Joseph Hall and Co
Joseph Hall and Co of Burley Engine Works, Burley, Leeds.
c1872 Joseph Hall obtained a 1.25 acre site for his new factory and foundry.[1]
1874 The first advertisement of the company appeared in January 1874 offering "Improved Machinery for the Boot and Leather Trades." By now he was manufacturing box hoists, steam engines, cranes and solely "Holt's Patent Pneumatic Organ Blowing Engine".
1875 The firm vacated the West Street premises for the "Burley Engine Works".[2]
Machinery range expanded to include a self-contained striking out machine and "C" framed rolling machines.[3] He also sold many tan presses up to c1877 and successfully shipped overseas to Denmark and Switzerland.[4]
1879 Hall began manufacturing "Paul's Patent Graining and Softening Machine".[5]
1881 Exhibited a newly designed splitting machine for hand and steam power, pendulum stoning glassing and rolling machine, a "C" framed roller, self-contained striking machine, and tagging machine.[6]
Due to excessive competition between Joseph Hall and Thomas Haley and Co, there were times when the companies conflicted with one another.
"A court action occurred in 1885, when Joseph Hall was unsuccessful in his attempt to stop Sam Haley obtaining a patent for improvements in the table lifting mechanism used on the scouring machine, even though Hall claimed to have had a prior patent for a similar device."[7][8]
"Joseph Hall was in further trouble with the Courts in 1889 when the firm of Huxham and Browns, the Exeter based machinery manufacturers for the sole leather trade, took an action to restrain his firm from printing, publishing or circulating any catalogue containing illustrations copied from the copyright illustrations contained in their catalogue.[9] The action was probably encouraged by Thomas Haley & Co., who supplied light leather and finishing machinery through Huxham and Browns. The Exeter firm acted as agents for Haley's machinery, supplying orders for a range of machinery they did not manufacture themselves."[10]
"Joseph Hall established manufacturing rights in Britain for the designs of the Vaughn Morocco Machine Co., of Salem, Mass. These included the single table putting out machine patented in 1882[11] and the drum setting, scudding and fleshing machine patented in 1887[12], two machines which radically changed the mechanical processing of leather."[13]
Other engineering concerns in the Leeds area specialising in machinery production for the leather trade were Haley's, B. & D. Wright of Meanwood and Farrar, Whitley and Co.[14]
1897 A patent was granted in May, for 'improvements to softening and stretching machines using a helical blade to give stretch in two directions'.[15]
"Joseph Hall was quick to introduce to the British market improvements offered in the USA, following the rapid adoption of the chrome tanning process."[16]
1904 Joseph Hall became very ill and retired from the business. His only son Henry, who had worked at the firm alongside his father for many years, took over control of the company.[17]
1905 Joseph Hall died.
In November 1924, an advertisement appeared in the Leather Trades' Review announcing that the business of Joseph Hall & Co., had been purchased by the Bootle based firm of Edward Wilson and Son Ltd.. Early techniques of spiral blade manufacture were obtained in the take over, a line which expanded and helped Messrs. Wilson to overcome the collapse of the sole leather trade in the 1950's.[18][19]
See Also
Sources of Information
- ↑ Early Leather Trades' Engineers of Leeds, Part III. Joseph Hall and Co by T. Lyons (Journal of the Society of Leather Technologists & Chemists (SLTC), Vol 73 (1989), pp131-135).
- ↑ Leather Trades' Circ. and Review, 1874, 7, 178.
- ↑ Leather Trades' Circ. and Review, 1877. 9, 241.
- ↑ Leather Trades' Circ. and Review, 1877, 9, 240.
- ↑ Leather Trades' Circ. and Review, 1879, 12, 430.
- ↑ Leather Trades' Circ. and Review, 1881, 14, 593.
- ↑ Early Leather Trades' Engineers of Leeds, Part III. Joseph Hall and Co by T. Lyons (Journal of the Society of Leather Technologists & Chemists (SLTC), Vol 73 (1989), pp131-135).
- ↑ Leather Trades' Circ. and Review, 1885. 18, 61.
- ↑ Leather Trades' Circ. and Review, 1890. 23, 262.
- ↑ Early Leather Trades' Engineers of Leeds, Part III. Joseph Hall and Co by T. Lyons (Journal of the Society of Leather Technologists & Chemists (SLTC), Vol 73 (1989), pp131-135).
- ↑ Vaughn. Patent Class 76. 5936. 12 Dec 1882.
- ↑ Vaughn. Patent Class 76. 10121. 19 July 1887.
- ↑ Early Leather Trades' Engineers of Leeds, Part III. Joseph Hall and Co by T. Lyons (Journal of the Society of Leather Technologists & Chemists (SLTC), Vol 73 (1989), pp131-135).
- ↑ Early Leather Trades' Engineers of Leeds, Part IV, Farrar, Whitley and Co and Farrar and Young by T. Lyons (Journal of the Society of Leather Technologists & Chemists (SLTC), Vol 73 (1989), pp160-163).
- ↑ Hall. Patent Class 76. 20273, 3 Sept. 1897.
- ↑ Early Leather Trades' Engineers of Leeds, Part III. Joseph Hall and Co by T. Lyons (Journal of the Society of Leather Technologists & Chemists (SLTC), Vol 73 (1989), pp131-135).
- ↑ Early Leather Trades' Engineers of Leeds, Part III. Joseph Hall and Co by T. Lyons (Journal of the Society of Leather Technologists & Chemists (SLTC), Vol 73 (1989), pp131-135).
- ↑ Edward Wilson and Son Ltd. Bootle. company history. Over One Hundred Years of Service to the Leather Industry 1875-1975, p. 1.
- ↑ Early Leather Trades' Engineers of Leeds, Part III. Joseph Hall and Co by T. Lyons (Journal of the Society of Leather Technologists & Chemists (SLTC), Vol 73 (1989), pp131-135).
- Early Leather Trades' Engineers of Leeds, Part III. Joseph Hall and Co by T. Lyons (Journal of the Society of Leather Technologists & Chemists (SLTC), Vol 73 (1989), pp131-135).