| Type | Partnership |
|---|---|
| Predecessor | Howard & Bleakley |
| Founded | 1856 |
| Headquarters | Accrington, Lancashire , England |
| Products | Power looms |
| Footnotes /references Tweedales and Smalley was formed by this companies executives. | |
Howard & Bullough was a firm of textile machine manufacturers in Accrington, Lancashire. The company was the world's major manufacturer of power looms in the 1860s.
The firm of Howard and Bleakley was founded in 1851 with four workers; [1] in 1856 Bleakley retired and the partnership was changed to Howard & Bullough. John Bullough had perfected a self-acting temple on his handloom, and with William Kenworthy at Brookhouse Mills had been responsible for the Lancashire Loom. [2] By 1856 they employed 150 workers; John's son James joined in 1862. They initially concentrated on looms, but eventually expanded to manufacture the complete range of machinery used in a cotton mill.
John Bullough, (b. 1837) died in 1891. By then Bulloughs was the world's largest manufacturer of ring spinning frames, and John, the owner of the Isle of Rùm, was the first cotton machine manufacturing millionaire. Three of the company's executives, Edmund and Samuel Tweedale and Joseph Smalley left to set up business in Castleton, Rochdale. The firm was Tweedales and Smalley. The company's first spindles equipped the Newhey Spinning Mill in February 1893. In 1897 they provided spinning machinery for use in the Drezna factory established by Ivan Zimin. [3]
Bulloughs was one of the country's largest manufacturers. At its peak the Globe Works dominated the town, employing almost 6,000 workers and covering 52 acres (21 ha). Seventy-five percent of the company's production was exported.
Following the refusal of Howard & Bullough's management to meet the demands of the Amalgamated Society of Engineers (ASE) for trade union recognition and a minimum wage, up to 600 engineers at the works went on strike on 2 July. Six days later, the management locked-out the whole workforce of nearly 5,000 men and boys. Although members of the A.S.E. received £1/week lock-out pay while on strike and 1100 members of the Gasworkers and General Labourers Union received 10s (50 pence)/week, some 2,000 non-union workers were left without any income. At this time, the defensive Battle of Mons was being fought and the War Office was actively seeking to recruit men. A Pals battalion had been raised in Manchester, and the Mayor of Accrington undertook to raise a battalion of Accrington Men. [4]
During the Second World War they turned to manufacture of armaments such as bayonets, shells, gun carriages, mine sinkers and aircraft components.
In the recession of the 1930s, Platt Brothers, Howard and Bullough, Brooks and Doxey, Asa Lees, Dobson and Barlow, Joseph Hibbert, John Hetherington and Tweedales and Smalley merged to become Textile Machinery Makers Ltd., but the individual units continued to trade under their own names until the 1970s, when they were rationalised into one company called Platt UK Ltd. [5] In 1991 the company changed its name to Platt Saco Lowell. [6] The Globe Works closed in 1993.
James Bullough improved his loom by inventing various components, including the "self-acting temple", which kept the woven cloth at its correct width, the weft fork (patented 1841 but disputed by Osbaldeston) and a loose reed that allowed the lathe to back away on encountering a shuttle trapped in the warp. Bullough also invented a simple but effective warning device which rang a bell every time the warp thread broke on his loom. He worked with William Kenworthy at Brookhouse Mills, with whom he applied his inventions to develop an improved power loom that became known as the Lancashire Loom.
John Bullough, with James Whittaker and John Walmsley, developed a machine, patented in 1852, that sized two warps and wound them on two beams simultaneously. [7]
In accordance with the traditions of the times, Bulloughs attempted to improve the lives of its workers with acts of philanthropy. It gave James Bullough Park to the town of Accrington in 1913, and the Globe Tennis club grounds in 1926. [8]
The spinning jenny is a multi-spindle spinning frame, and was one of the key developments in the industrialization of textile manufacturing during the early Industrial Revolution. It was invented in 1764 or 1765 by James Hargreaves in Stanhill, Oswaldtwistle, Lancashire in England.
A power loom is a mechanized loom, and was one of the key developments in the industrialization of weaving during the early Industrial Revolution. The first power loom was designed in 1786 by Edmund Cartwright and first built that same year. It was refined over the next 47 years until a design by the Howard and Bullough company made the operation completely automatic. This device was designed in 1834 by James Bullough and William Kenworthy, and was named the Lancashire loom.
A cotton mill is a building that houses spinning or weaving machinery for the production of yarn or cloth from cotton, an important product during the Industrial Revolution in the development of the factory system.
Textile manufacture during the Industrial Revolution in Britain was centred in south Lancashire and the towns on both sides of the Pennines. In Germany it was concentrated in the Wupper Valley, Ruhr Region and Upper Silesia, in Spain it was concentrated in Catalonia while in the United States it was in New England. The main key drivers of the Industrial Revolution were textile manufacturing, iron founding, steam power, oil drilling, the discovery of electricity and its many industrial applications, the telegraph and many others. Railroads, steam boats, the telegraph and other innovations massively increased worker productivity and raised standards of living by greatly reducing time spent during travel, transportation and communications.
