Sheepbridge Engineering
Manufacturer of mining equipment, aircraft and car components, machinery and castings, of Sheepbridge Works, Chesterfield
19th century: Engineering department of the Sheepbridge Co was formed.[1]
1948 Public company formed to acquire from the Sheepbridge Co Ltd[2] the business of general engineers and the shares held in:
and the investments in
- Yorkshire Amalgamated Collieries Ltd
- Doncaster Amalgamated Collieries Ltd
- Newstead Colliery Co
- Rickett, Cockerell and Co.[3]
The shares in the company were given to the existing shareholders. Tom Brown was brought in as M.D. - he changed the culture of the company and provided the drive and imagination that the Company needed to survive in a very competitive market.
The physical links between the nationalised plant and the separate engineering company could not easily be severed and continued so for fifteen years until the Steel Corporation closed the Sheepbridge blast furnaces. The centrifugal casting plant was extended and die-casting replaced sand moulding as demand swelled after the war.
The cash from nationalisation was employed in diversification: Automotive Engineering Co was at Twickenham employing 700; Hardinge Machine Tools at Hanworth, Middlesex; Clews Peterson, Light Production, the Advanced Motor Manufacturing Co. and many more were floated or bought up in the U.K.
1955 Acquired W. E. Bray and Co of Feltham, maker of loaders and earth moving equipment.[4]
1956 Subsidiaries included[5]:
- Sheepbridge Equipment Ltd
- Sheepbridge Alloy Castings Ltd
- Automotive Engineering Ltd
- Sheepbridge Engine Repairs Ltd
- Light Production Ltd
- Dacre Chucks Ltd
- W. E. Bray and Co Ltd
- Twiflex Couplings Ltd
- Sheepbridge Stokes of Chesterfield
- Sintered Products Ltd
- Hardinge Machine Tools Ltd
- British Van Der Horst Ltd
- Clews Petersen Ltd
- Harold Andrews Sheepbridge Ltd
1957 Subsidiary W. E. Bray and Co had developed a heavier 4-wheel drive vehicle; arrangement with Eickhoff of Bochum to produce a pan conveyor for coal mining; the Burlington process for centrifugal casting of long steel tubes had been introduced in 1953 and had made steady progress since then[6]
1957 Advance Motor Supplies Ltd was included in the list of subsidiaries[7].
1961 Colliery, mechanical and electrical engineers. Main products include haulage gears, cylinder liners, pistons, piston rings, circlips and components for the aircraft industry; quarry installations and tile presses; castings; chrome hardening and plating; machine tools and equipment; earth moving equipment; copper, bronze, iron and steel parts. 5,000 group employees. [8]
1963 Motor Show exhibitor. Pistons, rings etc. [9]
1975 Subsidiaries included[10]:
- Advance Motor Supplies
- Automotive Engineering Co
- British Van Der Horst
- Carbrette
- CL Equipments
- Clews Petersen
- Hardinge Machine Tools
- Harold Andrews, Sheepbridge
- Light Production Co
- Ritemixer
- Sheepbridge Alloy Castings
- Sheepbridge Engine Repairs
- Sheepbridge Equipment
- Sheepbridge Stokes
- Sintered Products
- Twiflex Couplings
1979 GKN purchased Sheepbridge Group[11], which became GKN Sheepbridge Stokes
1983 Under the Lazard scheme to reduce capacity in castings, the Sheepbridge foundry was closed.[12]
See Also
Sources of Information
- ↑ The Times, May 09, 1949
- ↑ The Times, Oct 13, 1948
- ↑ The Times, May 09, 1949
- ↑ The Times, Dec 14, 1955
- ↑ The Times, Aug 22, 1956
- ↑ The Times, Sep 26, 1957
- ↑ The Times, Jun 21, 1957
- ↑ 1961 Dun and Bradstreet KBE
- ↑ 1963 Motor Show
- ↑ Advertisement October 1975
- ↑ The Times, Apr 30, 1980
- ↑ Competition Commission report on William Cook, 1990
- [1] Nedias newsletter #79b