Joshua Buckton and Co
J. Buckton and Co of Wellhouse Foundry, Meadow Road, Leeds.
1838 Foundry first thought to be active on 'Well House' site. [1]
1842 Company established by Joshua Buckton.
1851 Employing 80 persons. [2]
1865 Slotting Machine. Exhibit at Armley Mill Museum.
1876 Rail paring machine at Landore Siemens Steel Co. [3]
1876 Members of the Iron and Steel Institute Descriptionvisited their machine and tool making works. [4]
1882 Incorporated as a limited company.
Joseph Hartley Wicksteed succeeded Joshua Buckton as head of the firm
1886 Description and drawings of Buckton's tensile testing tensile testing machine with autographic test-recording apparatus. Paper presented by Joseph Hartley Wicksteed[5]
1893 'THE LARGEST PLANING MACHINE IN ENGLAND. Messrs. Joshua Buckton and Co., engineers, Leeds, have iust constructed for the Haslam Foundry Company, Derby, what is believed to be the largest and most comprehensive "table" planing machine in England. It is reported to be capable of turning a block 30ft. long, 12ft. wide, and 10ft. high - over five out of its six sides at one setting. The table itself weighs 30 tons, and will probably frequently have to carry a 20 ton casting. The bed of the machine is 45ft. long. Machines of equal width to this, and in most respects similar, have been made by the same firm for Messrs. John Brown and Co., Sheffield, for planing armonr plates, but the travelling table of those machines was 20ft. long. ....'[6]
1894 Double Cutter and Transverse Action Planing machine. [7]
1896 Description and engraving of test-piece milling machine. 'The machine in question was specially designed for the purpose of preparing plate strips for the testing machine in the year 1879 by Mr. Thomas Williamson (2), at that time engineer for the Steel Company of Scotland, and at present engineer for the Glasgow Iron and Steel Company, Limited. The machine has, it is stated, been found far more successful for this special purpose than any other form of milling or shaping machine, and has been supplied during the last 15 years to many steel works in this country, on the Continent of Europe, and in the United States of America.' [8]. See 1896 illustration.
1897 Double-cutting planing machine described and illustrated [9]
1911 Electrical Exhibition. Planing machine with electrical drive by the Lancashire Dynamo and Motor Co. [10]
1914 Machine tool and testing machine manufacturers. Specialities: heavy ordnance and turbine lathes, armour plate and turbine planing machines, universal testing machines of largest capacity, the Buckton testing machine. Employees 500. [11]
1921 Read an overview of the company in The Engineer 1921/08/12.
1924 Description of a gearbox combining the speed reduction obtainable with an epicyclic gear with the use of the shock-absorbing characteristics of helical springs, designed by Bostock and Bramley of Netherton, Huddersfield and constructed by Joshua Buckton, and Co.[12]
1927 See Aberconway for information on the company and its history.
1928 the machine tool business was acquired by Craven Brothers; the staff transferred to Reddish where the products were manufactured.
See Also
Sources of Information
- ↑ The Engineer 1921/08/12
- ↑ 1851 Census
- ↑ The Engineer of 15th August 1876 p180
- ↑ The Engineer of 7th July 1876 p10 & p13
- ↑ Engineering 1886/02/19
- ↑ Sheffield Independent, 1 March 1893
- ↑ The Engineer of 27th July 1894 p76 & p82
- ↑ Engineering 1896/05/29
- ↑ Engineering 1897/02/05
- ↑ The Engineer of 13th October 1911 p388
- ↑ 1914 Whitakers Red Book
- ↑ Engineering 1924/03/21