Sharp, Stewart and Co
Sharp, Stewart and Co initially of Atlas Works, Great Bridgewater St, Oxford St, and Caledonia Foundry, Gloucester St, Manchester, boiler makers, ironfounders, machine makers, millwrights, toolmakers and dealers. Later of Atlas Works, Glasgow in 1888.
See also Sharp, Stewart and Co: Early Milling Machines
formerly Sharp Brothers and Co
1852 The senior partner, John Sharp, retired and was replaced by Charles Patrick Stewart, the name of the company changed to Sharp, Stewart and Co. Shortly after Charles Beyer left. Thomas Sharp junior was succeeded by Stephen Robinson.
Shortly afterwards Charles Beyer left.
1852 William Statham is Superintendent of the Locomotive Department [1]
1853 Listed as makers of locomotive engines. [2]
1853 There is a description of the works of Sharp Brothers and Co in the '1853 Directory of Manchester and Salford pages xxxiii.'
1853 Thomas Beatt Sharp and William Sharp listed as being engineers at Sharp, Brothers and Co, ironfounders, engineers, millwrights and machinists, of Great Bridgewater St and Oxford St, St Peter's (the same as Thomas Sharp and Co). Also described as makers of locomotive engines. [3].
1853 Pillar Crane. [4]
1853 Slotting machine for 7ft wheels. [5]
1855 July. William Prior Sharp retires from the partnerships leaving Thomas Patrick Stewart and Thomas Beatt Sharp as partners of Sharp, Stewart and Co and Thomas Sharp and Co [6]
1855. Patent. Dated July 12, 1855.— John Robinson, of Sharp, Stewart, and Co., Manchester, engineers, and William Wedding, of the same place, draughtsman, for improvements in machinery for cutting paper cardboard and other materials [7]
1856 Improved machines for making carpets [8]
1856 'INSTITUTION OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERS. .... The next paper was a description of a "Double Traversing Drilling Machine," by Mr. Thomas Forsyth, Manchester. In this machine, which is at work at Messrs. Sharp, Stewart, and Co.'s, Manchester, two vertical drills of peculiar construction are carried by a pair headstocks, which have a horizontal traversing motion along a slide bed that forms the framing the machine ; the two headstocks move independently each other, receiving their motion through a combination of elliptical and excentric toothed wheels, which have the effect of making the motion of the tool nearly uniform throughout the stroke. The drills cut during both strokes, instead of during the forward stroke alone, thus avoiding the necessary loss of time attending the ordinary machines ; the tools are advanced at the end of each traverse by self-acting freed motion. The new machine has been employed for cutting cotter holes, key grooves, and oil cups or recesses, and for other purposes connected with locomotive building and tool making, the work being roughed out by the first tool, and then finished by a standard tool similar to a rose bit. By this machine a very important saving is effected in the cost of the work produced, and the rapidity of production, and the accuracy and finish of the work, surpass the results obtained from any machines previously used. Specimen of work done on the new machine were exhibited, and particulars were given of the cost of production.'[9]
1857 Produced their 1,000th locomotive [10]
1858 May. Thomas Beatt Sharp leaves the partnership with Charles Patrick Stewart and John Robinson remaining with Sharp, Stewart and Co and Thomas Sharp and Co. [11]
1858 James Reid was appointed manager.
1858 July. Boiler explosion at Atlas Works leaves seven dead. Employing 1,500 hands. [12]
1858 October. Carpet loom. 'We saw in operation on Wednesday a new and improved reel winding machine, for spooling or winding sewing cotton or thread, the invention of Mr. William Weild, of the establishment Messrs. Sharp, Stewart, and Co., the "Atlas Works," of this city, where the machine has been made and first put into operation. Mr. Weild is the inventor of the carpet loom, and many other machines, and he has been with the above firm fifteen years . . . [13]
1860 Sole rights were obtained for Giffard's patent injector.
The company provided a number of 0-4-0 tender engines for the Furness Railway of which Number 20, built in 1863 has been restored to working order by the Lakeside and Haverthwaite Railway in Cumbria.
1862 The company began making larger engines, firstly some 4-6-0 saddle tank engines for the Great Indian Peninsula Railway. By 1865 they were building 0-8-0s, again for India.
1862 The company's exhibits at the 1862 International Exhibition in London included eight different types of machine tool [14]. Drawing of slot drilling machine here [15]
1863 Reid left Sharp Stewart to return to Neilson and Co
1864 The company acquired limited liability.
1865 August. The company is referred to as Stewart Robinson and Co, of Atlas Works, (late Sharp, Stewart and Co) [16]
1876 Portable keyway milling machine (slot drilling machine) described and illustrated [17]. See illustration. Automatic downfeed and adjustable (oscillating) traverse.
