Yale Tractor Shovels
of Wednesfield
Part of Yale Manufacturing Co, subsidiary of an American company[1]
1904 Yale and Towne opened a branch in Britain.
1929 Established themselves in the Midlands
c.1936 Yale and Towne Co set up their materials handling division in Waddens Brook Lane, Wednesfield.
1960 First produced large rubber-tyred earthmoving vehicles in the UK - tractor shovels. The British Materials Handling Division was at Wednesfield, which mainly produced tractor shovels for the extractive and construction industries and also for the power and fuel authorities. They also produced diesel-powered fork lift trucks.[2]
1963 Became a subsidiary of the Eaton Manufacturing Co.
1966 Yale and Towne and Eaton Manufacturing merged into one corporation to form Eaton Yale and Towne Incorporated. As a result, the Wednesfield site was extended and major investment was also made in Germany to increase capacity[3]
1970 The tractor shovel business moved to Halesfield, Telford, when the Wednesfield-based factory became too small, leaving the materials handling division to produce the fork lift trucks.
Over the next few years the firm was known by several names including Eaton Ltd, Eaton Materials Handling and Eaton Yale.
By 1990 the business was Yale Materials Handling.[4]
1990s The company finally ceased trading at this site.
See Also
Sources of Information
- [1] Black Country history