Herbert Morris
of Empress Works, Loughborough.
formerly Herbert Morris and Bastert. Owned by Herbert Morris (1864-1931)
1912 Name changed to Herbert Morris.
1914 Manufacturers of electric, pneumatic and hand overhead travelling cranes, pulley blocks, conveyors, overhead runways and lifting miscellanea. [1]
1919 Public offer of shares[2]
1920 Took over the business of H. Coltman and Sons. [3]
1920 December - W. H. Purnell was appointed vice-chairman of the company.[4]
1931 Frank Morris took over the company on the death of his father
1931 Company employing 2,000 persons.[5]
1930s Took over Alexander Chaplin and Co, Craven Brothers, Holt and Willetts and the Vaughan Crane Co
1932 Acquired Royce Ltd.
1937 Lifting machinery manufacturers. [6]
1939 Became a quoted company.
1959 Took over British MonoRail.
1961 Manufacturers of cranes, pulley-blocks; runways; telphers; conveyors, elevators; lifts and trucks. 1,900 employees. [7]
1968 Built thirty Goliath cranes for British Railway Freight. [8]
1969 Frank Morris resigns as chairman
1969 Won orders for Goliath and Semi-Goliath cranes at 3 British aluminium smelters[9]
1970 E. and H. P. Smith acquired 30 percent of the shares of the company[10]
1974 Assembled four 130-ton giant overhead cranes for the Cammell Laird's shipyards.[11]
By 1975 had about 2000 employees; trading subsidiaries were:
- British MonoRail (stacker cranes and monorail systems)
- Linear Motors (linear motors and crane control equipment)
- Crane Aid Services (maintenance and repair of any make of lifting equipment).
Had a joint interest with C. T. Bowring and Co Ltd in Senelco Ltd, a company manufacturing under licence an American anti-shoplifting device.
1976 The holding in Herbert Morris was sold to Babcock and Wilcox[12]
1977 Davy International acquired the company[13]
The crane business was taken over by Konecranes of Finland, who closed the Loughborough works in 2010.
- Goliath cranes, sometimes called portal cranes, are similar to overhead travelling cranes, but instead of running on rails at high level, or on a free standing gantry structure, they run on rails on the floor. One of the advantages of a goliath crane is that the absence of support gantry rails can save money.
See Also
Sources of Information
- ↑ 1914 Whitakers Red Book
- ↑ The Times, Jun 11, 1919
- ↑ The Engineer of 30th Jan 1920 p128
- ↑ The Engineer 1920/12/17
- ↑ Nottingham Evening Post - Monday 27 April 1931
- ↑ 1937 The Aeroplane Directory of the Aviation and Allied Industries
- ↑ 1961 Dun and Bradstreet KBE
- ↑ The Engineer of 12th January 1968 p66
- ↑ The Times Dec. 30, 1969
- ↑ The Times, Oct 16, 1970
- ↑ The Engineer 1974/07/04
- ↑ The Times, May 07, 1976
- ↑ The Times, Apr 10, 1978
- Competition Commission [1]