Werner, Pfleiderer and Perkins
of Westwood Works, Peterborough
1893 Incorporated as a limited company as an amalgamation of Werner and Pfleiderer and A. M. Perkins and Son Ltd.
1896 Acquired rights to Pointon's bread dough-divider
1900s Decline in demand for Perkins heating systems was offset by increased demand for ovens and baking machines
1904 Moved to new Westwood factory at Peterborough
1904 Acquired Lewis and Pointon Panifications Ltd, of Wellington
1906 Built 3 examples of a car, the Mercial, designed by the company; later adapted as a delivery van but this was not successful either.
1912 Financial rescue by the company's bankers.
1914 Engineers. Specialities: ovens and machinery for the baking trade, kitchen equipment, mixing and incorporating machinery for the chemical and allied industries; washing, masticating and mixing machinery for rubber, gutta percha, balata etc.; machinery and apparatus for paper pulping and butter blending, artificial silk manufacture, vacuum drying and concentrating; heating and stoving; installation of heating apparatus on the Perkins small bore and pulsial patent systems. Inventors of the steampipe principle as applied to the construction of steampipe ovens. [1]
1914 Joseph Baker and Sons were awarded a contract by the War Office for the Baker Perkins Standard Army Bread Plant; Werner, Pfleiderer and Perkins, specialists in bread making machinery, received a sub-contract with the work divided between the two firms.
WWI The English branch of the Pfleiderer family changed their name to Pelmore at the outbreak of war.
1915 Formation of Perkins Engineers Ltd as a new name for the company to run the factory at Peterborough due to the anti-German feeling in the country. Began production of cordite mixers, diesel engines, tractor parts, tank parts and 6 inch howitzers.
1920 Joseph Baker and Sons acquired Perkins Engineers Ltd forming Joseph Baker Sons and Perkins Ltd
1922 Major fire at Peterborough works
1923 Name changed to Baker, Perkins Ltd. Expansion at both Willesden and Peterborough
See Also
Sources of Information
- History of Joseph Baker Sons and Perkins [1]