Accles & Pollock is a British tube manipulation company based in Oldbury, West Midlands.
The company was started in 1896 by James George Accles as Accles Ltd, based at Holford Mill in Perry Barr in Birmingham as a producer of cold-drawn steel tubing, with the aim of supplying it to the bicycle industry. Accles, employed by Colt 1867–1886, designed the Accles machine gun circa 1888; this was a modified Gatling gun. [1] [2] This company was liquidated in 1898 and Accles' secretary, Charles Barlow, took over, the company becoming the Accles Tube Syndicate, and being renamed Accles and Pollock in 1901, after financial backing was provided by Mr. Tom Pollock.
In 1902 the company moved to nearby Oldbury, and always listed itself as being in 'Oldbury, Birmingham'. [3] Here they produced the first tubular box spanners in 1905, and the first tubular sections for aircraft and the first tubular furniture in 1907. [4] In 1909 two acres of land were acquired in Rounds Green, Oldbury which became Paddock Works. In 1913 they started manufacturing tubular steel shafts for golf clubs, having patented a process for producing seamless tapered tubes, but these were banned by The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews, and so these could not be sold in Britain, although their use was permitted in America. The Accles & Pollock tube brand is currently owned by Tyco.
Accles and Pollock was a leading British bicycle tubing manufacturer. Many leading bike builders in the UK during the 1930s, 40s and 50s preferred to use their tubesets as they were air hardening, which become stronger when brazed, unlike the manganese based Reynolds tube which is weakened by heating. Accles and Pollock Kromo tubing was used by Hobbs of Barbican, Rattrays of Glasgow "The Flying Scot" and Thanet in their "Silverlight" model.
The one-off Seddon Mayfly aircraft was built by Accles and Pollock, and used their tubes for much of its airframe. [5]
The chronology of Accles & Pollock is as follows: [6]
The archives for Accles & Pollock are held at Sandwell Community History and Archives Service
A slingshot or catapult, gulel (India), kettie, ging, shanghai, or pachoonga is normally a small hand-powered projectile weapon. The classic form consists of a Y-shaped frame held in the non-dominant hand, with two natural-rubber strips or tubes attached to the upper two ends. The other ends of the strips lead back to a pocket that holds the projectile. The dominant hand grasps the pocket and draws it back to the desired extent to provide power for the projectile—up to a full span of the arm with sufficiently long bands.
Vickers was a famous name in British engineering that existed through many companies from 1828 until 1999.
A ferrule is any of a number of types of objects, generally used for fastening, joining, sealing, or reinforcement. They are often narrow circular rings made from metal, or less commonly, plastic. Ferrules are also often referred to as eyelets or grommets within the manufacturing industry.
Sandvik AB is a Swedish multinational engineering company specializing in metal cutting, digital and additive manufacturing, mining and construction, stainless and special steel alloys, and industrial heating. The company was founded in Sweden in 1862. In 2020, the Sandvik Group had approximately 37,000 employees and revenues of about 86 billion SEK in more than 160 countries. Europe accounted for 35% of its sales, followed by North America (22%), Asia (20%), Africa/Middle East (9%), Australia (9%) and South America (5%).
The Accles-Turrell was an English automobile built between 1899 and 1901 in Perry Bar, Birmingham, England and from 1901 to 1902 in Ashton-under-Lyne.
Birmingham is one of England's principal industrial centres and has a history of industrial and scientific innovation. It was once known as 'city of a thousand trades' and in 1791, Arthur Young described Birmingham as "the first manufacturing town in the world". Right up until the mid-19th century Birmingham was regarded as the prime industrial urban town in Britain and perhaps the world, the town's rivals were more specific in their trade bases. Mills and foundries across the world were helped along by the advances in steam power and engineering that were taking place in the city. The town offered a vast array of industries and was the world's leading manufacturer of metal ware, although this was by no means the only trade flourishing in the town.
