Ruston and Hornsby
Manufacturer of traction and stationary engines, diesel engines, gas turbines, of the Sheaf Iron Works, Lincoln. Telephone: Lincoln 580. Telegraphic Address: "Ruston, Lincoln". (1937)
See also -
1918 September 11th. Richard Hornsby and Sons and Ruston, Proctor and Co merged to form Ruston and Hornsby.
1919 Acquired the ordinary shares of Ransomes, Sims and Jefferies[1]
1919 October. Prospectus. Directors are:[2]
- J. S. Ruston Chairman
- A. E. Tylor Deputy-Chairman
- H. Simpson Gee
- Johann Auguste Diedrich Bornemann
- F. H. Livens
- A. R. Bellamy
- A. Ramsay
- J. A. Goodwyn
- J. H. W. Pawlyn
- V. W. Bone
D. Roberts and G. R. Sharpley are Joint-Managing Directors
After World War I they attempted to diversify and one outcome was the Ruston-Hornsby car. Two versions were made, a 15.9 hp with a Dorman 2,614 cc engine and a larger 20hp model with 3308 cc engine of their own manufacture. The cars were expensive and never reached the hoped for production volumes. About 1500 were made between 1919 and 1924.
Introduced the IP (Industrial Paraffin) engine
Post WWI. Built the Wallis Tractor Co tractor under licence
1920 Extensive exhibition of single-cylinder and compound traction engines, steam tractor, compound road roller, portable steam engines, thrashing machines, binders, baling press, centrifugal pumps, a cold starting oil engine of 32 bhp, petrol-paraffin lamp-less engines from 3-9 bhp and various other internal combustion engines were shown at the Darlington Agricultural Show.
1920 November. Exhibited at the Motor Car Show at Olympia and the White City with a 20-25 hp four-cylinder engine (in addition to the already well known 16-20 hp model).
1920 Acquired the Wellington Foundry of T. and W. Bradley[3]
1921 Introduced the AP (Agricultural Paraffin) engine.
1921 Ruston Crane Navvy excavators[4]
1924 After March 31st 1924 their London address changed from 46 Queen-street E.C. 4 to Imperial House, 15-17-19, Kingsway, London, W.C.2.[5]
1924 Description of an 'exceptionally large and powerful navvy' constructed by Ruston and Hornsby to the order of the State Electricity Commission of Victoria, Australia, for excavating brown coal for use in connection with the Morwell power scheme for supplying electrical energy to Melbourne. 'The machine is similar with regard to its overall dimensions, and also in some of its design features, to the drag-line excavator which Messrs. Ruston and Hornsby constructed last year for the Sutlej irrigation scheme. The last-mentioned machine, which was the largest excavator of its type ever built in this country, was illustrated and fully described in our issues of December 21 and 28 last on pages 763 and 795. The machine now illustrated, however, differs from that for the Sutlej irrigation scheme in that it is of the crane-navvy type, as will be seen from our illustrations, and also in that it is operated by electrical power instead of by steam. ....'[6]
1927 Detailed description of 175-ton diesel-electric dragline excavator 'intended for use in the excavation of the new Grand Anicut canal, on the Tanjore Delta, and for work connected with the construction of a dam at Metur, in the Madras Presidency. The canal will be 85 1/2 miles long, will take three years to complete, and will allow of the irrigation of a very large area of surrounding country. The main argument in favour of the oil-electric drive under such conditions is that water is not only scarce, but of a quality unsuitable for use in steam boilers. The transport of the necessarily more bulky quantities of fuel, if used under boilers, also imposes difficulties which it is often advantageous to avoid. ... During a month’s tests, held before the dispatch of the machine to India, a non-stop run lasting 120 hours was undertaken during which time over 25,000 tons of earth were moved at an average rate of just over 2,000 tons per hour.'[7]. 'The jib is constructed of rolled steel sections, large angles being used, thus dispensing with gusset plates on the angle bearings. The jib is hog-backed, so that the downward thrust tends to relieve the bending due to the dead weight. .... The direct-current dynamo, which, like the remainder of the electrical equipment on this excavator, was manufactured by the British Thomson-Houston Company, Limited, of Rugby, has a normal output of 120 kw. at 240 volts, when running at 300 r.p.m. A low generating pressure has been chosen, partly owing to the fact that power does not have to be transmitted over any great distance and partly owing to the conditions under which the equipment will work. A further point is that the drop in pressure from 240 volts on the generator to 200 volts on the motors allows the latter to be worked on a better characteristic.'. 250 HP engine.[8]
1927 See Aberconway for information on the company and its history. Held a controlling interest in Ransomes, Sims and Jefferies of Ipswich.
1927 Engine type 6H. 25 hp. Exhibit at Anson Engine Museum.
1928 Description of a steam dragline having a working weight of 232 tons, which, together with a smaller machine of 112 tons weight, was intended for excavating canals at Damodar, about 100 miles north-west of Calcutta. With a 100-ft. jib, the capacity of the bucket was 3 cu. yards, but the jib could be extended to 115 ft., the capacity of the bucket then being 2 1/2 cu. yards. The main engine developed 152 bhp, and had two cylinders of 10 1/2-in. bore, the stroke being 12 in. The slewing engine was also of the two-cylinder type, and developed 90 bhp, the bore and stroke both being 8 in.[9]
1929 The interest in Ransomes, Sims and Jefferies continued to be classed as that in an associated company[10]
1929 Description and photos of 6.5 ton road roller with crude-oil engine.[11]
1930 Continued to hold a controlling interest in Ransomes, Sims and Jefferies[12]. Owned all of the ordinary shares
1930 The Bucyrus-Erie company of the USA joined with Ruston and Hornsby Ltd, the leading British maker of excavators to form Ruston-Bucyrus Ltd., in which Ruston and Hornsby owned 50 percent of the shares.