Platt Brothers, also known as Platt Bros & Co Ltd, was a British company based at Werneth in Oldham, North West England. The company manufactured textile machinery and were iron founders and colliery proprietors. By the end of the 19th century, the company had become the largest textile machinery manufacturer in the world, employing more than 12,000 workers.
The Lancashire Loom was a semi-automatic power loom invented by James Bullough and William Kenworthy in 1842. Although it is self-acting, it has to be stopped to recharge empty shuttles. It was the mainstay of the Lancashire cotton industry for a century.
Tweedales and Smalley was a manufacturer of textile machinery in Castleton, Rochdale, Greater Manchester, in England. It specialised in ring spinning frames mainly for export.
Ring spinning is a method of spinning fibres, such as cotton, flax or wool, to make a yarn. The ring frame developed from the throstle frame, which in its turn was a descendant of Arkwright's water frame. Ring spinning is a continuous process, unlike mule spinning which uses an intermittent action. In ring spinning, the roving is first attenuated by using drawing rollers, then spun and wound around a rotating spindle which in its turn is contained within an independently rotating ring flyer. Traditionally ring frames could only be used for the coarser counts, but they could be attended by semi-skilled labour.
John Hetherington & Sons was a textile machinery manufacturer from Ancoats, Manchester in England, founded in 1830
In the recession of the 1930s, Platt Brothers, Howard and Bullough, Brooks and Doxey, Asa Lees, Dobson and Barlow, Joseph Hibbert, John Hetherington and Tweedales and Smalley merged to become Textile Machinery Makers Ltd., but the individual units continued to trade under their own names until the 1970, when they were rationalised into one company called Platt UK Ltd. In 1991 the company name changed to Platt Saco Lowell. The Globe works closed in 1993.
Asa Lees was a firm of textile machine manufacturers in Oldham, Lancashire. Their headquarters was the Soho Iron Works, Greenacres. It was second only in size to Platt Brothers.
Dobson and Barlow were manufacturers of textile machinery with works in Bolton, Greater Manchester. Isaac Dobson (1767-1833) founded the company in 1790 and by 1850 Dobson in partnership with Peter Rothwell had premises in Blackhorse Street which produced mules for cotton spinning. The company moved to a larger factory in Kay Street which had 1,600 workers in 1860.
Butterworth and Dickinson were textile machinery manufacturers in Burnley, Lancashire, England. Known as "Butts and Dicks", the company made looms that were exported around the world.
Brooks & Doxey was a textile machinery manufacturer from West Gorton, Manchester in England.
Joseph Hibbert was a textile machinery manufacturer from Darwen, Lancashire in UK. The Iron, Brass and Copper Works was in Bridge Street.
Taylor, Lang & Co. was a textile machinery manufacturer based in Stalybridge, Greater Manchester, England.
May Mill, Pemberton is a cotton spinning mill in Pemberton, Wigan, Greater Manchester, England. Historically in Lancashire, it was built in 1889. It was taken over by the Lancashire Cotton Corporation in the 1930s and passed to Courtaulds in 1962–63 to produce carpet fibre, which it continued to do until its closure on 17 October 1980.
Harp Mill was a former cotton spinning mill in the Castleton, Rochdale, Greater Manchester, England. Queensway, Castleton was a hub of cotton mills including the three 't', Th'Arrow, Th'Harp, and Th'Ensor. The 1908 Castleton map includes: Marland Cotton Mill, Castleton Cotton Mill, Globe Works, Arrow Cotton Mill, Harp Cotton Mill, Globe Leather Works, Castleton Size Works and Castleton Iron Works. Th'Harp was taken over by the Lancashire Cotton Corporation in the 1930s and passed to Courtaulds in 1964. The site now houses industrial units.
The Globe Works is a former industrial works in Accrington, Lancashire, England, that following refurbishment contains rented offices and conference rooms and is known as the Globe Centre. The centre is made up of the remainder of The Globe Works, which created machinery and looms for the cotton industry under management of the Howard & Bullough firm.
The technique of sizing a warp was mechanised during the nineteenth century when William Radcliffe and his assistant Thomas Johnson invented the sizing machine. The purpose of introducing size, which is either a starchy substance for cotton or gelatinous mixture for woollen fibre, is to reduce the chances of threads fraying and breaking due to the friction of the weaving process. The size stiffens the thread and helps the fibres lie closely together. Many recipes for size can be found in textile manufacturing books. The recipes include flour, sago, china clay, types of soap, fats and some chemicals.
 | Wikimedia Commons has media related to Howard and Bullough . |