1880 Shares quoted/traded on Manchester Exchange (indicating was a public company)[18].
1882 John Robinson became chairman on the death of Charles Stewart.
1888 Relocation from Manchester to Glasgow
The lease on the company's premises expired so it became necessary to move. They took over and moved to the Clyde Locomotive Works in Glasgow, renaming it Atlas Works.
1889 A number of compounds were built for the Argentine Central Railway in 1889, some 4-4-0 and some 2-8-0.
1892 They received an order for seventy five 4-4-0s and 0-6-0s from the Midland Railway. By now they had built a number of 4-6-0 engines for overseas railways, but in 1894 came their first order for a British line, the "Jones Goods" of the Highland Railway. By the end of the century they were supplying railways at home and all over the world.
1892 Description of vertical and horizontal planing machine [19]
1894 Description of planing machine with Robinson and Oldfield's patent feed motion[20]
1894 Description of their Atlas works in 'The Engineer'. Long article with many photographs. [21]
1894 Large drawing of six-coupled Bogie Goods Engine for the Highland Railway. [22]
1900 A Duplex Triple-geared Lathe illustrated in 'The Engineer'. [23]
1903, having built over 5,000 engines, the company amalgamated with Neilson and Co and Dubs and Co to form the North British Locomotive Co.
A History of The Firm
From 'Short Histories of Famous Firms' by Ernest Leopold Ahrons, The Engineer - 1923/08/24.
Sharp, Stewart and Co, Sharp, Roberts and Co, Sharp Brothers and Co.
"The original foundation of this celebrated firm dates back to 1806, when two brothers, Thomas and Robert Chapman Sharp, had a workshop in Manchester for the manufacture of tools and general machines. In 1823 a third brother, John Sharp joined the firm, and in 1828 Richard Roberts was taken into partnership, and the title of the firm became Sharp, Roberts and Co. At this time the business was chiefly concerned with the manufacture of cotton-spinning machinery, to which card-making machinery was subsequently added. Roberts was a born mechanical genius, to which talent he added a sound engineering knowledge, such that his many useful ideas materialised into practical working machines. The demand for machine tools afterwards occupied the attention of the two partners, with the result that planing, slotting, wheel-teeth cutting and other useful machines, some of which wore invented and improved by Roberts, found their way into the numerous engineering works then springing up in this country.
In 1833, Sharp, Roberts and Co took up locomotive manufacture, and their first engine was put to work in 1834 on the Liverpool and Manchester Railway. It was aptly named Experiment, and was followed the same year by three engines on somewhat similar principles for the Dublin and Kingstown Railway..."[24] Read More
Read the series of articles on the History of Sharp, Stewart and Co.
The Engineer 1923/08/24 - (No I)
The Engineer 1923/08/31 - (No II)
See Also
Sources of Information
- ↑ Manchester Courier and Lancashire General Advertiser - Saturday 06 November 1852
- ↑ 1853 Directory of Manchester and Salford
- ↑ 1853 Directory of Manchester and Salford
- ↑ The Imperial Journal 1853 Volume III. p240
- ↑ The Imperial Journal 1853 Volume III. p623
- ↑ [1] Gazette Issue 21748 published on the 20 July 1855
- ↑ Manchester Courier and Lancashire General Advertiser - Saturday 26 January 1856
- ↑ Manchester Courier and Lancashire General Advertiser - Saturday 01 November 1856
- ↑ Birmingham Journal, 9 August 1856
- ↑ Manchester Courier and Lancashire General Advertiser - Saturday 18 April 1857
- ↑ Manchester Courier and Lancashire General Advertiser - Saturday 08 May 1858
- ↑ Manchester Courier and Lancashire General Advertiser - Saturday 03 July 1858
- ↑ Manchester Courier and Lancashire General Advertiser - Saturday 23 October 1858
- ↑ [2] The Exhibited Machinery of 1862: a Cyclopaedia of the Machinery Exhibited at the International Exhibition, by D. K. Clark, pp.139-145
- ↑ [3] BnF Gallica website: Livre Des Machines-outils, leur importance, leur utilité, progrès apportés dans leur Fabrication by J. Chrétien, 1863
- ↑ Manchester Courier and Lancashire General Advertiser - Thursday 10 August 1865
- ↑ The Engineer, 7 March 1876
- ↑ The Huddersfield Daily Chronicle, 27 January 1880
- ↑ Engineering 1892/12/23
- ↑ Engineering 1894/01/12
- ↑ The Engineer of 14th December 1894 p511
- ↑ The Engineer of 14th December 1894 p534 Supplement
- ↑ The Engineer of 27th April 1900 p434
- ↑ The Engineer 1923/08/24
- British Steam Locomotive Builders by James W. Lowe. Published in 1975. ISBN 0-905100-816