Ransomes, Sims and Jefferies

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London 1891

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London 1891

Ransomes, Sims and Jeffries Engineers of Orwell Works, Ipswich were a major British agricultural machinery maker. Their most famous products were Traction Engines, ploughs and other tilling equipment.

• 1783 Robert Ransome had a patent for the making of iron plates and tiles

• 1785 The company, as Ransomes and Co, was founded by Robert Ransome, an ironfounder in Norwich

• 1785 Took out a patent for cast-iron ploughshares

• 1789 The company moved to Ipswich

• 1803 Plough share of chilled cast iron (Robert Ransome). Robert was responsible for one of the important developments in ploughs. This was the chilling process, whereby the underside of the share was made extra hard, while the upper part remained soft and tough. The upper part thus wore away faster than the lower, so that a sharp cutting edge was maintained and less draught was required.

• In 1808 Ransome took out a patent for the manufacture of interchangeable plough parts

• 1809 Robert's son James Ransome became a partner in the company and it was renamed as Ransome and Son

• 1818 It was renamed Ransome and Sons when Robert Junior joined the business

• 1825 The business became James and Robert Ransome when Robert Senior died

• 1829 James Allen Ransome the son of James Ransome became a partner and the company was named J. R. and A. Ransome

• c1830 The company became Ransome and May when Charles May of Ampthill joined the company

• 1841 Were building stationery engines

• 1842 Exhibited a self-propelled model

• 1849 All work was finally moved to the new Orwell Works at Ipswich where they later employed a thousand workers.

• 1851 Ransomes and May exhibited a portable engine at the 1851 Great Exhibition. May was a former partner who went on to found Brown and May

• 1851 Award at the 1851 Great Exhibition. See details at 1851 Great Exhibition: Reports of the Juries: Class VI. and two more awards at 1851 Great Exhibition: Reports of the Juries: Class V. and another at 1851 Great Exhibition: Reports of the Juries: Class IX.

• 1854 Charles May left the company to form Brown and May of Devizes and William Dillwyn Sims joined the company. The name changed to Ransomes and Sims

• 1856 Robert Charles Ransome became a partner

• 1864 John Head joined the business

• 1869 The company was Ransomes, Sims and Head

• 1869 Four engineers J. A. Ransome, R. J. Ransome, R. C. Rapier and A. A. Bennett left the company, (by then Ransomes, Sims and Head), by agreement to establish a new company, Ransomes and Rapier, on a site on the River Orwell to continue the business of railway equipment and other heavy works.

• 1880 John Jeffries joined the company

• 1884 Became a limited company and the name changed to Ransomes, Sims and Jeffries Ltd. Robert Charles Ransome became the first chairman

• 1888 Issued catalogue on portable, traction, semi-portable, fixed, horizontal and vertical engines and boilers, portable pumping engines, steam-powered presses, centrifugal pumps, winding engines and gear, locomotive, Cornish, Lancashire and vertical boilers, mills, circular saw benches and log frames

• 1889 Semi-portable engine at the RASE show at Windsor

• 1894 June. Royal Agricultural Society's Show. Chilled digging plough, balance plough and three-furrow plough

• 1894 High-Speed Vertical Engines for Electric Lighting. Illustration and article.

• 1900 June. Royal Agricultural Show at York. Showed traction and portable engines, thrashing machines, horse rakes, ploughing cultivators and lawn mowers

• 1903 Ransome, Sims and Jeffries developed a prototype tractor with a 20 HP engine and a three-ratio gearbox.

• 1905 The company employed 2,000 persons

• 1911 Smithfield Club Show. Exhibited 4 hp compound light tractor and two traction engines plus other items.

• WWI Makers of aeroplanes

• 1919 An association was made with Ruston and Hornsby and this continued until 1940

• 1920 The company showed the new motor plough called The Boon at the Darlington Agricultural Show. It was a petrol-paraffin engine of 20 hp at 800 rpm.

• 1920 October. Exhibited at the Commercial Motor Exhibition at Olympia with batteries from Batteries and a 3.5 ton electric tipping wagon and a 2-ton electric chassis.

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

• 1936 The MG2 tractor was introduced. It was a miniature crawler machine which was aimed at market gardeners and was produced for about thirty years.

• 1937 Listed as Engineers.

• WWII Manufactured parts for the De Havilland Mosquito

• 1956 Sold the steam engine part of the business to Robey and Co

• 1961 Engineers, manufacturing agricultural implements, harvesting machinery, lawn mowers, horticultural tractors, electric fork lift and platform trucks. 3,200 employees.

• 1989 The whole of the agricultural implement business was sold to Electrolux and merged with their subsidiary Overum. This left Ransomes solely as a manufacturer of lawn mowers, with the Westwood and Mountfield mower brands. The company accepted a take over offer from Textron Inc, USA their independent existence ended early in 1998.

• The history of company is the subject of an exhibition at the Museum of East Anglian Life in Stowmarket, Suffolk.

Motor cycles

Ransome Sims and Jeffries produced a motorcycle in 1919.

During 1919, they constructed a battery-powered sidecar outfit, with the batteries fitted under the seat of a rudimentary sidecar body, upon which the passenger sat. Although the motorcycle appeared to be conventional, the control box for the motor was fastened into the space normally taken by a fuel tank.

The machine was registered for road use and trials were conducted, but it is not likely that it got past the prototype stage.

The Orwell marque was also used by the company for some of its products.

Sources of Information

• [1] Wikipedia
• Traction Engine Album by Malcolm Ranieri. Pub 2005
• The Complete Encyclopedia of Tractors by Mirco de Cet published in 2006 by Rebo International ISBN 978-90-366-1893-9
• Aeroplanes of the Royal Flying Corps (Military Wing) by J. M. Bruce. Published 1982 ISBN 0-370-30084-x
• The Engineer of 27th April 1888 p338
• The Engineer of 21st June 1889 p525
• The Engineer of 29th June 1894 p562
• The Engineer of 27th July 1894 p78
• The Engineer of 22nd June 1900 p650
• The Engineer of 9th July 1920
• The Engineer of 22nd October 1920 p400
• The British Motorcycle Directory - Over 1,100 Marques from 1888 - by Roy Bacon and Ken Hallworth. Pub: The Crowood Press
• The Engineer of 8th December 1911 p594
• Mosquito by C. Martin Sharp and Michael J. F. Bowyer. Published by Crecy Books in 1995. ISBN 0-947554-41-6
• Post Office London Trades Directory, 1891
• 1937 The Aeroplane Directory of the Aviation and Allied Industries
• 1961 Dun and Bradstreet KBE