David Brown and Sons
David Brown Limited is a British engineering company, principally engaged in the manufacture of gears and gearboxes. Their major gear manufacturing plant was in Swan Lane, Lockwood, Huddersfield, adjacent to Lockwood railway station.
Founded in 1860 as a general manufacturing company, by 1873 David Brown had focused on gear systems.
- 1911 maker of machine tools like bevel-gear generators (David Brown and Sons)
- 1920 September. Exhibited at the Machine Tool and Engineering Exhibition at Olympia with a worm miller, worm grinder and a worm wheel generator. (David Brown and Sons)
David Brown were one of the greats in tractor production, with a major maufacturing plant at Meltham Mills, Meltham West Yorkshire England. Breaking new ground where others were only to follow later, but being a pioneering company ultimately lead to their downfall.
In 1947, the company acquired Aston Martin and in 1948, Lagonda. The David Brown investment led to the DB series of Aston Martins.
Both car companies were sold in 1972 to Company Developments Limited Aston Martin then in financial trouble for a nominal £100.
In 1990, the family disposed of its stake to its management who floated the group as a public company in 1993. David Brown was acquired by Textron Inc. in October 1998.
The company, trading as David Brown Engineering Ltd, headquartered in Huddersfield, is now a leading supplier of heavy transmission systems for industrial, defence and marine applications.
Sources of Information
- [1] Wikipedia
- Machine Tools by James Weir French in 2 vols. Published 1911 by Gresham
- The Engineer of 3rd September 1920 p233