 | |
| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Ammunition |
| Founded | 1820s |
| Founder | William and Charles Eley |
| Headquarters | Sutton Coldfield,Birmingham, England |
| Products | Firearms cartridges,percussion caps,smokeless powder |
| Website | eley |
Eley Limited is a British manufacturer offirearms cartridges. Historically the company has produced a broad variety of ammunition, but today specialises in.22 Long Rifle cartridges for competitive target shooting. At the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, six of the twelve medals for cartridge rifle and pistol were won using Eley ammunition.[1]
Founded asEley Brothers by Charles and William Eley in London in the 1820s, the company purchased the patent rights to the "wire cartridge" in the spring or early summer of 1828. The patent for "wire cartridge" was issued by the English Patent Office on 28 November 1827 to Joshua Jenour under Patent No. 5570. Jenour had been born in Fleet Street, London in 1755 and had previously been the owner and manager of theDaily Advertiser, a London newspaper. The 'wire cartridge' consisted of a wire cage which held the shot together during the first stages of its flight.
In 1828, Charles and William Eley established a factory inCharlotte Street (London), later moving toBond Street (London). Initially, Charles Eley had been the primary owner of the concern and the original wire cartridges had only the name of Charles Eley on them. The initial attempts to sell the Eley Wire Cartridge went poorly and Charles Eley withdrew from the business. During the mid-1830s, William Eley reinvigorated the company and began selling the "Improved Patent Wire Cartridges".
In 1837, the company addedpercussion caps to their range and though William was killed in an explosion in 1841, his three sons helped carry on the business. His eldest son William Thomas forged an alliance withSamuel Colt, the two patenting a skin cartridge for use in the latter'srevolvers.
By 1860, they were making pinfire shotshells and first listed them for sale inThe Ironmonger & Metal Trades Advertiser. On 13 April 1861 William Thomas Eley took out a patent for an improvement to the pinfire shotshell.[2][3] The key aspect to this patent was to better fix the cap into the case and prevent the pin from flying out of the case on detonation.
The growth of business accompanied by moves to theGrays Inn Road in 1864, and by the development of the Boxer cartridge designed byColonel Boxer - Chief Superintendent of theRoyal Arsenal,Woolwich - and adopted by the government in 1866.
In 1874, they went public to fuel expansion, but lost momentum after 1881 when William Thomas died. His brothers remained in control until 1901 but shareholders accused them of running it as a private company. Nevertheless, innovations includedsmokeless powder, and in the 1890s, 400 types of cartridges were produced. They had established a factory at Tile Kiln Lane, Edmonton, London by 1865.
In 1894, the company transferred production to enlarged premises atAngel Road which included atramway to itswharf on the nearby River Lee. Twice theWar Office removed the company from their Approved List of suppliers due to poor quality.303 British ammunition, much of it returned from abroad as unusable. Moreover, poor facilities meant the company had to buy in components, unlike their competitors.
In 1895 an explosion killed three female workers.[4][5]
Another explosion occurred in 1900 killing two workmen and the works manager.[6] The directors squabbled amongst themselves, and in 1906 the mostly female workforce went onstrike when their wages were cut, with the Board of Trade appointing an arbitrator.[7] A leadingballistics expertF.W. Jones, was brought in to improve matters and built a 107 ft (32.6m)shot tower in 1907. The factory was ill-adapted tomass production - it produced 209 million .303 cartridges inWorld War I compared with 2,373 million atKynochs,Birmingham factory - but its specialised skills made it ideal for innovation, such as the preparations ofmunitions foraircraft.
After the war, Eley, along with other firms, became part of Explosive Trades Ltd, soon part ofNobel Industries. ManyBelgians had beenbilleted in Edmonton as refugees and many, as elsewhere, worked in thearmaments industry. This led to natural links between the two countries, and in the 1920s Eley went into partnership withFabrique Nationale (FN), buying out the Belgian firm of Cartoucherie Russo - Belge. However, the need for ammunition had slumped, and the Angel Road factory closed in 1921, all production being transferred to Nobel's factory inWaltham Abbey.[8]
In 1926 the Eley business was bought from Nobel byIMI industries.[9]
In 1951 Eley released the "Tenex" .22 cartridge for Olympic target competition.[10]
Eley is noted for its 1979 development of theEleyprime process.[11] Rimfire ammunition was historically primed by measuring activated liquid primer into the cases where it would dry. Spilt or surplus primer could dry into an explosive residue on factory machinery. Various manufacturers have experienced fatal accidents over the years, often related to primer handling. The Eleyprime process measures dry, unactivated primer into the case where it is activated by adding water, meaning activated primer is only present inside cases and the factory does not handle activated compound in bulk. As an additional benefit, dry materials can be metered more accurately than liquids, meaning the process has the potential to be more consistent than liquid metering.[12] The process has been licensed to other manufacturers as it safer for workers. Eley received the1988 Queen's Award for Technology for this innovation.[13]
Theshot tower at the former Edmonton site was demolished in the late 20th century. The area today is known as theEley Industrial Estate.
The business later moved to a new purpose-built factory inSutton Coldfield. The shotgun cartridge business was separated out as "Eley Hawk" and sold to Spanish firmMaxam Explosives. Although a separate company, Eley Hawk continues to operate from the same site as a tenant in Eley Limited's factory.
In 2014, Eley became independent as a result of a management buyout backed by private equity firm LDC (part ofLloyds TSB).[14][15][16][17]
In 2017, via their US subsidiary Eley Inc, the company acquired their US importer and batch-testing partner Killough Shooting Sports.[18] This gave the company more direct control over distribution in the US and brings the batch-testing facility provided by Killough "in house". KSS also owned theAmerican Rimfire Association, which Eley also took control of as part of the acquisition.[19]
In December 2022, LDC divested Eley to Lunele Limited.[20]
Three deaths have resulted from explosion which occurred yesterday at Eley Brothers' cartridge factory at Edmonton.
Three deaths have resulted from the explosion which occurred yesterdey Eley brother's Cartridge Factory. Edmonton, the victims being all women.
The deaths by the explosion at Eley Cartridge Factory, in London, yesterday, number three, Thomas Stokoo, works manager, having died last night. The two injured in the hospital are going on fairly well.
