Ransomes, Sims and Jefferies

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

• 1789 The company, as Ransomes, was founded by Robert Ransome, an ironfounder in Norwich before moving to Ipswich. He received patents for improvements to ploughs.

• 1809 Robert's son James Ransome became a partner in the company

• 1841 Were building staionary engines

• 1842 Exhibited a self-propelled model

• 1849 Moved to new works Orwell Works at Ipswich where they employed a thousand workers.

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

• 1854 William Sims joined the company

• 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 comapny

• 1884 The company name changed to Ransomes, Sims and Jeffries Ltd

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

• 1920 The company showed the new motor plough called The Boon at the Darlington Agricultural Show. It was a petrol-pariffin 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.

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

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

• 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.

Sources of Information

• [1] Wikipedia
• The Engineer of 9th July 1920
• Traction Engine Album by Malcolm Ranieri. Pub 2005
• The Engineer of 22nd October 1920 p400
• The Complete Encylopedia of Tractors by Mirco de Cet published in 2006 by Rebo International ISBN 978-90-366-1893-9