Crompton Parkinson
of Leeds, Yorkshire, and Arc Works, Chelmsford
Electrical engineers and manufacturers of a wide range of electrical components
1927 Formed by the merger of Crompton and Co and F. and A. Parkinson[1]. Frank Parkinson became chairman.
1928 Some shares, all of which had been held privately, were made available for public ownership.
1930 E. J. Fox, managing director of Stanton Ironworks Co, elected to the board.
1932 Acquired Derby Cables and British Electric Transformer Co Ltd which was merged with the company's own transformer interests. Involvement in British Electric Transformer Co also gave the company control of Kye Lamps of Edmonton (reinforcing the company's interest in lamps) and Tricity cookers.
Manufacturing subsidiaries were established at Bombay and Sydney, with some high-profile power engineering, such as the electrification of the ice-plant at Fleetwood in 1932.
From 1932 the lamp business developed with the marketing of the ‘one-shilling lamp’.
By 1933 the firm considered a bid for the underperforming giant, English Electric Co, forcing GEC and Associated Electrical Industries to make pre-emptive responses.
1934 Established new subsidiary, Atlas Sprinkler, to develop fire-protection business [2].
1935 Successfully challenged the ‘Lamp Ring’ (the Electric Lamp Manufacturers Association), the manufacturing cartel established in 1919.
1935 Extension of new Arc Works
1937 Gained membership of the Electric Lamp Manufacturers Association.
1937 Manufacturing electrical engineers. "All-Test" Instruments. "Klosd" Motors. "Tong Test" Instruments. [3]
1938 Explored possible merger with Callender Cable in 1938.
1938 A new Guiseley factory was opened.
1939 The company commenced manufacturing .303 rifle ammunition at its Guiseley and Doncaster factories.
1941 Acquired Young Accumulator Co and its subsidiary Associated Electric Vehicle Manufacturers, Ltd.[4].
1941 Munitions produced at Chelmsford. Around 2,500 employed.
By 1946, Crompton Parkinson had established a leading position in battery-powered urban vehicles (in a joint venture with Austin) and its motors were used in trams, trolleybuses and diesel–electric locomotives.
1947 Acquired Cooke and Ferguson
1947 Crompton Parkinson Ltd (Derby Cables Ltd) was a member of the Cable Makers' Association[5]
1949 Advert: Young Batteries.
1951 Thorn Electrical Industries acquired Tricity Cookers.
1952 Millionth electrical instrument
1956 Atomic Power Constructions Ltd was established to tender for nuclear power plant contracts; jointly owned by Richardsons, Westgarth and Co, International Combustion (Holdings) Ltd and Crompton Parkinson Ltd[6].
1957 New switchgear department.
1959 Crompton Parkinson acquired 90% of the Ordinary shares in Radio and Television Trust.[7]
1961 Manufacturers of induction motors; alternators; auto-synchronous motors; D. C. motors; D. C. generators; electric traction equipment; fractional H.P. motors; geared motor units; motor control gears; ceiling fans; power transformers; instrumental transformers; switchgear cars H. V. and L. V.; switchboard and instruments; portable instruments; paper cables; rubber cables; lamps; fluorescent tubular lamps; lighting fittings; street lighting equipment; electric vehicles; industrial trucks; batteries; stud welding equipment and fabricated steel tanks. [8]
1962 Pivotless instrument produced
1963 Motor Show exhibitor. Batteries
1968 Purchased Vidor (dry battery) and Burndept (installer of battery making factories) from Royston Industries[9].
1966 Crompton Instruments moved to Witham
1968 Contract for lighting the new twin cargo terminals at Heathrow.
1968 Crompton Parkinson was taken over by the Hawker Siddeley aerospace group in 1968. The Crompton range continued to be further diversified to incorporate cable, fuses, batteries and metering instruments in addition to lamps and luminaires.
1970 After Hawkers took over Brook Motors, the 2 companies later became Brook Crompton Parkinson Motors[10] [11]
1974 Installed a 373 ft British MonoRail flameproofed monorail runway system that dip coated, impregnated and baked rotor and stator windings for electric motors.[12]
1995 Following a period under the control of the BTR group in the early 1990's, Crompton Lighting was subject to a management buy-out
See Also
Sources of Information
- [2] DNB
- 1963 Motor Show
- The Engineer of 5th July 1968 p9
- ↑ The Times, 2 September 1927
- ↑ The Times, 8 December 1934
- ↑ 1937 The Aeroplane Directory of the Aviation and Allied Industries
- ↑ The Times, 15 November 1941
- ↑ The Times, Jan 01, 1947
- ↑ The Times, 14 December 1956
- ↑ The Times, 3 March 1959
- ↑ 1961 Dun and Bradstreet KBE
- ↑ The Times, 13 February 1968
- ↑ The Times, Nov 02, 1973
- ↑ [1] Brook Crompton history webpage
- ↑ The Engineer 1974/03/14