Willans & Robinson

Last updated

Willans & Robinson Limited manufacturing engineers of Thames Ditton, Surrey. Later, from 1896, at Victoria Works, Rugby, Warwickshire, England. They were manufacturers of stationary reciprocating steam engines then steam turbines, diesel motors and generators. They also ran their own foundry.

Contents

During World War I it became necessary to sell control of the business to Dick, Kerr & Co. They soon went into the English Electric grouping but Willans & Robinson retained its identity and some independent shareholders until 1935 when it was liquidated.

In the 21st century Willans & Robinson's business is represented by Alstom where it was taken by GEC in 1989 along with English Electric.

Ferry Works, Thames Ditton

High speed reciprocating steam engine 077 mNACTEC, maquina de vapor d'alta velocitat Willans & Robinson.jpg
High speed reciprocating steam engine

The business was founded by Peter William Willans (1851-1892) and Mark Robinson (1844-1923) in the 1870s at their Ferry Works site to manufacture high speed reciprocating steam engines for launches. The major advance was that Willan's engines had all working parts enclosed and they were splash-lubricated, this was new. They soon employed some 400 people. [1]

The rise of the Electricity industry created a new demand for their engines. Their engines were designed to operate at a constant speed and were ideal for electricity generation. At their peak their central valve engines provided 68% of Britain's installed capacity for generation of electricity. [1]

In this period of prosperity Willans was able to improve his designs and develop better manufacturing techniques, particularly the use of standardised interchangeable components. His research into the performance of his engines won him the reputation of having a scientific approach. [2]

Willans was the engineer, Robinson found the capital. Their new buildings at Thames Ditton (1888), Queensferry (1899) and Rugby (1896) were all of high quality and distinguished design. [1] Son of a General and by profession a military engineer H Riall Sankey joined the board in 1889 and was appointed chief engineer following Willans' death shortly after being thrown from his dog cart on the way to Brookwood Station. Sankey designed the new works at Rugby and remained with the business and a board-member until 1905 when he left to become a consulting engineer. [3]

The Thames Ditton works were destroyed by fire in 1888 but they were rebuilt to a new and better design. [1] That same year they formed a limited liability company to own the business. [4] The partners and their friends subscribed for the first issue of shares and none were offered to the public. [5] Following Peter Willans death the remaining shareholders decided to issue new shares to the public to raise capital to expand operations and meet demand for the company's engines and in particular for the large engines required to drive cotton and flax mills. [6] The new shares were listed on the London Stock Exchange in July 1894. [7]

The works were severely damaged by flood in 1894. Willans & Robinson moved their operation to Rugby in 1896 but Ferry Works at Ditton remained in use until 1980 by AC Cars. [1]

Queensferry

A new building in Pentre, Deeside, Flintshire CH5 2DA was built in 1899 for the manufacture of water tube boilers and special steels. Advertised for sale as early as 1907 the workshops area was 150,000 square feet and it had a 1200 feet frontage to the LNW main line. [8] Its operation was closed in 1910. [9]
The building was described by Nikolaus Pevsner as "the most advanced British building of its date". [10]

Victoria Works, Rugby

Victoria Works, Rugby 2005 Rugby - Alstom - geograph.org.uk - 76846.jpg
Victoria Works, Rugby 2005

Soon after establishing their own fine new Victoria Works in 1896 at Newbold Road, Rugby. CV21 2NH, Willans & Robinson began the switch to steam turbines to match the efficiency of their competition's double-acting designs. After new designer H F Fullagar left the business C A Parsons and later Curtis designs were built under licence. [1]

English Electric's success with diesel-electric traction sprang from the pioneering work carried out at Willans & Robinson, Rugby, from 1904. [11]

In October 1908 the chairman reported to shareholders that the new metallic filament lamps had much reduced the demand for electricity and, while it would doubtless be followed by a great extension of demand, for the present there was a check on the sale of steam turbines. There was however some expansion in demand for Diesel engines and condensing plants. [12]

