Whitney (City Road, London)

Messrs Whitney
Industry	mechanical and electrical engineering
Founded	1875
Defunct	c. 1941
Headquarters	London, England
Key people	Edward Whitney Snr., Edward Whitney Jnr., Charles Whitney
Products	small engines, dynamos, pumps, boilers

Last updated August 05, 2023

Whitney was initially a shop established in 1875 in City Road, London, for the buying and selling of scientific apparatus, also using the name The Scientific Exchange. It later developed to include the sale of small engineering items including model steam engines, boilers, gas engines, steam pumps, electrically driven water fountain pumps, and water powered turbines (the Whitney Water Motor), most of which were marked Whitney, City Road, London. The electrical side of the business was considerable and included installing telephone systems and electric lighting, as well as selling generators and batteries.

Early history

The Whitney Water Motor c1906 WhitneyWaterMotor.jpg — The Whitney Water Motor c1906

The early history of the business was captured in the Model Engineer magazine in 1919.^[1] Edward Whitney created the business trading in scientific equipment as a sideline to his existing business, and so placed it under his son Edward Elgar Whitney in 1875. When Edward Whitney Snr died in 1888 the business was consolidated under the control of his sons Edward Elgar Whitney and Charles Crapnell Whitney at 129 City Road, later expanding to include 131 City Road (and c.1905 to 1911 also at 117 City Road). A substantial part of the business became model and small scale engineering particularly related to small-scale generation of electricity for charging batteries and lighting, and ways of driving other light loads including gas, oil and steam engines.^{[ citation needed ]}

One product that was to have a particularly long run was the Whitney Water Motor, a small (8.5 inch) enclosed Pelton water wheel. Connected to a water supply this could be used to drive light loads via a pulley and belt. Water motors had uses such as laboratory stirrers, charging batteries, and driving sewing machines. It was reported^[2] in 1905 that the Whitney Water Motor was rated at 1/4h.p. with 60psi water pressure, which they felt was conservative. It was still advertised in 1931, available as a complete unit, or as a set of castings.^{[ citation needed ]}

There was a substantial electrical side to their business including generators and batteries, but also extending to installing telephone systems, and lighting, for businesses. In the 1890s they had a very visible advert in City Road as they had erected an arc lamp enclosed in a large elaborate globe. This was driven by current from their own Atkinson twin-cylinder gas engine driving an electric generator, and was at the time the only electric light in the neighbourhood.^[1]

First World War

During the war, the engineering side of Whitney was involved in the production of gunmetal bevel wheels for aircraft, and pressure safety valves that were modified for use on aircraft fuel tanks. The electrical side of the business was involved in the production of field telephone sets, and accumulators (electrochemical cell batteries) for war purposes.^[1]

At some time during or immediately after the war, the company acquired stock and casting patterns from several companies, including the model steam fittings of Betrand Garside, the model locomotive 'specialities' of Southwark Engineering Co, and the productions of the Gas Engine Repair Co.

Inter-war Years

While Whitney bought and sold a wide range of different model engines, they increasingly developed their own line of model steam engines, particularly for model marine use, and also small steam powered water pumps, and steam boilers. These fairly distinctive models are invariably maroon in colour and comprise a large amount of brass or bronze castings in preference to cast iron. They all bore a small oval badge stating Whitney City Road London, and it seems likely they were sold as complete items rather than as sets of castings. There were at least two steam engines designed to drive two contra-rotating propeller shafts, using two crankshafts geared together. One used two vertical slide valve cylinders arranged as a twin cylinder compound engine,^[3] and another was a twin cylinder single acting unit with a layout similar to the Stuart Turner No.2 MTB engine, though all in brass/bronze.

The business continued to buy and sell scientific equipment through the 1920s, especially electrical equipment such as Wimshurst machines (devices for creating a high voltage). It appears the model steam engines ceased in the early 1930s as adverts in the Model Engineer from about 1933 are for their electrically driven water pump for garden fountains.

The business lasted until the war, and there are references to centrifugal water pumps for air raid shelters by a C.C.Whitney & Co Ltd of London during the war years.^[4] The business was reported to have been "bombed out" during the war.^[5]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Engine</span> Machine that converts one or more forms of energy into mechanical energy (of motion)

An engine or motor is a machine designed to convert one or more forms of energy into mechanical energy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Steam engine</span> Heat engine that performs mechanical work using steam as its working fluid

A steam engine is a heat engine that performs mechanical work using steam as its working fluid. The steam engine uses the force produced by steam pressure to push a piston back and forth inside a cylinder. This pushing force can be transformed, by a connecting rod and crank, into rotational force for work. The term "steam engine" is generally applied only to reciprocating engines as just described, not to the steam turbine. Steam engines are external combustion engines, where the working fluid is separated from the combustion products. The ideal thermodynamic cycle used to analyze this process is called the Rankine cycle. In general usage, the term steam engine can refer to either complete steam plants, such as railway steam locomotives and portable engines, or may refer to the piston or turbine machinery alone, as in the beam engine and stationary steam engine.