Accles & Shelvoke is a company based in the English Midlands, founded in 1903 by James George Accles and James Shelvoke as Bennett's Successors Ltd, adopting its present name in 1913. It is a manufacturer of humane slaughtering pistols, and has developed them since the early twentieth century. Since 1952 it has also manufactured cable spikers, used to ensure high-voltage electrical cables are de-energised prior to working on them. In 2017, the company was acquired by Frontmatec.
Harry Shelvoke (1877-1962) was one of the founding members of the British coachbuilding and engineering company Shelvoke and Drewry.
Flare fittings are a type of compression fitting used with metal tubing, usually soft steel, ductile (soft) copper and aluminum, though other materials are also used. Tube flaring is a type of forging operation, and is usually a cold working procedure. During assembly, a flare nut is used to secure the flared tubing's tapered end to the also tapered fitting, producing a pressure-resistant, leak-tight seal. Flared connections offer a high degree of long-term reliability and for this reason are often used in mission-critical and inaccessible locations.
A pipe is a tubular section or hollow cylinder, usually but not necessarily of circular cross-section, used mainly to convey substances which can flow — liquids and gases (fluids), slurries, powders and masses of small solids. It can also be used for structural applications; hollow pipe is far stiffer per unit weight than solid members.
Pope Manufacturing Company was founded by Albert Augustus Pope around 1876 in Boston, Massachusetts, and incorporated in Connecticut in 1877. Manufacturing of bicycles began in 1878 in Hartford, Connecticut, at the Weed Sewing Machine Company factory. Pope manufactured bicycles, motorcycles, and automobiles. From 1905 to 1913, Pope gradually consolidated manufacturing to the Westfield Mass plant. The main offices remained in Hartford. It ceased automobile production in 1915 and ceased motorcycle production in 1918. The company subsequently underwent a variety of changes in form, name and product lines through the intervening years. Yet all the way up to present-day, bicycles continue to be made available under the Columbia brand.
Reynolds Technology is a manufacturer of tubing for bicycle frames and other bicycle components based in Birmingham, England established in 1898.
Vickers Limited was a British engineering conglomerate. The business began in Sheffield in 1828 as a steel foundry and became known for its church bells, going on to make shafts and propellors for ships, armour plate and then artillery. Entire large ships, cars, tanks and torpedoes followed. Airships and aircraft were added, and Vickers jet airliners were to remain in production until 1965.
TI Group plc was a holding company for specialised engineering companies. It was based in Abingdon, Oxfordshire. It was registered as Tube Investments in 1919, combining the seamless steel tube businesses of Tubes Ltd, New Credenda Tube, Simplex and Accles & Pollock. Reynolds Tube joined the group in 1928.
Vallourec S.A. is a multinational manufacturing company headquartered in Boulogne-Billancourt, Paris, France. Vallourec specializes in hot rolled seamless steel tubes, expandable tubular technology, automotive parts, and stainless steel, which it provides to energy, construction, automotive, and mechanical industries. Vallourec shares are listed on NYSE Euronext.
Orrcon Steel, a part of the BlueScope group, is an Australian distributor and manufacturer of steel, tube and pipe.
A tube, or tubing, is a long hollow cylinder used for moving fluids or to protect electrical or optical cables and wires.
The Seddon Mayfly was a tandem biplane of unusual construction. It was designed by Royal Navy Lieutenant John W. Seddon and A. G. Hackett and built by Accles & Pollock. When built it was the largest aeroplane in the world, but it failed to fly when tested.
The Wellman Group is a group of manufacturing companies that make boilers and advanced defence equipment. It is one of the main boilermakers in the UK, if not the most common for large-scale industrial applications, having taken over many well-known boiler companies.
Tube Investments of India Limited is a Murugappa Group company that specializes in engineering, bicycles, metal formed products, and chains. It is based in Chennai. It was incorporated as TI Cycles of India Limited in 1949, as a joint venture company.
