Greenwood and Batley

1858. Flax heckling machinery.

1862. Materials testing machine for Charles Cammell and Co

1868.

1872.

1873. Machinery for Treating Silk Waste.

1873. Machinery for treating silk waste.

1874.

1875. Keats' silk-thread twisting machine.

1876.

1878.

1878. Loftus Perkins High Pressure Tram Locomotive.

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January 1888.

June 1888.

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May 1896.

June 1898.

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De Laval mixed pressure turbine at Griff Colliery, Nuneaton

Mixed pressure blades on de Laval mixed pressure turbine at Griff Colliery

300 HP De Laval turbine-generator for a super-dreadnought. Condenser in background.

1906. 12 inch spiral gear cutter.

1906. 24 inch spiral gear cutter.

1906. 4 inch machine front.

1906. 24 inch machine back.

1906. 46 inch machine front.

1906. 46 inch machine back.

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8 inch Lathe. 1907.

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8.5 inch Lathe. 1907.

1910.

1911.

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1915.

1915.

1915. Hexagon Lathe.

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1930. Electric Battery Locomotive. No 1210. Exhibit at Armley Mill Museum.

1937. Greenbat Hydraulic Expression Units.

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1946.

May 1950.

Lathe, formerly exhibited at Dingles Fairground Heritage Centre

Shaping machine. Exhibit at Armley Mill Museum.

Exhibit at Armley Mill Museum.

Unusual type of De Laval turbine at Armley Mill Museum.

Planing machine. Exhibit at Armley Mill Museum.

Greenwood & Batley de Laval-type steam turbine and gearbox at Armley Mill Museum.

Greenwood & Batley machine tools for producing turbine blades, at Armley Mill Museum.

2' 6" Gauge Petrol Locomotive Detail.

Greenwood and Batley, a large engineering manufacturer with a wide range of products, including armaments, electrical engineering, printing, of Albion Works, Armley Road, Leeds. Telephone: 20011. Telegraphic Address: "Greenwood, Leeds". (1937)

See also -

• Large Lathes
• Locomotives
• Steam Turbines
• 1963 Brochure - PDF Download: Mining and Tunnelling Electric Locomotives Brochure

1856 May. The partnership of Fairbairn, Greenwood and Batley was dissolved.

1856 Thomas Greenwood and John Batley first set up their business, both having previously worked at Peter Fairbairn and Co in Leeds.

1856 Their first premises, the Albion Foundry, was taken over from T. W. Lord formerly Lord and Brooke. The foundry was located on East Street by the River Aire (Aire and Calder Navigation), however this quickly became too small for their needs.

1856 September. Mention as Greenwood and Batley of Leeds.

1859 They constructed the Albion Works, Leeds.

1861 Employing 270 men and 112 boys

1862 Machine for tensile, compression and torsional testing of materials made for Charles Cammell and Co of Cyclops Works, Sheffield. See illustration.

1873 Thomas Greenwood died and the running of the company was taken over by his sons George Greenwood and Arthur Greenwood, his nephew Henry Greenwood and John Henry Wurtzburg their brother-in-law.

1876 Members of the Iron and Steel Institute visited their machine and tool making works.

1878 Built a tramway locomotive for Brussels tramways.

1881 Employing 670 hands

Early 1880s Supplied nearly 900 machine tools to the Terni Arsenal in Italy.

1885 Description and illustrations of two of the machine tools exhibited by G&B at the International Inventions Exhibition: a Kreutzberger cutter grinder, and a Saget's vertical cutter milling machine

1885 Description and illustrations of a double-headed milling machine for the flutes of twist drills, having two tilting milling heads

1885 The company branched out into Flour and Oil Milling Machinery as a result of the acquisition of the business of Joseph Whitham and Son of the Perseverance Iron Works, Kirkstall Road, Leeds.

1886 Description and engraving of bevel gear shaping machine

1888 July. Public company. The company was registered on 7 July, to take over the business of the firm of the same name, engineers and machine makers of Leeds. The four family members remain as managing Directors. Mentions John Batley but not in an active role.

1888 The works covered eleven acres and employed around 1,600 men.

1888 May. The 'Leeds' dynamo with 100 volts at 180 amps for electric lighting.

Late 1880s: Invited to manufacture the torpedo that had been developed by Robert Whitehead, so as to supplement the resources of Woolwich Arsenal.

1889 'Immense' boring machine for Creusot Works. . See 'Large Lathes' below.

1890 A rail connection with the Great Northern Railway was installed to bring in raw materials and to deliver finished products.

1891 Exhibited 14 in. torpedoes

1894 An early innovation was the installation of their own electricity generating station, completed in 1894. This allowed machine tools to be electrically driven rather than the traditional common shafts driven by steam. This development was to prove profitable in other ways, as the company was able to provide similar generator stations for both public supplies and industrial applications e.g. tramways, as one of its range of products.

1894 Royal Agricultural Show. Exhibitor of the 'Excel' pneumatic hammer.

1896 A further acquisition saw Greenwood and Batley take over Smith, Beacock and Tannett, Victoria Foundry, Water Lane, Leeds. This company were the successors to the Round Foundry and were principally involved in the manufacture of Machine Tools.

1899 National Cycle Show: Greenwood & Batley exhibited several machines, including two electrically driven lathes, a gantry-type vertical milling and profiling machine of a design originally built for the L&NWR for milling the outsides and insides of connecting-rod straps, a bevel gear planer, and several de Laval turbines.

