George Richards and Co
George Richards and Co of Broadheath, Altrincham were makers of Machine Tools and Line Shaft Fittings and Pulleys.
1880 Company founded by George Richards, an American, who established a factory (Atlantic Works) in City Road, Hulme, Manchester for building woodworking machinery, in partnership with Mr A Atkinson (probably E Atkinson - see Richards and Atkinson). Atkinson retired in 1885, by which time the company had moved to a new larger factory in Broadheath, Altrincham.[2], also known as the Atlantic Works.
1885 Private company.
1886 George Richards and Co started to build patent universal horizontal surfacing, boring, milling, drilling and tapping machines under licence from Frank Pearn and Co. They were advertised jointly by Frank Pearn and Co and George Richards and Co.[3] - Pearn-Richards
1891 Released a series of 8 catalogues of their machine tools. [4]
1895 Description and illustrations of multiple drilling machine made by George Richards and Co. for the Horwich works of the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway Company, and intended for drilling through the steel ring, wood cushion, and steel web of railway carriage wheels, automatically and at one setting. [5]
1895 Engraving and description of a double set of rolls constructed by George Richards and Co. for the bending of plates with either straight or convex faces, such as are used generally in the manufacture of wrought-iron pulleys[6]
1896 Taken over by Tilghmans but operated as a separate company
1896 Description and engraving of a plano-milling machine made for Sulzer Brothers[7]. See illustration.
1911 Makers of Universal Facing, Boring, Drilling and Milling Machines. [8]
1911 Vertical crankshaft turning machine at Marshall, Sons and Co described in American Machinist [9]
1911 Automatic lubricator for shafts. [10]
By 1912, the company had confined its activities to the manufacture of high class machine tools including the Pearn-Richards patent universal horizontal surfacing, boring, miffing, drilling and tapping machines.[11]
1914 Engineers. Specialities: side planing machines, boring and turning mills, facing and boring machines, drilling machines, radial drilling machines, pulleys and line. Employees 700 to 800. [12]
1920 Article on new taper boring head for Vertical Boring Mills in 'The Engineer'. [13]
1935 See George Richards and Co:1935 Review
1953 Owned by Tilghman's Ltd
1961 Engineers, specialising in boring and turning mills, slot drilling and key-seating machines, and side planing machines. [14]
1965 January: Was still in the red but the owners, Staveley Coal and Iron Co, expected further improvement[15]
1967 The foundry was closed as part of the rationalization of foundries in the machine tool division of Staveley Industries; Kearns had been given responsibility for horizontal table borers, into which factory Richards' production was moved[16] - see Kearns-Richards
Notes
- End Milling Machine. Exhibit at Armley Mill Museum
- Drilling Machine. Exhibit at Bradford Industrial Museum
See Also
Sources of Information
- Directory 1891 Worrall's Cotton Spinners
- 1920 November. Exhibited at the Motor Car Show at Olympia and the White City with
- 'Broadheath 1885 - 1985 A Century of History' written and published by Frank Bamford. ISBN 0-9517225-2-2
- ↑ Engineering 1896/06/19
- ↑ 'Famous for a Century' by Curtis Sparkes, published by Erika Sparkes, 2008
- ↑ 'Famous for a Century' by Curtis Sparkes, Publ. Erika Sparkes, 2008
- ↑ The Engineer 1891/04/10
- ↑ Engineering 1895/01/11
- ↑ Engineering 1895/09/06
- ↑ Engineering 1896/06/19
- ↑ Machine Tools by James Weir French in 2 vols. Published 1911 by Gresham
- ↑ [1] American Machinist, 16 Feb 1911, p.294
- ↑ The Engineer of 15th December 1911 p622
- ↑ Vintage Machinery [2]
- ↑ 1914 Whitakers Red Book
- ↑ The Engineer of 12th November 1920 p485
- ↑ 1961 Dun and Bradstreet KBE
- ↑ The Times , Jan 14, 1965
- ↑ The Times, Feb 20, 1968