Grace's Guide
British Industrial History
Grace's Guide is the leading source of historical information on industry and manufacturing in Britain. This web publication contains 148,535 pages of information and 233,960 images on early companies, their products and the people who designed and built them.
G. and J. Weir
From Graces Guide
G. and J. Weir of Holm Foundry, Cathcart, Glasgow and now known as the Weir Group.
1869/70. Patent. '3650. To George Weir, of Glasgow, in the county of Lanark, and James Weir, of Liverpool, in the county of Lancaster, Engineers, for the invention of "improvements in slide valves."' [1]
1871/2 James Weir and his brother George Weir formed a partnership as consulting engineers G. and J. Weir and Co, based in Liverpool.
1871. Patent. '1936. And James Weir, of Glasgow, in the county of Lanark, North Britain, Engineer, has given the like notice in respect of the invention of " improvements in and connected with steam engines."— Partly a communication to him from abroad by George Weir, residing at Marseilles, and partly his own invention.'[2]
1872. Patent. '262. To George Weir, of Glasgow, in the county of Lanark, North Britain, Engineer, and James Weir, off Liverpool, in the county of Lancaster, Engineer, for the invention of "improvements in steam boilers." [3]
1872. Patent '3436. To James Weir, of Liverpool, in the county of Lancaster, Engineer, for the invention of "improvements in apparatus to be used as a safety valve, or in connection with other safety valves."' [4]
1873 Moved to Glasgow. They designed and patented boiler-feed auxiliaries for both land and marine service.
1874 The hydrokineter used nozzle injectors to promote circulation in ship engine boilers.
Between 1880 and 1886, James made (and patented) 3 major inventions - a device to use excess steam to heat feed water and remove air and lime; a pump for hot feed water; an evaporator for distilling sea water. All of these inventions remained in use for many decades
1886 G. and J. Weir was set up the Holm foundry at Cathcart
1888 Glasgow Exhibition. Showed feed heaters, condensers and evaporators. Also an automatic feed and blow-off. [5]
1895 The partnership was dissolved, to be replaced by a private company G. and J. Weir Ltd of Cathcart, Renfrewshire. George sold his shares and left the company. Capital was £60,000 in £10 shares.[6]
1900 Issued catalogue of marine feed-water heaters, feed pumps of many kinds, sea water evaporators, marine distillers and air pumps. [7]
1904 Built 3 Darracq cars to qualify as British made for the Gordon Bennett Cup[8]
1910 James Weir retired as chairman.
1914 Engineers. Specialities: marine auxiliary machinery, feed pumps, service pumps, independent air pumps, evaporators, surface condensers. [9]
WW1 they built aircraft for Airco in conjunction with Alexander Stephen and Sons
1924 Advert says they supply marine auxiliaries for steam and diesel engine ships including all types of pumps. [10]
1930 Acquired Contraflo Condenser and Kinetic Air Pump Co
1933 Constructors of Autogiros under licence from the Cierva Autogiro Co. Works: Cathcart, Glasgow. London Office: 78 Gracechurch Street, E.C.3.[11]
1933 Acquired A. G. Mumford
1937 Engineers and founders. [12]
1937 The Weir engine was designed for use in the Weir Autogiro (and other light aircraft). 2,000 cc air-cooled, inverted, underhead camshaft engine of 45 hp. It was being prepared for a type test[13].
1940 Advert. Pumps. [14]
1945 Advert. Boiler feed pumps; feeder heaters; de-aerators; distilling plants; feed regulators; air pumps; air compressors. [15]
1946 Boiler feed pump. Exhibit at Bradford Industrial Museum
1958 G. and J. Weir and Catton and Co combined their (steel and non-ferrous metal) foundry operations in a new company Weir-Catton which would acquire Cattons and Argus foundry from Weirs; the name of Argus foundry was changed to Weir Foundries[16]
1959 G. and J. Weir Holdings became just a holding company[17] of which G. and J. Weir was a subsidiary; held 50 percent interest in foundry company Weir-Catton which had 2 operating subsidiaries: Weir Foundries Ltd, and Catton and Co Ltd of Leeds.
1960 Advert. Boiler feed pumps. [18]
1960 Acquired the compressors business of Alley and MacLellan at Polmadie[19]
1967 Talks between W. H. Allen, Sons and Co, Mather and Platt and G. and J. Weir about rationalisation of pumps businesses eventually failed to reach agreement after almost 1 year[20].
1970 G. and J. Weir was renamed Weir Pumps Ltd[21] which also included Drysdale and Co, Harland Engineering Co and Weir Drysdale Service (London).
After several years when the group of companies in G. and J. Weir Holdings had been collectively referred to as Weir Group, the name seems to have been formally adopted.
See Also
Sources of Information
- ↑ [1] Gazette Issue 23590 published on the 25 February 1870
- ↑ [2] Gazette Issue 23788 published on the 24 October 1871
- ↑ [3] Gazette Issue 23826 published on the 9 February 1872
- ↑ [4] Gazette Issue 23924 published on the 29 November 1872
- ↑ The Engineer of 11th May 1888 p377
- ↑ Dundee Courier - Saturday 22 June 1895
- ↑ The Engineer of 6th July 1900 p23
- ↑ The Engineer 1904/04/29
- ↑ 1914 Whitakers Red Book
- ↑ 1924 Naval Annual Advert page xxv
- ↑ 1933 Who's Who in British Aviation
- ↑ 1937 The Aeroplane Directory of the Aviation and Allied Industries
- ↑ Flight, 18 March 1937
- ↑ Mechanical World Year Book 1940. Published by Emmott and Co of Manchester. Advert p158
- ↑ Mechanical World Year Book 1945. Published by Emmott and Co of Manchester. Advert p192
- ↑ The Times, Jul 17, 1958
- ↑ The Times, May 09, 1959
- ↑ Mechanical World Year Book 1960. Published by Emmott and Co of Manchester. Advert p115
- ↑ The Times, Aug 05, 1960
- ↑ The Times, 18 January 1967
- ↑ The Times, May 05, 1970
- Aeroplanes of the Royal Flying Corps (Military Wing) by J. M. Bruce. Published 1982 ISBN 0-370-30084-x
- Biography of James Weir, by Jason M. Reese, ODNB [5]