In March 1909 it was announced Willans & Robinson would be manufacturing water turbines, both Pelton and low-pressure wheels. [13]

Through World War I Salmson aero engines were manufactured under licence. [1]

In 1916 control of Willans & Robinson (86% later increased to 93% of the capital) was sold to Dick, Kerr & Co. [14]

A 1901 Willans engine generating set was retired in 1957 and placed on display here. In 2011 this was recognised with an Engineering Heritage Award. [15] [16] In 2017 it was transferred to the Internal Fire – Museum of Power in West Wales. [17]

Notable alumni

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Locomotive</span> Self-propelled railway vehicle

A locomotive or engine is a rail transport vehicle that provides the motive power for a train. If a locomotive is capable of carrying a payload, it is usually rather referred to as a multiple unit, motor coach, railcar or power car; the use of these self-propelled vehicles is increasingly common for passenger trains, but rare for freight trains.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">George Westinghouse</span> American engineer and businessman (1846–1912)

George Westinghouse Jr. was an American entrepreneur and engineer based in Pennsylvania who created the railway air brake and was a pioneer of the electrical industry, receiving his first patent at the age of 19. Westinghouse saw the potential of using alternating current for electric power distribution in the early 1880s and put all his resources into developing and marketing it. This put Westinghouse's business in direct competition with Thomas Edison, who marketed direct current for electric power distribution. In 1911 Westinghouse received the American Institute of Electrical Engineers's (AIEE) Edison Medal "For meritorious achievement in connection with the development of the alternating current system". He founded the Westinghouse Electric Corporation in 1886.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Westinghouse Electric Corporation</span> Defunct American manufacturing company

The Westinghouse Electric Corporation was an American manufacturing company founded in 1886 by George Westinghouse. It was originally named "Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company" and was renamed "Westinghouse Electric Corporation" in 1945. The company acquired the CBS television network in 1995 and was renamed "CBS Corporation" until being acquired by Viacom in 1999, a merger completed in April 2000. The CBS Corporation name was later reused for one of the two companies resulting from the split of Viacom in 2005.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">English Electric</span> British industrial manufacturer, 1918–1968

The English Electric Company Limited (EE) was a British industrial manufacturer formed after the armistice ending the fighting of World War I by amalgamating five businesses which, during the war, had been making munitions, armaments and aeroplanes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stationary engine</span>

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.

Metropolitan-Vickers, Metrovick, or Metrovicks, was a British heavy electrical engineering company of the early-to-mid 20th century formerly known as British Westinghouse. Highly diversified, it was particularly well known for its industrial electrical equipment such as generators, steam turbines, switchgear, transformers, electronics and railway traction equipment. Metrovick holds a place in history as the builders of the first commercial transistor computer, the Metrovick 950, and the first British axial-flow jet engine, the Metropolitan-Vickers F.2. Its factory in Trafford Park, Manchester, was for most of the 20th century one of the biggest and most important heavy engineering facilities in Britain and the world.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ruston & Hornsby</span> British industrial equipment manufacturer, 1918–1966

Ruston & Hornsby was an industrial equipment manufacturer in Lincoln, England founded in 1918. The company is best known as a manufacturer of narrow and standard gauge diesel locomotives and also of steam shovels. Other products included cars, steam locomotives and a range of internal combustion engines, and later gas turbines. It is now a subsidiary of Siemens.

