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Manufacturer of mining equipment, aircraft and car components, machinery and castings, of Sheepbridge Works, Chesterfield

19th century: Engineering department of theSheepbridge Co was formed.^[1]

1948 Public company formed to acquire from theSheepbridge Co Ltd^[2] the business of general engineers and the shares held in:

• Sheepbridge Stokes Centrifugal Castings Co
• Automotive Engineering Co
• Light Production Co

and the investments in

• Yorkshire Amalgamated Collieries Ltd
• Doncaster Amalgamated Collieries Ltd
• Newstead Colliery Co
• Rickett, Cockerell and Co.^[3]

The shares in the company were given to the existing shareholders.Tom Brown was brought in as M.D. - he changed the culture of the company and provided the drive and imagination that the Company needed to survive in a very competitive market.

The physical links between the nationalised plant and the separate engineering company could not easily be severed and continued so for fifteen years until theSteel Corporation closed the Sheepbridge blast furnaces. The centrifugal casting plant was extended and die-casting replaced sand moulding as demand swelled after the war.

The cash from nationalisation was employed in diversification:Automotive Engineering Co was at Twickenham employing 700;Hardinge Machine Tools at Hanworth, Middlesex;Clews Peterson,Light Production, theAdvanced Motor Manufacturing Co. and many more were floated or bought up in the U.K.

1955 AcquiredW. E. Bray and Co of Feltham, maker of loaders and earth moving equipment.^[4]

1956 Subsidiaries included^[5]:

• Sheepbridge Equipment Ltd
• Sheepbridge Alloy Castings Ltd
• Automotive Engineering Ltd
• Sheepbridge Engine Repairs Ltd
• Light Production Ltd
• Dacre Chucks Ltd
• W. E. Bray and Co Ltd
• Twiflex Couplings Ltd
• Sheepbridge Stokes of Chesterfield
• Sintered Products Ltd
• Hardinge Machine Tools Ltd
• British Van Der Horst Ltd
• Clews Petersen Ltd
• Harold Andrews Sheepbridge Ltd

1957 SubsidiaryW. E. Bray and Co had developed a heavier 4-wheel drive vehicle; arrangement withEickhoff of Bochum to produce a pan conveyor for coal mining; the Burlington process for centrifugal casting of long steel tubes had been introduced in 1953 and had made steady progress since then^[6]

1957Advance Motor Supplies Ltd was included in the list of subsidiaries^[7].

1961 Colliery, mechanical and electrical engineers. Main products include haulage gears, cylinder liners, pistons, piston rings, circlips and components for the aircraft industry; quarry installations and tile presses; castings; chrome hardening and plating; machine tools and equipment; earth moving equipment; copper, bronze, iron and steel parts. 5,000 group employees.^[8]

1963 Motor Show exhibitor. Pistons, rings etc.^[9]

1975 Subsidiaries included^[10]:

• Advance Motor Supplies
• Automotive Engineering Co
• British Van Der Horst
• Carbrette
• CL Equipments
• Clews Petersen
• Hardinge Machine Tools
• Harold Andrews, Sheepbridge
• Light Production Co
• Ritemixer
• Sheepbridge Alloy Castings
• Sheepbridge Engine Repairs
• Sheepbridge Equipment
• Sheepbridge Stokes
• Sintered Products
• Twiflex Couplings

1979GKN purchased Sheepbridge Group^[11], which becameGKN Sheepbridge Stokes

1983 Under the Lazard scheme to reduce capacity in castings, the Sheepbridge foundry was closed.^[12]

See Also

Sources of Information

• [1] Nedias newsletter #79b