INDUSTRIES 



brook Gaskell was taken into partnership, and 

 the firm became Nasmyth & Gaskell. They 

 built machinery of all kinds, steam engines, 

 locomotives, and especially machine tools. An 

 early invention of Nasmyth's was the safety 

 foundry ladle, but the invention with which his 

 name is generally associated is the steam hammer. 

 In 1839, when the paddle steamer, Great Britain, 

 was to be built, it was found that there was no 

 forge hammer in England or Scotland powerful 

 enough to forge the paddle shaft of the engines. 

 To meet this difficulty Nasmyth invented the 

 steam hammer, the first drawing of which bears 

 the date 24 November, 1839. In the end the 

 forging did not take place, as the screw was 

 substituted for the paddle-wheel. The first 

 steam hammer was put in use at Schneider's 

 works at Creuzot, France, where Nasmyth saw 

 it in 1842. Shortly after this the first steam 

 hammer was constructed at the Bridgewater 

 Foundry. About 1 844 Nasmyth constructed 

 the first steam pile-driver for use in the extension 

 of Devonport Docks. Many other pile-drivers 

 were built. In 1854 Nasmyth took out a 

 patent for puddling iron by means of steam, but 

 this process was entirely eclipsed by Bessemer's 

 invention of 1855. A year later Nasmyth 

 retired from business, but the firm continued to 

 exist, and at the present time Messrs. Nasmyth, 

 Wilson & Co., Ltd., carry on business as loco- 

 motive and general engineers at Bridgewater 

 Foundry, Patricrofi^ near Manchester.^^ 



The first brick of the locomotive works of 

 Beyer, Peacock & Co., Ltd., at Gorton, Man- 

 chester, was laid in March, 1854. Charles F. 

 Beyer was a Saxon by birth, and prior to 1854 

 had been employed for many years in the firm of 

 Sharp, Roberts & Co. of Manchester. Richard 

 Peacock, a Yorkshireman, had also had consider- 

 able experience in the practical working of 

 locomotives. These two men became partners at 

 the end of 1852, and in the spring of 1855 the 

 first locomotive was finished. This firm is said 

 to have been the first in the locomotive industry 

 to adopt the practice of drawing out in complete 

 detail every part of the engine before commenc- 

 ing the work of construction. The works were 

 greatly enlarged in 1870. Six years later Mr. 

 Beyer died, and a few years after the firm was 

 converted into a private limited company. In 

 1902 it was changed into a public company. 



The firm has been building locomotives 

 for fifty years. During this time 4,621 loco- 

 motives have been delivered, and 4,720 have 

 been ordered. In other words, roughly speaking, 

 the firm has built 1 00 locomotives per annum 

 on an average. At the present time the com- 

 pany employs some 2,000 men at its Gorton 

 works. 



" The account of this firm is taken from Smiles's 

 Life of Nasmyth, and the article on Nasmyth in the 

 Dictionary of National Biography. 



Though we are unable to give any more 

 details with regard to large general engineering 

 firms, owing to considerations of space, the 

 names of some more firms may be mentioned, if 

 only to give the reader some idea of the size of 

 this great Lancashire industry. The Great 

 Central Railway and the Lancashire and York- 

 shire Railway have locomotive construction 

 works at Gorton and Newton Heath respectively. 

 Messrs. Yates and Thorn of Blackburn are 

 boiler and engine makers. Other engine makers 

 are Messrs. Hick, Hargreaves & Co., Ltd., 

 Bolton ; Messrs. Musgrave & Sons, Ltd., Bol- 

 ton ; Messrs. Buckley & Taylor, Oldham ; and 

 Messrs. Browett, Lindley & Co., Patricroft. 



Another industry which has grown up with the 

 railways is the building of railway carriages and 

 wagons. Two firms carrying on this trade are 

 the Metropolitan Amalgamated Railway Car- 

 riage and Wagon Co., Ltd., Openshaw, Man- 

 chester, and the Lancaster Railway Carriage and 

 Wagon Co., Ltd., Lancaster. 



Another branch of the Lancashire engineering 

 industry is the manufacture of gas engines. 

 Amongst the principal makers may be mentioned 

 Messrs. Crossley Brothers, Ltd., Openshaw ; the 

 National Gas Engine Co., Ltd., Ashton-under- 

 Lyne ; Messrs. Dempster, Moor & Co., Ltd., 

 Manchester ; and Messrs. Mather & Piatt, Ltd., 

 Manchester. 



At the present time the electrical industry of 

 the county is of very considerable importance. 

 It is a comparatively recent industry, having 

 been begun, as far as we are aware, in 1882 by 

 Messrs. Mather & Piatt, Ltd., of Salford Iron 

 Works, Manchester. In that year Mr. (now 

 Sir) William Mather visited the United States 

 and arranged with Mr. Edison to take up the 

 manufacture of the Edison dynamo at the Salford 

 Iron Works. Drs. J. and E. Hopkinson greatly 

 improved the machine, which became known as 

 the Edison-Hopkinson dynamo. Since 1882 

 the electrical department of Messrs. Mather & 

 Piatt, Ltd., has steadily grown, and recently the 

 motor department has been transferred to the 

 company's New Park Works, at Newton Heath, 

 Manchester. 



A large firm of much more recent origin is 

 the British Westinghouse Electric and Manu- 

 facturing Co., Ltd., TrafFord Park, Manchester. 

 Building operations were commenced early in 

 1901 and finished a little over a year later. The 

 promoters, with a typically American optimism, 

 laid their plans on a very large scale, so that 

 within four years of commencing work over 

 5,000 hands were employed. The firm is, how- 

 ever, too new for us to enter into details with 

 regard to its works. 



The great movement for the electrifying of 

 tramways has led to the establishment of other 

 firms in Lancashire. About 1900 two large 

 works were established on opposite sides of 



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