Routledge and Ommanney

1869.

Routledge and Ommanney of New Bridge Foundry, Adelphi Street, Salford.

1862 'Cotton Machinery for Egypt.— Messrs, Yates and Corkling, of this city, are about to send out to Egypt a pair of powerful steam engines, to be used by them near Alexandria, in the preparation of Egyptian cotton for the home market. The engines have been manufactured by Messrs. Routledge and Ommanney, of Adelphi-street, Salford. They are of twenty-five horses' power each, and are made with a view to strength and economy of fuel. They are intended to work with steam pressure of 100lb to the square inch, and are constructed with cut-off valves for the economising of steam. A water-heater, or "economiser," is also attached, by means of which the waste steam is made use of to heat the water supplied to the boiler. The engines were exhibited on Wednesday, when they were examined by several scientific gentlemen, and photographs were taken of them.'

1863 Listed as Engineers and Ironfounders in Slater's Directory of Manchester and Salford, 1863.

1863 'IMPROVED PORTABLE ENGlNE.— Within the last few days we have had an opportunity of inspecting one of Messrs. Routledge and Ommanney's improved portable fire-engines, previous to its being sent off by the agent, Mr. T. C. Baynes, of this town, to Messrs. Harrison, Ainslie and Co.'s powder works in Scotland. The engine, which was on Wednesday satisfactorily tested in the yard fronting the General Offices of the Furness Railway Company, in the presence of several gentlemen, is very strong, and having few parts, is not liable to get out of order. The pump (of the engine we saw) is a six-inch double acting pump, and is placed upon three wood wheels. The suction and delivery valves are on the top of the pump barrel, and by a simple arrangement all the valves are covered by one valve chest. The cost of the engine, the hose and all the necessary fittings included, is about £44. Such an engine, we feel confident, would be very valuable in Barrow, for at present, in the event of a fire breaking out, the nearest available fire-engine is in Ulverston - nine miles distant! Insurance companies especially should take this into consideration.'

1864 Patent No. 734 to William Routledge and Frederick Francis Ommanney for the invention of certain improvements in presses for packing cotton and other fibrous materials, and in baling boxes for the same purpose

1866 Ashcroft's patent baling press and Mason's patent cotton press

An 1893 photograph of floods in Teneriffe, Queensland, fortuitously shows the top of a large machine made by Routledge & Ommanney, Manchester, the machine being helpfully dated Jan 1866 . This is probably a baling press

1868 The New Bridge Foundry was visited by 'The Engineer', and the resulting article noted that there was a brass foundry but no iron foundry, iron castings being bought in. Work in hand included boiler feed pumps, fire pumps, and mine drainage pumps. A pair of steam drainage pumps was being made for R. Evans's Clifton & Kearsley Collieries, where it was to work underground, taking steam from a boiler on the surface. The pump was arranged to work on inclined rails, able to be moved downwards as the water level was lowered. The article noted that the works' machine tools were mainly by Hulse, although the reporter was particularly impressed by a Shanks self-acting double slot drill for milling keyways and other slots

1868 Supplied a pair of inclined engines and pumps to deal with the sudden flooding of a pit of the Clifton and Kersley Coal Co

1869 Made the steam pumping engines for Cheltenham Waterworks

1869 Partnership between William Routledge and Frederick Francis Ommanney dissolved on 31st December by mutual consent. Business to be carried on between Frederick Francis Ommanney and Reginald Tatham as Ommanney and Tatham

Location of Works

Slater’s 1863 directory puts the premises on the east side of Adelphi Street, between No. 12 (James Collins, Beer Retailer) and Farmer and Broughton, followed by Oddy and Oldfield. It seems likely that the foundry was on a block of land between Upper Cleminson Street and Peru Street, this whole block latterly being occupied by Sir James Farmer Norton and Co. The site has now been laid waste, and is used as a car park. Note: the name New Bridge Foundry is confusing, this being carried over from the foundry of William Routledge, which had been located in New Bridge Street.

See Also

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