Dick, Kerr and Company was a locomotive and tramcar manufacturer based in Kilmarnock, Scotland and Preston, England.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James L. Gray</span> British engineer

James Laird Gray (1926–2010) was a Scottish engineer who helped develop several power stations in England and Scotland. An important figure in the field of steam turbine technology in the UK, he received the Thomas Hawksley Medal and the James Clayton Award from the Institute of Mechanical Engineers for his work at two nuclear power stations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Coventry Ordnance Works</span> British weapons manufacturer

Coventry Ordnance Works was a British manufacturer of heavy guns particularly naval artillery jointly owned by Cammell Laird & Co of Sheffield and Birkenhead, Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company of Govan, Glasgow and John Brown & Company of Clydebank and Sheffield. Its core operations were from a 60-acre site in Stoney Stanton Road in the English city of Coventry, Warwickshire.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Matthew Henry Phineas Riall Sankey</span> Irish engineer (1853–1925)

Matthew Henry Phineas Riall Sankey was an Irish engineer and captain in the Royal Engineers, known as the creator of the Sankey diagram.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shoreham Power Station</span> Gas-fired power station

Shoreham Power Station is a 420MWe combined cycle gas-fired power station in Southwick, West Sussex. It was built on the site of the Shoreham B Power Station.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Internal Fire Museum of Power</span> Technology museum in Ceredigion, Wales

The Internal Fire Museum of Power is a museum of internal combustion engines in West Wales. The museum's collection is mostly of larger stationary diesel engines, as used for generating sets and pumping stations. The museum is located at Tan-y-groes, Ceredigion, near Cardigan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pyrmont Power Station</span>

Pyrmont Power Station was an electricity generating plant located in the Sydney suburb of Pyrmont, New South Wales.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Willans engine</span>

The Willans engine or central valve engine was a high-speed stationary steam engine used mainly for electricity generation around the start of the 20th century.

Willans may mean:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peter Brotherhood</span> English engineer

Peter Brotherhood (1838–1902) was an English engineer. He invented the Brotherhood engine used for torpedoes as well as many other engineering products.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Leicester power station</span>

Leicester power stations are a series of electricity generating stations that have provided electric power to the City of Leicester and the wider area from 1894. The first station, located within Aylestone gas works, supplied electricity for street lighting. The city's new electric tram system was supplied from 1904 by a station at Lero which operated until 1930. A large coal-fired power station was constructed at Freemans Meadow in 1922 and was operational until 1976. Finally a gas turbine power plant was commissioned in 1976.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nottingham Corporation Electricity Department</span>

The Nottingham Corporation Electricity Department was responsible for the production and supply of electricity in Nottingham, England, from 1894 to 1948.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Peter Coulls, Alain Foote and John Willock, address to Warwickshire Industrial Archaeology Society, May 2010 (reported in their newsletter No. 38, June 2010)
  2. Peter Turvey, ‘Willans, Peter William (1851–1892)’, rev. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004
  3. Captain Riall Sankey. The Times, Monday, Oct 05, 1925; pg. 16; Issue 44084
  4. Company No:25665, the National Archives BT 31/4027/25665
  5. Money-Market and City Intelligence. The Times, Tuesday, Jan 31, 1888; pg. 11; Issue 32296.
  6. Publications. The Times, Saturday, Mar 17, 1894; pg. 3; Issue 34214
  7. The Money Market. The Times, Monday, Jul 23, 1894; pg. 4; Issue 34323
  8. Houses, Land, &c., To Be Let And Sold. The Times, Saturday, Apr 20, 1907; pg. 4; Issue 38312
  9. Flintshire Record Office, Haw D/DM/532/5
  10. British Listed Buildings
  11. Display advertisement: 'English Electric'. The Times, Friday, Feb 18, 1955; pg. 5; Issue 53169
  12. Public Companies. The Times, Wednesday, Oct 07, 1908; pg. 17; Issue 38771
  13. Industrial Notes. The Times, Wednesday, Mar 17, 1909; pg. 18; Issue 38909
  14. City Notes. The Times, Thursday, Nov 01, 1917; pg. 11; Issue 41624
  15. "Engineering Heritage Awards" (PDF) (5th ed.). Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE). p. 47.
  16. "Central Valve Steam Engine". Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE).
  17. "Victorian engine built in Rugby leaves for restoration in Wales". Rugby Advertiser. 20 June 2017.