of Camborne, Cornwall.
1839 One of Nicholas Holman's sons, John Holman, established a separate company.
Cornish manufacturers pioneered dust suppression in mining by delivering a water spray to the drill tip which also had the benefit of providing lubrication. One of the major manufacturers was Camborne-based Holman Brothers which, with James McCulloch, developed what became known as the Cornish Rock Drill. It was to see use in South Wheal Crofty, Dolcoath Mine, Tincroft Mine, East Pool Mine, Kit Hill, and also mines in Wales by 1882.[1]
An example of the Cornish Rock Drill is in the Cornwall Museum at Truro. They were designed to drill vertical holes supported by an internal airleg, that pushes the drill bit upwards. Its maximum extension was 60 cms (2ft), so to drill a 1.8 metre hole, three different drill-steels of 60cms, 120 cms and 180cms were required. They could achieve approximately 30 cms per minute and weighed about 45 Kg.[2]
1887 Supplied beam engine for East Pool Mine.
John Holman was succeeded by John Henry Holman
1906 Incorporated as a limited company - Holman Brothers
John Henry Holman was succeeded by James Miners Holman.
1914 Directors: James Miners Holman (Managing Director), and J. Leonard Holman
1914 Specialities: Mining Machinery of all kinds including Air Compressors, Rock Drills, Pumping and Winding Engines, Ore-dressing Machinery and Boilers. [3]
1922 Directors: James Miners Holman (Managing), John Leonard Holman, Arthur Treve Holman and Percy Mynors Holman. Manufacturer of air compressors, rock drills, drill sharpeners, haulages, concentrators, general mining and quarrying plant, pneumatic tools.
1937 Pneumatic tool and plant manufacturers. "Rotodrill" Pneumatic Drills and "Rotogrind" Pneumatic Grinders. [4]
1951 Acquired an interest in Climax Rock Drill and Engineering Works
1957 About two-thirds of Climax's equity was owned by Holman Brothers[5]
1957 Incorporated Goodyear Pumps as a private company, to develop certain patents in relation to pumps; partly-owned by Holman Brothers[6]
1957 Company made public. Wholly-owned subsidiaries included Cornwall Drop Stamping Co and Dustuctor Co.
1958 Holman acquired the rest of the shares in Climax; Maxam Power was established as a separate subsidiary company to develop and exploit its technology for industrial automation[7]
1960 Rock drills, air compressors and other tools. (Of Camborne). [8]
1961 Mining and civil engineering equipment manufacturers. 2,500 employees.[9]
1961 Sales of Maxam Power automation and control systems, Goodyear Pumps and Rotair screw compressors[10]
1968 Merger of Broom and Wade and Holman Brothers, with the encouragement of the Industrial Reorganisation Corporation, to form the International Compressed Air Corporation[11] with principal tradenames Broomwade, Holman and Maxam[12]
An excellent illustrated history of the company is available, first published in 2001 [13]
See Also
Sources of Information
- The Steam Engine in Industry by George Watkins in two volumes. Moorland Publishing. 1978/9. ISBN 0-903485-65-6
- ↑ [1] Cornish Rock Drill
- ↑ The Geevor Tin Mine Museum
- ↑ 1914 Whitakers Red Book
- ↑ 1937 The Aeroplane Directory of the Aviation and Allied Industries
- ↑ The Times Jul 08, 1957
- ↑ The Times, Jul 08, 1957
- ↑ The Times, Aug 13, 1958
- ↑ Mining Year Book 1960. Published by Walter E. Skinner. Advert Back Cover
- ↑ 1961 Dun and Bradstreet KBE
- ↑ The Times, Aug 18
- ↑ The Times, Dec 13, 1968
- ↑ The Times Jan 04, 1969
- ↑ Holman - Cornish Engineering 1801 - 2001 by Clive Carter, published by CompAir UK. ISBN 0904040593