Gresham & Craven
Gresham & Craven was an English machine manufacturer in Salford / Walkden , Greater Manchester from 1869 to 1954 . His products included braking systems for locomotives and sewing machines .
history
James Gresham was an engineer at the locomotive manufacturer Sharp, Stewart & Co in Manchester, where he developed an injector in 1860 . The company management was initially unimpressed and continued to manufacture piston pumps . Gresham left the company and formed a partnership with John Spier Heron, a wire mattress manufacturer , who added this new product to their existing business.
Henri Giffard , who designed steam-powered airships in France in the 1850s , needed a high-speed evaporator to power a propeller. From 1866 onwards, steam injectors were manufactured by Gresham & Heron in England for Giffard .
1870 founded James Gresham, Thomas Craven and John Spier Heron at the ironworks Craven Iron Works in Odsall Lane Salford the company Heron, Gresham & Craven . In 1875, Heron left the company for health reasons, which was called Gresham & Craven from around 1879 . The company also made cast iron sewing machines for household use and vacuum braking equipment for locomotives, such as the Gresham "Dreadnought" air extractor.
1,875 were in Newark-on-Trent England experiments with different types of the east continuous train brakes on the Midland Railway carried out, but only the air brake by George Westinghouse and the vacuum brake by James Young Smith reached an acceptable performance. In 1879 the Vacuum Brake Company was founded in London , which acquired patents and established a sales organization, but did not have its own production facilities. For 75 years, Gresham & Craven was the sole supplier to the Vacuum Brake Company , which financed all orders and assumed the export risks. The production of sewing machines was stopped around 1884.
From 1881, the 12 most important British railway companies advocated standardization towards vacuum brakes. That year, George Westinghouse opened the UK agency of his rival Westinghouse Brake Company in London, through which he sold air brakes and a new vacuum braking system.
James Gresham sent his youngest son, Sam Gresham, to India to sell vacuum brakes. In 1889, the general manager of Indian Railways announced the introduction of the vacuum brake there. Burma , Ceylon , Siam and the Federated Malay States followed, as did most railways in Africa and South America .
To handle imports in India, the new company Heatly & Gresham Ltd was founded in 1892 , with a warehouse in Calcutta - Entally . By 1901, Heatly & Gresham developed into a commercial agency for numerous well-known companies. A third company was founded in Letchworth , Heatly Gresham Engineering Co. , which manufactured small oil engines for India. Large exhaust systems for EMU single railcars were later manufactured in India and elsewhere.
In 1905 the Heatly & Gresham warehouse and factory in Entally was sold to Saxby & Farmer of Chippenham . The location of the Letchworth works existed until 1933, after which the company was relocated to Manchester. In 1936 another company was Gresham & Craven of India (Private) Ltd. Founded in Gobra , Calcutta, just 1.5 km from the Saxby & Farmer office .
James Gresham died in 1914. Harry Edward Gresham became Chairman of Gresham & Craven and Director of the Vacuum Brake Company in 1915 .
Gresham & Craven were founded in 1954 by Westinghouse Brake & Signal Co Ltd. accepted. In 1957 the Salford plant closed and a new plant built in Walkden, Manchester. The Laycock Engineering Co. bought 1955 Vacuum Brake Company .
literature
- Cornelius Brown: History of Newark-on-Trent. Being the life story of an ancient town. Volume 2, Whiles, Newark 1907, p. 284.
- Indian Industries and Power. Volume 11, 1914, p. 287.
Web links
- Heron, Gresham & Craven. In: Virtual Museum of Antique and Vintage Sewing Machines, with images of The Gresham sewing machine.
- Gresham and Craven Limited. In: Science Museum
Individual evidence
- ^ Heron, Gresham & Craven. In: Antique and Vintage sewing machines. Virtual Museum.
- ^ Lieut-Col. Harry Edward Gresham (1864-1934), chairman of Gresham and Craven. In: Grace's Guide
- ↑ Gresham & Craven. In: Polunnio
- ^ Gresham and Craven of Craven Iron Works, Salford and Walkden, Manchester. In: Grace's Guide