Grace's Guide is the leading source of historical information on industry and manufacturing in Britain. This web publication contains 162,259 pages of information and 244,500 images on early companies, their products and the people who designed and built them.
Grace's Guide is the leading source of historical information on industry and manufacturing in Britain. This web publication contains 147,919 pages of information and 233,587 images on early companies, their products and the people who designed and built them.
Francis Watkins, an American, arrived in England about 1856[1]. He was introduced to Arthur Keen by Thomas Astbury and became Keen's first business partner, probably in 1856[2].
Astbury had recognized the potential of a patent for a nut-making machine that Watkins was trying to sell in Britain.
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