A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



its being lost in that of the North British Loco- 

 motive Co., Ltd. 



In the middle of the nineteenth century a 

 well-known Manchester engineering firm was 

 that of William Fairbairn & Sons. The 

 original firm was Fairbairn & Lillie, estab- 

 lished in 1817 in High Street, and later in 

 Mather Street. It was not until 1824 that the 

 works were removed to Canal Street, Ancoats. 

 At this time the firm was chiefly occupied with 

 providing machinery for cotton mills. The 

 partnership was dissolved in 1822, and Fairbairn 

 became sole proprietor of the works. He turned 

 his attention to iron shipbuilding and the 

 construction of steam engines. After a short 

 time the shipbuilding department was removed 

 to Mill wall on the Thames. In 1832 Fairbairn 

 began to make steam engines and boilers. About 

 1838 he undertook the construction of loco- 

 motives, of which more than six hundred in all 

 were built in his shops. In 184 1 he was joined 

 by his son Thomas, in 1846 by another son, 

 William Andrew, and the name of the firm was 

 altered to William Fairbairn & Sons. About 

 this time Fairbairn became much interested in 

 bridge building, and among others constructed 

 several tubular bridges. Sir William Fairbairn 

 retired in 1853 from the business, which was 

 continued by his sons. In 1864 it was converted 

 into a limited liability company under the name 

 of the Fairbairn Engineering Co., Ltd. A few 

 years later the concern was wound up owing to 

 a depression in trade. 



The Vulcan Foundry, Ltd., Newton-le- 

 Willows, is devoted almost entirely to the 

 construction of locomotives. The firm was 

 founded by Air. Charles Tayleur between 1 830 

 and 1832, and at the same time he went into 

 partnership with George Stephenson and his 

 son Robert. Both the latter withdrew when 

 Robert Stephenson was appointed engineer-in- 

 chief to the London and Birmingham Railway. 

 Many changes in management occurred before 

 the firm became a limited liability company 

 in 1864. Vulcan engines Nos. i and 2 were 

 built in 1833 f^"" ^^''- Hargreaves of Bolton. 

 The cylinders were 11 in. by 1 6 in., and the 

 wheels (four coupled) 4 ft. 8 in. Vulcan 

 No. 3, called Vulcan, was built for the War- 

 rington and Newton Railway, being No. I on 

 the line. Vulcans Nos. 4 and 5 were built 

 for Camden and Woodbury, U.S.A. Since 

 then locomotives have been built for all parts of 

 the world, and at the present time the firm has 

 an output of about 100 locomotives per annum, 

 half of which, on an average, are sent abroad. 

 Locomotives of every type of gauge from 

 I ft. 6 in. up to 7 ft. have been built by 

 the firm, among them many types of Fairlie 

 engines. In 1892 between 400 and 500 men 

 were employed ; at present the numbers are 

 about 1,300. 



The Manchester branch of Sir W. G. Arm- 

 strong, Whitworth & Co., Ltd., was founded 

 by the late Sir Joseph Whitworth in 1833. In 

 that year he rented a room in Chorlton Street, 

 Manchester, and put up a sign 'Joseph Whit- 

 worth, tool-maker from London.' For the first 

 twenty years he devoted himself chiefly to the 

 improvement of machine tools, including the 

 duplex lathe, planing, drilling, slotting, shaping, 

 and other machines. His first great discovery 

 was that of a truly plane surface, obtained by 

 making three surfaces coincide. On the basis 

 of this true surface he introduced a system of 

 measurement of ideal exactness. At first tb^otj 

 of an inch could be measured, later aoo^ooo of ^n 

 inch. Gradually Whitworth developed his 

 system of standard measures and gauges. His 

 uniform system of screw threads proved of the 

 greatest practical utility. 



The firm founded by Sir Joseph Whitworth 

 continues to the present time to be a large 

 maker of machine tools of every description, 

 up to the largest that have ever been made. 

 Recently a large lathe capable of admitting 18 ft. 

 in diameter and 50 ft. between centres, weighing 

 about 250 tons, for making the large turbines 

 for the new Cunard steamships, was built at 

 the Openshaw Works. Another important pro- 

 duct of the firm is large shafting made of Whit- 

 worth fluid pressed steel. Among the first big 

 shafts built were those for the turret-ship 

 H.M.S. Inflexible in 1876. Since then shafting 

 has been constructed at Openshaw for nearly 

 100 battleships and other ships of war, and for 

 as many great liners. The largest products of 

 this class are the great hollow forged shafts, 

 86 ft. long and 26 in. in diameter, with an 

 1 8 in. bore, recently made for H.M. ships 

 Achilla, Warrior, and Duke of Edinburgh. 



The firm was converted into a limited liability 

 company in 1874 as Sir Joseph Whitworth & 

 Co., Ltd. Six years later the present premises 

 were established at Openshaw. On i January, 

 1897, the firm was united with that of Arm- 

 strong's of Elswick, and became Sir W. G. 

 Armstrong, Whitworth & Co., Ltd. The 

 growth of these Manchester works is well illus- 

 trated by the number of hands employed at 

 different times. In 1844 the number was 172 ; 

 in 1854,368; in 1864, 636; in 1874,751! 

 in 1884, 1,003 ; in 1894, 1,831 ; in 1904, 

 3,740, and at the end of 1905, 4,020.'^ 



James Nasmyth set up in Dale Street, Man- 

 chester, as a machine tool-maker in 1834. Two 

 years later he removed to the Bridgewater 

 Foundry, Patricroft. A few years later Hol- 



" These numbers include the men employed in the 

 ordnance and armaments departments, which are dealt 

 w^ith below. The account is based on the article on 

 Sir Joseph Whitworth in the Dictionary of National 

 Biography, and on information kindly supplied by the 

 firm. 



372 



