Winding Machine.
- Engineering Department: Frickart’s Improved Corliss Steam Engines, single compound and triple expansion of the largest powers, for driving Factories, Mills, Electrical Installations, etc. Sole Manufacturers of The Brayton Patent Oil Engine.
- Electrical Department: all kinds of Dynamos and Motors for Lighting or Transmission of Power. Speciality: Motors for electrically driven Machine Tools etc. De Laval’s Patent Steam Turbine Motors, Turbine Dynamos, Turbine Pumps and Fans (for Great Britain and Colonies, China and Japan).
- Ordnance Department: Manufacturers of all kinds of Military Small Arms Ammunition. Self-propelling Torpedoes (Whiteheads’s) for the Navy, and Horse Shoes for the British Government.
- Printing and Sewing Machine Department: Patent Platen Printing Machines. Patent Boot Sewing Machines. Cloth Cutting Machines. Patent Boot Sewing Machines. Cloth Cutting Machines for Wholesale Clothiers, etc.
Greenwood and Batley also manufactured a shaving machine and a splitting machine with fixed oscillating knife for the leather machinery trade.[21]
1901 Moved the Explosives loading work to Abbey Wood, Woolwich, from Greenwich. The company held the UK rights for sale of the De Laval patent steam turbine, dynamos and pumps, for which demand was steadily increasing[22]
1902 The English De Laval Steam Turbine Co was said "to be practically part of Greenwood and Batley's business" but because of the interest of the Swedish parent the accounts were kept separate[23]
1905 Advert for machine tools, oil mill machinery, dynamos and motors. [24]
1911 From annual meeting of Greenwood and Batley: 'In view of the practical monopoly in the British Empire which the company had of the manufacture of the De Laval Steam Turbine, it had been thought desirable in the interest of their business to acquire the complete control of the English De Laval Steam Turbine Co, and to extinguish the interest which the Swedish De Laval Steam Turbine Company had hitherto held in the English company; also to acquire at par, viz., £180, the price paid for them, eighteen shares, which were originally taken by Greenwood and Batley’s nominees, among whom were some of the present directors, to facilitate the formation of the company. He mentioned this fact, and asked the shareholders’ approval, because those of the directors who owned some of these shares (he, for instance, owned one), were in the position of being both buyers and sellers, but it was to the interest of Greenwood and Batley to obtain the shares, and become the sole owner of the concern. When this transaction had been completed, the whole of the 6,627 issued shares of the English De Laval Steam Turbine Company would be held by Greenwood and Batley, and would represent an integral part of their business.'[25]
1914 Manufacturers of Special and General Machinery for Arsenals, Mints, Bolt Factories, Oil Mills, Silk Mills; Electrical Machinery, Steam Turbines, Centrifugal Pumps, Torpedoes, Cartridges etc. Employees 1,500 to 2,000. [26]
WWI Produced some of the first tanks in the First World War.
1919 Advert for Shapers. [27]
1927 See Aberconway for information on the company and its history.
1937 Listed Exhibitor - British Industries Fair. "Greenbat" 1½in. Hot Forging Machine. "Greenbat" 220 tons High-speed Screw Percussion Press. "Greenbat" ⅜in. Open Die Double Stroke Cold Header. "Greenbat" Screw Nicker. "Greenbat" ¼in. Solid Die Header. (Stand Nos. D.413 and D.314) [28]
1961 General engineers and tool and machine makers. [29]
1960s The company became part of the Fairbairn-Lawson Group in the late 1960s, however trading conditions were not favourable and in April 1980 the receivers were called in and 480 employees made redundant. The company was bought by Hunslet Holdings for £1.65M who continued to use the Greenbat name for their battery locomotives.
By 1984 the work had been transferred to Jack Lane and the Albion Works were mothballed.
In 1987 the site was sold and the works demolished.
See Also
Sources of Information
- ↑ Modern Power Engineering, Vol 1, by A Regnauld, Caxton Publishing, 1924
- ↑ Modern Power Engineering, Vol 1, by A Regnauld, Caxton Publishing, 1924
- ↑ Modern Power Engineering, Vol 1 by A Regnauld, Caxton Publishing, 1924
- ↑ The Leeds Mercury, Thursday, May 15, 1856
- ↑ The Leeds Mercury, Saturday, September 27, 1856
- ↑ 1861 Census
- ↑ The British Machine Tool Industry, 1850-1914 By Roderick Floud
- ↑ The Engineer of 15th August 1876 p180
- ↑ 1881 Census
- ↑ [1] US Special Agents' Series, Issues 33-40: Machine Tool Trade in Austria-Hungary, Denmark, Russia and Netherlands, 1910. p.169
- ↑ Engineering 1885/09/18
- ↑ Engineering 1885/12/18
- ↑ Engineering 1886/03/05
- ↑ The Stock Exchange Year Book 1908
- ↑ The Times, Saturday, Jul 07, 1888
- ↑ The Engineer of 25th May 1888 p430
- ↑ The Engineer of 10th May 1889 p396. Brief mention, in reference to Paris Exhibition
- ↑ The Engineer 1891/05/22
- ↑ The Engineer of 6th July 1894 p16
- ↑ Engineering 1899/12/01
- ↑ Leather World, 1911,3,342.
- ↑ The Times, Jun 18, 1901
- ↑ The Times, Jul 07, 1902
- ↑ Mechanical World Year Book 1905. Published by Emmott and Co of Manchester. Advert p377
- ↑ Yorkshire Post and Leeds Intelligencer - Monday 10 July 1911
- ↑ 1914 Whitakers Red Book
- ↑ Mechanical World Year Book 1919. Published by Emmott and Co of Manchester. Advert p71
- ↑ 1937 British Industries Fair Page 370
- ↑ 1961 Dun and Bradstreet KBE
- [2] Wikipedia
- British Steam Locomotive Builders by James W. Lowe. Published in 1975. ISBN 0-905100-816
- Stationary Steam Engines of Great Britain by George Watkins. Vol 10