Blackstone and Co of Rutland Engineering Works (Rutland Ironworks), Stamford.
Chronology
- 1837-53 Henry Smith and Co
- 1853-57 Smith and Ashby
- 1857-63 T. W. Ashby and Co
- 1863-70 Ashby and Jeffery
- 1870-76 Ashby, Jeffery and Luke
- 1876-89 Jeffery and Blackstone
- 1889-1969 Blackstone and Co
- 1969- Mirrlees Blackstone
- See also Blackstone and Co: Engines
1889 January 29th. Jeffery and Blackstone became a limited company and changed their name to Blackstone and Co. The directors were:
- Edward Christopher Blackstone Chairman
- George Mills
- Thomas Phillip Blyth
- William Widger Blackstone
- George Hunt
In addition there were the following shareholders:
- Emma Blackstone, ECB's widowed mother
- Emma Blackstone, ECB's unmarried sister
- Mary Burford, ECB's oldest sister and the widow of Robert Burford
- W. T. Beadsworth, Company Secretary and Manager
- Charles Hunt.
1890 June. Royal Agricultural Society’s Disintegrator and Grist Mill Trials. [1]
1894 June. Royal Agricultural Society's Show. Mower, root cutter, turnwrest plough and fly brush or dresser. [2]
1896 Commenced the manufacture of the 'Reliance' oil engine previously made by Carter Brothers (of Billingshurst).
1899 Exhibited new pattern horse rakes and a new swath turner at the 1899 Royal Agricultural Show.[3]
1900 Paris Exhibition. Description of gas and oil engines shown. [4]
1911 Smithfield Club Show. Exhibited portable and stationary oil engines, swath turners, a horse rake and turnip cutters. [5]
1914 Specialities: Haymaking and Agricultural Machinery, Vertical Stone Mills for grinding corn and other substances.[6]
Post WWI. Produced tractors in tracked and wheel versions with a three-cylinder engine
1919 Became part of Agricultural and General Engineers.
1920 Showed a caterpillar type oil-driven tractor that started from cold on paraffin. It had a 25 hp engine with three-speeds and a reverse and could be used for driving stationary machinery. They also showed sixteen sizes of their crude oil engine with one of 75bhp. There were also a combined swath turner, tedder and side rake. All these were at the Darlington Agricultural Show. [7]
1920 At Darlington Royal Agricultural Show exhibited a tractor. [8]
1931 Blackstone's entered into a mutual agreement with Ruston and Hornsby (Lincoln & Grantham) not to produce engines which would duplicate each other's range.
1936 A substantial shareholding in Blackstone's was acquired by R. A. Lister and Co and the 2 companies entered into a cooperative agreement. Ernest Blackstone and Harold Blackstone retired from the board 6 months later[9]. See Lister-Blackstone products.
1937 Oil-engine manufacturers. [10]
1939 A working arrangement agreed with Brush Electrical Engineering Co whereby the Brush horizontally opposed diesel engines would be sold exclusively by Blackstone and Co; these complemented the existing Blackstone engines, extending the range which covered 3 h.p to 2000 h.p.[11]
1945 More than 206,000 Petrol, oil and gas engines produced since 1896. Display at Anson Engine Museum.
1961 Manufacturers of diesel engines, electrical generating sets and agricultural machinery. 1,250 employees. [12]
1965 R. A. Lister and Co was taken over by the Hawker Siddeley Group, so Blackstone's became a subsidiary of Hawker Siddeley.
1969 On 1st June, Blackstone and Co and Mirrlees National, another Hawker Siddeley diesel company, were merged and the company traded under the name of Mirrlees Blackstone.
See Also
Sources of Information
- ↑ The Engineer of 27th June 1890. p521
- ↑ The Engineer of 29th June 1894 p562
- ↑ The Engineering Times 1899-1900 Jul-Jan.
- ↑ The Engineer of 16th November 1900 p487
- ↑ The Engineer of 8th December 1911 p594
- ↑ 1914 Whitakers Red Book
- ↑ The Engineer of 9th July 1920
- ↑ The Engineer of 16th July 1920
- ↑ The Times, 17 September 1936
- ↑ 1937 The Aeroplane Directory of the Aviation and Allied Industries
- ↑ The Times, 17 February 1939
- ↑ 1961 Dun and Bradstreet KBE
- Steam Engine Builders of Lincolnshire by Ronald H. Clark. Published 1955 by Goose and Son