Worthington Simpson
of Newark-on-Trent
1830s William Simpson ran the family's engine manufactory at Pimlico[1], Simpson and Co at Grosvenor Engine Works.
1839 The company was Simpson and Co, operating from Belgrave Road.
By 1842 it had become William Simpson and Co.
1843 Horizontal duplex pump. Exhibit at Nottingham Industrial Museum
By 1860 it was J. Simpson and Co, and had moved to a new factory by the Thames at 101 Grosvenor Road, Pimlico.
1862 The partnership of James Simpson, William Simpson and James Simpson, Junior carrying on business as manufacturing engineers as Simpson and Co and William Simpson and Co at Grosvenor Rd, Pimlico, and Cubitt Town, Poplar, was dissolved. James Simpson would carry on the business[2].
1885 An order for high pressure pumps to supply the British Army in Sudan with water was awarded to the Worthington Pumping Engine Co; this caused an outcry which brought the matter to the notice of Simpsons who secured sole rights from the Worthington Pump Company of the USA for manufacture of Worthington pumps[3].
1892 James Simpson and Co was incorporated as a public company[4].
1899 James Simpson and Co's new works were constructed at Lowfield, Balderton, Newark.
1903 James Simpson and Co and Worthington Pumping Engine Co merged [5] as Worthington Pump Co.
1917 Name changed to Worthington-Simpson Ltd when control passed into the hand of American associates.
1920 Horizontal Engine with gear drive for Watford Waterworks (Eastbury Station)
1926 Secured the order for a surface condensing plant for the 15,000 kilowatt turbo alternators installed in the Leicester Corporation electricity station at Freemans Meadow.[6]
1926 Two triple expansion pumping engines for Kempton Park Pumping Station. Commissioned in 1928 and 1929. See Kempton Great Engines
1935 Iraq-Mediterranean oil pipe line equipped with Worthington-Simpson pumps. The whole of the equipment supplied by Worthington-Simpson of Newark-on-Trent, comprised no less than 228 units of various types and sizes. 'The main units, 45 in number, are located, as stated in our article on the line, in 12 stations, three being double stations between Kirkuk and Haditha, and the remainder being single stations, four between Haditha and Tripoli, and five between Haditha and Haifa. All these units are driven by 500-h.p. heavy-oil engines running at 300 r.p.m., the drive being through flexible couplings and cardan shafts passing through a fire wall. The precaution of locating the pumps and engines in separate rooms was taken in view of the highly volatile oil being pumped. The units operate under a service pressure of 800 lb. per square inch, and are capable of delivering over 3,000,000 Imperial gallons of crude oil per day to the Mediterranean coast, with one-third of the units as standbys, thus allowing one engine in three to be shut down every two weeks for cleaning and adjustment. One of the pumps is illustrated ..... It is of the horizontal duplex double-acting type with outside packing, the plungers being 6 3/4 in. in diameter by 24-in. stroke. A single reduction is obtained by centrally-placed double-helical gears, manufactured by Messrs. David Brown and Sons (Huddersfield), Limited, Huddersfield. ....'[7]
1936 The company left Grosvenor Road, and the works were demolished[8]
1936 Preference shares issued to enable repurchase from the American parent; agreements were put in place to continue connections with Worthington Pump and Machinery Co of Richmond, VA, USA[9].
1936-8 Direct-Acting Pumps for Wisbech Waterworks (Marham Station)
1937 Pump manufacturers. [10]
1939 See Aircraft Industry Suppliers
1945 Advert. Pumping equipment. Supplying for over a century
1951 Advert. Pumping equipment
1961 Manufacturers of pumps, compressors and heat exchange equipment. 1,300 employees. [11]
1969 US company Studebaker-Worthington Inc took over the company after battle with Weir Pumps[12]. Weir Group subsequently acquired 50% of the equity of a new JV company Worthington Weir which would handle international sales of the products of the 2 parent companies[13]
Later became part of Ingersoll-Dresser pumps. The Newark business operation incorporated three pump manufacturing units, the largest of which was the former Worthington Simpson company[14].
See Also
Sources of Information
- ↑ A biographical dictionary of civil engineers in Great Britain and Ireland, edited by A. W. Skempton
- ↑ London Gazette, 9 December 1862
- ↑ Chelsea to Cairo-- 'Taylor-made' water through eleven reigns and in six ... By Gwilym Roberts[1]
- ↑ The Times, 11 August 1936
- ↑ Chelsea to Cairo-- 'Taylor-made' water through eleven reigns and in six ... By Gwilym Roberts [2]
- ↑ The Engineer 1926/07/16
- ↑ Engineering 1935/02/01
- ↑ Chelsea to Cairo-- 'Taylor-made' water through eleven reigns and in six ... By Gwilym Roberts
- ↑ The Times, 11 August 1936
- ↑ 1937 The Aeroplane Directory of the Aviation and Allied Industries
- ↑ 1961 Dun and Bradstreet KBE
- ↑ The Times, 19 July 1969
- ↑ The Times, 29 October 1969
- ↑ Newark Centenary celebrations [3]
- The Steam Engine in Industry by George Watkins in two volumes. Moorland Publishing. 1978. ISBN 0-903485-65-6
- Mechanical World Year Book 1945. Published by Emmott and Co of Manchester. Advert p145
- Mechanical World Year Book 1951. Published by Emmott and Co of Manchester. Advert p145
- 'Chelsea to Cairo' - a history of John Taylor and Sons and their predecessors, by Gwilym Roberts