1930 Formed a working arrangement (but not a financial merger) with R. A. Lister and Co to make best use of design, manufacturing and sales resources; this affected 12 subsidiary companies[13]
1930 Description of 64 bhp high speed (900 rpm) airless injection diesel engine. The engine had overhead valves orientated horizontally [14]
1930 'Messrs. Ruston and Hornsby, Limited, Lincoln, have just secured a repeat order for an additional six-cylinder vertical oil engine for the Jerusalem power station. Three 450-h.p. Ruston airless-injection engines were ordered in 1929, and the engine now ordered is for the extension of the power station[15]
1931 Oil engine. Exhibit at Bradford Industrial Museum.
1931 Ruston and Hornsby was a major producer of small and medium diesel engines for land and marine applications. It began to build diesel locomotives in 1931 (and continued up until 1967). It was a pioneer and major developer in the industrial application of small (up to 10,000kW) heavy duty gas turbines from the 1950s onwards.
1933 Horizontal Oil Engine. Type 6XHRE. 36 hp. Exhibit at Anson Engine Museum.
1936 Built last steam engine.
1937 Engineers.
1937 Listed Exhibitor - British Industries Fair. Patented Horizontal "Thermax" Boiler, 7ft. (2.13m) diameter, Patented Vertical "Thermax" Boiler, 3ft. (0.91m) diameter, 120lb. (54.4kg) pressure, Vertical Boiler, 2ft. (0.61m) diameter, 80lb. (36.3kg) pressure. Three Air Receivers. Specimens and photographs of Welded Work. (Stand No. D.318)
1940 Sold c.40 percent of the holding in Ransomes, Sims and Jefferies[16]
1940 The company merged with Davey, Paxman and Co of Colchester.
1944 Advert for oil engines.
1946 Gas turbine department established
1945 Sold almost all of the remaining interest in Ransomes, Sims and Jefferies to institutional investors[17]
1950 Gas turbine generator demonstrated to the press
1952 The TA gas turbine went into production; the first unit was sold to an oil company for use in the Middle East
1953 Used a gas turbine to provide power for an exhibition at Olympia.
1961 Manufacturers of gas, oil, diesel and marine engines, gas turbines, diesel locomotives, boilers, steel tanks and vessels, pumps and pumping plants, rotary industrial filters and chemical plant. 8,340 employees.
1962 Acquired Alfred Wiseman and Co of Birmingham, gear specialists and maker of industrial locomotive and marine gear boxes[18].
1963 The company closed its Grantham factory.
1966 Ruston and Hornsby acquired Bergius-Kelvin Co[19].
1966 English Electric Co acquired Ruston and Hornsby which become part of English Electric Diesel Engines Ltd
1966 Subsidiaries included Alfred Wiseman and Co of Grantham[20].
1968 The company became part of the General Electric Company (GEC).
1968 Cochran and Co (Annan) acquired the shell boiler busines of Ruston and Hornsby[21].
1969 At a meeting held at Vulcan Works, T. P. Spares Ltd was renamed Ruston Gas Turbines
1970 Ruston Paxman Diesels produced diesel engines at the Vulcan Foundry in Newton-le-Willows, which operation had been moved from Lincoln. Output was mainly for marine and stationary applications, but the company was the engine supplier of choice for British Rail Engineering for locos built at Doncaster and Crewe.
1972 Became part of GEC Diesels
1989 Part of GEC-Alsthom.
1998 Part of Alstom.
2000 Ruston Diesels was taken over by MAN B and W Diesel AG on June 12th.
2003 Part of Siemens (United Kingdom); the gas turbine business became Siemens Industrial Turbomachinery.
See Also
Sources of Information
- ↑ The Times Oct 14, 1919
- ↑ The Times, Tuesday, Oct 14, 1919
- ↑ The Engineer 1921/01/14
- ↑ [1] Historic England
- ↑ The Engineer 1924/03/28
- ↑ Engineering 1924/08/29
- ↑ Engineering 1927/11/11
- ↑ Engineering 1927/11/18
- ↑ Engineering 1928/11/23
- ↑ The Times, Jun 25, 1929
- ↑ Engineering 1929/12/20
- ↑ The Times, Jun 19, 1930
- ↑ The Times, Jun 30, 1930
- ↑ Engineering 1930/08/22
- ↑ Engineering 1930/12/05
- ↑ The Times , Oct 16, 1945
- ↑ The Times, May 18, 1946
- ↑ The Times, 24 May 1962
- ↑ The Times 19 January 1966
- ↑ The Times, 8 December 1966
- ↑ The Times, 19 October 1968
- [2] Wikipedia
- The Engineer of 9th July 1920
- The Engineer of 19th November 1920 p498
- 1937 The Aeroplane Directory of the Aviation and Allied Industries
- 1937 British Industries Fair p409
- The Modern Diesel edited by Geoffrey Smith. Published by Iliffe and Sons 1944
- 'One Hundred Years of Good Company' by Bernard Newman, published by Ruston and Hornsby, 1957
- 1961 Dun and Bradstreet KBE
- Traction Engine Album by Malcolm Ranieri. Pub 2005