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 146,075 pages of information and 231,597 images on early companies, their products and the people who designed and built them.
Joseph Foster and Sons
From Graces Guide
of Bow Lane Ironworks, Blackburn, and Soho Foundry, Preston, Lancs
1860 Company established by Joseph Foster
1877 Bow Lane Ironworks were built.
1882 His sons Francis Foster and James Yates Foster joined the firm.
1886 Soho Foundry of Preston was bought (presumably from Joseph Clayton and Sons?)
1889 Works leased at 20 Whitefriars Street, London.
1914 Engineers and manufacturers of printing machines. Specialities: book and newspaper printing and folding machines of all kinds, steam engines, boilers, mining machinery, chemical machinery and general engineering. Employees 700. [1]
1928 Acquired Yates and Thom - became Foster, Yates and Thom
1930 'HUGE CASTING. BLACKBURN FIRM'S SUCCESSFUL START ON DIFFICULT TASK.
Blackburn has just turned out its largest casting through Messrs. Joseph Foster and Sons, Canal Foundry, successors to Messrs. Yates and Thom. It was the first of four quarter segments cast for the rotor of huge electric generator being built by the British Electric Co. Preston for a well-known British steel firm.
The four segments together weigh about 115 tons. For the first segment the workmen used three large ladles, two containing over 16 tons of molten iron, and the third about six tons. The delicate operation was carried out in two minutes without hitch.
The order for the rotor was placed a fortnight ago and a guarantee of quick delivery was the means of bringing the order to Blackburn. Over 400 men are now employed at Canal Foundry on home and foreign orders, and on this work the firm will be fully engaged for four or five months. [2]
See Also
Sources of Information
- ↑ 1914 Whitakers Red Book
- ↑ Lancashire Evening Post, 19 February 1930