Greenwood and Batley rapidly became a giant of a company, manufacturing an incredible range of products. Their primary business was military equipment both in terms of machinery to make armaments and the production of components such as bullets and shell cases.

By the turn of the century Greenwood and Batley offered the following products:-

• Machine Tool Department: every description of General and Special machine tolls for Railway, Marine and General Engineers, including Hydraulic and other Forging and Stamping Machinery, Lathes, Punching, Shearing, Planing, Milling, Shaping, Drilling and Boring Machines. Bolt, Nut and Screw Machinery. Testing Machines for strength of Material. Wood Working Machinery.
• Special Plants and Machinery for making Armour Plates, Ordnance, Gun Mountings and Ammunition: also for Small Arms Cartridges, Gunpowder, etc., and every description of War Material. Rolling Mills for Metal Coining, Presses and Minting Machinery.
• Oil Mill Machinery Department: The “Albion,” “Leeds, “ and Anglo-American systems for Extraction of every kind of Vegetable Oil including Machinery for Preparing and Decorticating Seeds, Nuts etc. Presses for making Cattle Feeding Cakes, Seed and Grain Elevators and Warehousing machinery. Oil Refineries. Cotton and other Baling Presses.
• Textile Machinery Department: Improved Patented Machines for Preparing and Spinning Waste Silk, China Grass, Rhea, Ramie, and other fibres. Whyte’s patent Cop Winding Machine.
• Engineering Department: Frickart’s Improved Corliss Steam Engines, single compound and triple expansion of the largest powers, for driving Factories, Mills, Electrical Installations, etc. Sole Manufacturers of The Brayton Patent Oil Engine.
• Electrical Department: all kinds of Dynamos and Motors for Lighting or Transmission of Power. Speciality: Motors for electrically driven Machine Tools etc. De Laval’s Patent Steam Turbine Motors, Turbine Dynamos, Turbine Pumps and Fans (for Great Britain and Colonies, China and Japan).
• Ordnance Department: Manufacturers of all kinds of Military Small Arms Ammunition. Self-propelling Torpedoes (Whiteheads’s) for the Navy, and Horse Shoes for the British Government.
• Printing and Sewing Machine Department: Patent Platen Printing Machines. Patent Boot Sewing Machines. Cloth Cutting Machines. Patent Boot Sewing Machines. Cloth Cutting Machines for Wholesale Clothiers, etc.

Greenwood and Batley also manufactured a shaving machine and a splitting machine with fixed oscillating knife for the leather machinery trade.

1901 Moved the Explosives loading work to Abbey Wood, Woolwich, from Greenwich. The company held the UK rights for sale of the De Laval patent steam turbine, dynamos and pumps, for which demand was steadily increasing

1902 The English De Laval Steam Turbine Co was said "to be practically part of Greenwood and Batley's business" but because of the interest of the Swedish parent the accounts were kept separate

1905 Advert for machine tools, oil mill machinery, dynamos and motors.

1911 From annual meeting of Greenwood and Batley: 'In view of the practical monopoly in the British Empire which the company had of the manufacture of the De Laval Steam Turbine, it had been thought desirable in the interest of their business to acquire the complete control of the English De Laval Steam Turbine Co, and to extinguish the interest which the Swedish De Laval Steam Turbine Company had hitherto held in the English company; also to acquire at par, viz., £180, the price paid for them, eighteen shares, which were originally taken by Greenwood and Batley’s nominees, among whom were some of the present directors, to facilitate the formation of the company. He mentioned this fact, and asked the shareholders’ approval, because those of the directors who owned some of these shares (he, for instance, owned one), were in the position of being both buyers and sellers, but it was to the interest of Greenwood and Batley to obtain the shares, and become the sole owner of the concern. When this transaction had been completed, the whole of the 6,627 issued shares of the English De Laval Steam Turbine Company would be held by Greenwood and Batley, and would represent an integral part of their business.'

1914 Manufacturers of Special and General Machinery for Arsenals, Mints, Bolt Factories, Oil Mills, Silk Mills; Electrical Machinery, Steam Turbines, Centrifugal Pumps, Torpedoes, Cartridges etc. Employees 1,500 to 2,000.

WWI Produced some of the first tanks in the First World War.

1919 Advert for Shapers.

1927 See Aberconway for information on the company and its history.

1937 Listed Exhibitor - British Industries Fair. "Greenbat" 1½in. Hot Forging Machine. "Greenbat" 220 tons High-speed Screw Percussion Press. "Greenbat" ⅜in. Open Die Double Stroke Cold Header. "Greenbat" Screw Nicker. "Greenbat" ¼in. Solid Die Header. (Stand Nos. D.413 and D.314)

1961 General engineers and tool and machine makers.

1960s The company became part of the Fairbairn-Lawson Group in the late 1960s, however trading conditions were not favourable and in April 1980 the receivers were called in and 480 employees made redundant. The company was bought by Hunslet Holdings for £1.65M who continued to use the Greenbat name for their battery locomotives.

By 1984 the work had been transferred to Jack Lane and the Albion Works were mothballed.

In 1987 the site was sold and the works demolished.

See Also

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Sources of Information

• [2] Wikipedia
• British Steam Locomotive Builders by James W. Lowe. Published in 1975. ISBN 0-905100-816
• Stationary Steam Engines of Great Britain by George Watkins. Vol 10