Landore Siemens Steel Co
Steel works at Swansea, Wales.
1867 After several years of development and trials, William Siemens had succeeded in demonstrating his regenerative furnace for open hearth production of steel, converting old iron rails, originally made at Dowlais, into steel which was rolled into rails at John Brown and Co in Sheffield. These rails so impressed the directors of the Great Western Railway that the Landore Siemens Steel Co was immediately formed to apply the furnace [1] under the management of John Roper Wright.
The Landore Siemens Steelworks was opened as an experimental plant in the converted buildings of the Landore Silver and Spelter Works
1869 First commercial-scale production from an open hearth steel-making furnace based on the Siemens-Martin process. Production by Landore Siemens was 75 tons/week[2].
By 1870 the Landore Siemens Steelworks was producing steel rails.
1871 A second works was opened to the east of the River Tawe, with two blast furnaces and extensive mills.
By 1873 this was one of the four largest steelworks in the world. Siemens steel was used to construct warships at Pembroke Dock and the Forth Bridge.
1876 James Riley was the Manager. [3]
1876 New tyre rolling mill was supplied by Craven Brothers and a steam hammer by Thwaites and Carbutt. Details of the new works. [4]
1883 D. Campbell of the Landore Siemens Steel Company, Westminster Chambers, Victoria Street, London, wrote to The Engineer.[5]
1883-9 Joseph Gordon Gordon was managing director of the company[6]
1888 Landore Siemens Steelworks closed after the death of Sir William Siemens
1888 Mannesmann Tube Co was registered with £300,000 capital. [7] acquiring the British patent rights of the Mannesmann process and taking over the assets of the Siemens Company.
1888 "... unexpected stoppage of the new Landore Steel Works."[8]
1889 Messrs Siemens, the purchasers of these works, will begin stock-taking at once, with a view of re-starting the works as soon as possible.[9]
1890 "Landore Steel Works prior to its recent stoppage and purchase by the Mannesmann Tube Company..."[10]
1890 Mannesmann took over Landore steel works, Swansea[11], including the Siemens process for making seamless tubes. The Mannesmann Tube Company converted large areas of the mills into production lines for seamless steel tubes.
1899 Annual production of 3,000-4,000 tons of steel tubes.
1893 "It is rumoured that the Old Landore Steel Works, which have been idle several years, are shortly to be re-started as copper works. A firm of substantial capitalists have secured the premises with the object of manufacturing ..."[12]
1898 "Messrs Hart and Sons, of Birmingham, have acquired the large fitting shop at the old Landore Steel Works, and are now laying down plant for tin stamping, practically a new industry for the Swansea district.[13]
See Also
Sources of Information
- ↑ History of Iron and Steel in Scotland: [1]
- ↑ History of Iron and Steel in Scotland: [2]
- ↑ The Engineer 1876/04/14
- ↑ The Engineer 1876/07/07 p10, p13, p21 & p25 & p28
- ↑ The Engineer 1883/02/09
- ↑ Mechanical Engineer records
- ↑ The Engineer 1888/01/20 p61
- ↑ West Somerset Free Press 18 August 1888
- ↑ South Wales Daily News Monday 18 February 1889
- ↑ Star of Gwent 18 July 1890
- ↑ The Engineer 1890/06/27
- ↑ South Wales Echo 14 October 1893
- ↑ South Wales Daily News 19 September 1898