| Industry | Electronics |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1910 |
| Defunct | 1993 |
| Fate | Reabsorbed byGeneral Electric Company |
| Headquarters | Salford, England |
Area served | Worldwide |
| Products | Electrical testing equipment, measurement instruments |
Salford Electrical Instruments Ltd (SEI; colloquially:Salford Elec) was a British manufacturer of electrical measurement and testing instruments based inSalford, England. Closely tied to theGeneral Electric Company (GEC) conglomerate, the company was well-established in the electrical equipment industry in the United Kingdom in the 20th century.
In 1910, themeter department of GEC was incorporated separately as Salford Electrical Instruments Ltd, a subsidiary company employing 1,000 workers. Since 1905 the department had been based at Bow Street Works, a small two-storey building at the rear of GEC's large Peel Works on Silk Street.[1][2] In around 1921 it expanded to fill the whole Peel Works, after the departure of GEC's Peel-Conner Telephone Works to Coventry, and the extension of the site to accommodate a new factory.[2][3]
SEI's managing director,Henry Cobden Turner, is known for his work on theradio proximity fuse, an important innovation during the Second World War.[4][5] The device was manufactured at the Salford works, and was over 90% successful in disrupting German flying bombs such as theV-1 andV-2 in mid-air, significantly reducing civilian casualties.[4] The company was also active in the development ofradar technology,[when?] with early experiments conducted from the roof at Silk Street, tracking vehicles on nearby streets.[4]
By the 1960s, Salford Electrical Instruments was primarily focused on assembling electronic measuring instruments. After a partial floor collapse in the Silk Street factory in March 1965,[6] the company relocated to Barton Lane inEccles, taking over the four-acre site of the former Jonex Mills. Here, the company produced electrical components such as capacitors, thermostats, telecommunications equipment, rectifiers, and potentiometers.[4] SEI also opened a factory inHeywood, Greater Manchester. At its peak, SEI employed 3,000 people over 7 factories.[7]
The Eccles factory closed in the early 1980s. The site was subsequently redeveloped into an industrial estate.[4] The company suffered from financial problems in the early 1990s, leading it to sell its magnetic materials division to Neoside Limited and its mining product business to Rowe Hankins Components Ltd in 1993, while the crystals division was sold toPlessey.[3]
On December 22, 1993, the remaining assets were transferred to GEC, and the company ceased to operate independently. In Heywood, local Member of ParliamentJim Callaghan unsuccessfully appealed toLord Weinstock, the managing director of GEC, to retain the factory, saying its closure would result in the loss of 362 jobs.[8] In 1999 GEC merged with British Aerospace to formBAE Systems, and Salford Electrical Instruments became part of this larger entity.[3]
Salford Electrical Instruments had a diverse industrial product portfolio, including:
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It also manufactured consumer products, including the UK version of theViewmaster in the 1940s.[10]
WORKERS at a Salford factory had a lucky escape today when part of each of five floors caved in. A 30ft hole appeared in the floors as a cast-iron stanchion supporting the ground floor slowly sank. Vertical supports above it sank as well, causing the damage to the upper floors but the greater part of each floor remained intact. A roll call by police outside the firm Salford Electrical Instruments Ltd showed that none of the 500 workers was missing. About 200 work in the affected building but they were not all there at the time.
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