Samuel Fox and Co
of Stocksbridge Works, Stocksbridge, Sheffield
1842 Samuel Fox took over a disused corn mill near the centre of Stocksbridge and adapted it to making wire for textile pins.
1843 Birth of his son William Henry Fox
Around 1848 the business expanded to include wire for umbrella frames.
1852 Fox introduced the Paragon umbrella frame.[1]
1855 Exhibited steel wire at the 1855 Paris Exhibition
The business continued to expand and spread to different products so that by the mid 1860s the works included furnaces and rolling mills allowing production of railway lines and springs.
Early 1860s Fox realized that he could save large amounts of money by making his own steel for the wire.
1860s As well as the works at Deepcar, Samuel Fox also owned the Wardsend Steel Works, Sheffield, which he then sold to the manager, George Wood.
1864 Manufacturers and sole patentees of the Paragon Umbrella frame (see advert)
1865 Patent to Samuel Fox, of Stocksbridge Works, Deepcar, near Sheffield, in the county of York, for the invention of "improvements in the manufacture of umbrellas and parasols, and in apparatus employed therein."[2]
1871 The business was transferred to a limited company. The company was registered on 1 November, to acquire the business of the firm of the same name as steel and iron manufacturers. [3]
Between 1872 and 1877 a railway line was built to link the works with the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway at Deepcar. This was the Stocksbridge Railway which existed as a subsidiary company until 1992.
1874 Patents to Samuel Fox, of Stocksbridge Works, Deepcar, near Sheffield, for the invention of "improvements in apparatus to be used in rolling steel for the manufacture of wire."[4], and "improvements in apparatus for softening and straightening steel wire and for cutting it into lengths suitable to form the ribs and stretchers of umbrellas", and "improvements in apparatus to be used in rolling steel for the manufacture of wire," and "improvements in the manufacture of steel girders and railway rails."[5]
1880s a major change in the manufacturing process of umbrella frames (previously made of whalebone) took place with the introduction of the steel frame invented by Mr Samuel Fox.
Samuel Fox continued improving and developing his ribs over the next few years.
1885 Registered the Paragon frame[6]
1901 Railway Spring Manufacturers. [7]
1918 Samuel Fox and Co joined Steel, Peech and Tozer (based at Templeborough) to form the United Steel Companies (USC) following the First World War. From then on the products of the USC sites were coordinated so that each works specialised in specific products. Fox’s specialised in special steel products such as spring steel and stainless steels. This developed into the manufacture of high quality steel for the aviation industry. One specialised department assembled and tested springs for Rolls-Royce cars.
1936 Stainless Steel. [8] Also see Samuel Fox and Co (Stainless Steel Section).
1937 Steel manufacturers. "Diamet" Stainless Steels. "Red Fox" Heat Resisting Steels. "Silver Fox" Stainless Steels. [9]
1939 See Aircraft Industry Suppliers
1951 Nationalised under the Iron and Steel Act; became part of the Iron and Steel Corporation of Great Britain[10]
1953 As a subsidiary of United Steel Companies the company was included in the public offer for sale of the shares in United Steel Companies held by the Iron and Steel Holding and Rationalization Agency[11].
1960 The Samuel Fox company was producing 50 gross of frames per week ( a year previously it had been 30 percent fewer)[12]
Following nationalisation in 1967, the British Steel Corporation split off the stainless steel departments into a separate business which by 2004 had become part of Outokumpu.
1968 Queen's Award to Industry for Export Achievement. [13]
1968 Completion of the conversion of the Stocksbridge factory to electric-arc furnaces. [14]
1970 Samuel Fox and Co ended production of umbrella frames because of lack of orders[15]
During the 1980s and 1990s Stocksbridge works was part of the United Engineering Steels group (a joint venture between British Steel and GKN) and was known as "Stocksbridge Engineering Steels". [16]
Since 1999 works was owned by the Corus Group, as part of the Corus Engineering Steels (CES) group. Although for several years Corus ran at a loss, it has recently returned to profit, in part helped by the worldwide rise in demand for steel caused by Chinese economic activity.
Steel manufacture in Stocksbridge has always been by melting iron and steel firstly in crucibles (from 1860, then Bessemer converters (from 1862) and Siemens Open Hearth Furnaces (from 1899 until 1968) and lastly Electric arc furnaces (from 1939 until 2005). Iron has never been produced from iron ore at Fox's, by any method.
Despite the world wide reputation of Stocksbridge works product, Corus reduced the works to a satellite site for Rotherham (Aldwarke) Works (also CES). In the process the main melting shop was closed and as well as the rolling mill (the mill was actually kept open after the planned closure date as the production could not be handled at Rotherham. Re-melting of special grades continued using small (around 10 tonnes capacity), specialised furnaces with controlled atmospheres. The rolling mill (billet mill) was re-opened in April 2006 due to difficulties in rolling certain products at Aldwarke.
The plan to invest a further £6 million at Stocksbridge was cancelled part way through in December 2005. This plan would have enhanced the re-melting furnace capacity at Stocksbridge, aimed at strengthening Corus’ position to supply the rapidly growing market place for engineering steels for the aerospace sector. Instead complete closure looked more likely, with Corus withdrawing from this part of the market (as of mid December 2005).
2006 Corus was taken over by Tata. Corus Engineering Steels (Stocksbridge site) was renamed Tata Steels Speciality.
2017 Liberty House Group purchased Tata’s entire UK steelmaking operation for GBP 100 million.
Currently (October 2020) the Stocksbridge site is part of Liberty Speciality Steels’ High Value Manufacturing division and 'offers VIM steelmaking, VAR and ESR re-melting, primary rolling, finishing, stockholding and machined components', providing alloy and stainless steels for use in sectors such as Aerospace, Oil & Gas & Industrial Engineering. See Liberty website.
- Other developments:
1972 Fox Umbrella Frames Ltd of Sheffield claimed to be "makers of the world's finest umbrella frames"[17]
See Also
Sources of Information
- ↑ Patents for inventions. Abridgments of specifications [1]
- ↑ London Gazette 10 November 1865
- ↑ The Stock Exchange Year Book 1908
- ↑ London Gazette 15 May 1874
- ↑ London Gazette 26 May 1874
- ↑ The Times Aug. 22, 1970
- ↑ 1901 White's Directory of Sheffield and Rotherham p980
- ↑ 1936 The Textile Manufacturer Year Book. Advert on p24
- ↑ 1937 The Aeroplane Directory of the Aviation and Allied Industries
- ↑ Hansard 19 February 1951
- ↑ The Times, 26 October 1953
- ↑ The Times Dec. 2, 1960
- ↑ The Engineer of 26th April 1968 p650
- ↑ The Engineer of 19th July 1968 p94
- ↑ The Times Aug. 22, 1970
- ↑ [2] Wikipedia
- ↑ The Times June 30, 1972