An auxiliary power unit (APU) is a device on a vehicle that provides energy for functions other than propulsion. They are commonly found on large aircraft and naval ships as well as some large land vehicles. Aircraft APUs generally produce 115 V AC voltage at 400 Hz, to run the electrical systems of the aircraft; others can produce 28 V DC voltage. APUs can provide power through single or three-phase systems.

In electricity generation, a generator is a device that converts motion-based power or fuel-based power into electric power for use in an external circuit. Sources of mechanical energy include steam turbines, gas turbines, water turbines, internal combustion engines, wind turbines and even hand cranks. The first electromagnetic generator, the Faraday disk, was invented in 1831 by British scientist Michael Faraday. Generators provide nearly all the power for electrical grids.

A starter is a device used to rotate (crank) an internal-combustion engine so as to initiate the engine's operation under its own power. Starters can be electric, pneumatic, or hydraulic. The starter can also be another internal-combustion engine in the case, for instance, of very large engines, or diesel engines in agricultural or excavation applications.

A stationary engine is an engine whose framework does not move. They are used to drive immobile equipment, such as pumps, generators, mills or factory machinery, or cable cars. The term usually refers to large immobile reciprocating engines, principally stationary steam engines and, to some extent, stationary internal combustion engines. Other large immobile power sources, such as steam turbines, gas turbines, and large electric motors, are categorized separately.

Electrification is the process of powering by electricity and, in many contexts, the introduction of such power by changing over from an earlier power source.

The Ganz Machinery Works Holding is a Hungarian holding company. Its products are related to rail transport, power generation, and water supply, among other industries.

Crossley, based in Manchester, United Kingdom, was a pioneering company in the production of internal combustion engines. Since 1988 it has been part of the Rolls-Royce Power Engineering group.

In rail transport, head-end power (HEP), also known as electric train supply (ETS), is the electrical power distribution system on a passenger train. The power source, usually a locomotive at the front or 'head' of a train, provides the electricity used for heating, lighting, electrical and other 'hotel' needs. The maritime equivalent is hotel electric power. A successful attempt by the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway in October 1881 to light the passenger cars on the London to Brighton route heralded the beginning of using electricity to light trains in the world.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Turbo generator</span>

A turbo generator is an electric generator connected to the shaft of a steam turbine or gas turbine for the generation of electric power. Large steam-powered turbo generators provide the majority of the world's electricity and are also used by steam-powered turbo-electric ships.

Sidney Marmaduke Stuart Turner was an English engineer. He was the founder of the company Stuart Turner Ltd.

The Santler was a British car built in Malvern Link, Worcestershire, England, between 1889 and 1922. They have a good claim to be Britain's first makers of petrol driven cars.

Marine propulsion is the mechanism or system used to generate thrust to move a watercraft through water. While paddles and sails are still used on some smaller boats, most modern ships are propelled by mechanical systems consisting of an electric motor or internal combustion engine driving a propeller, or less frequently, in pump-jets, an impeller. Marine engineering is the discipline concerned with the engineering design process of marine propulsion systems.

A stationary engineer is a technically trained professional who operates, troubleshoots and oversees industrial machinery and equipment that provide and utilize energy in various forms.

An engine–generator is the combination of an electrical generator and an engine mounted together to form a single piece of equipment. This combination is also called an engine–generator set or a gen-set. In many contexts, the engine is taken for granted and the combined unit is simply called a generator. An engine–generator may be a fixed installation, part of a vehicle, or made small enough to be portable.

Körting Hannover AG is a long-standing industrial engineering company in Hanover.

An internal combustion engine is a heat engine in which the combustion of a fuel occurs with an oxidizer in a combustion chamber that is an integral part of the working fluid flow circuit. In an internal combustion engine, the expansion of the high-temperature and high-pressure gases produced by combustion applies direct force to some component of the engine. The force is typically applied to pistons, turbine blades, a rotor, or a nozzle. This force moves the component over a distance, transforming chemical energy into kinetic energy which is used to propel, move or power whatever the engine is attached to.

Stuart Turner Ltd is a British engineering company, based in Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire, England, founded by engineer Sidney Marmaduke Stuart Turner in 1906.

Arthur Lyon & Co Ltd. was a company based in London, England founded by Arthur Anderson Lyon M.I.Mech.E. (1876–1962).

References

1 2 3 Model Engineering Firms of To-Day : Messrs. Whitney, The Model Engineer, Vol XL, no 943, 22 May 1919, pp389-393
↑ "News of the Trade", The Model Engineer & Electrician, Vol XII, No 117, 2 Feb 1905, p119
↑ Twin cylinder compound Whitney engine
↑ "Pumps for Shelters", Model Engineer, Vol 84, No 2087, p370, (c1941)
↑ "Introducing Model Marine Steam", Cundell & King, Argus Books, ISBN 0852428146, 1983, p20