Manufacture of machinery for textile, apparel and leather production machinery industry and plant construction manufacture of other pumps and compressors
Mather & Platt is the name of several large engineering firms in Europe, South Africa and Asia that are subsidiaries ofWilo SE, Germany or were founded by former employees. The original company was founded in theNewton Heath area ofManchester, England, where it was a major employer. That firm continues as afood processing and packaging business, trading as M & P Engineering inTrafford Park, Manchester.[1]
The core business produces large electrical centrifugalpumps. The brand is known in India as Mather & Platt Pumps and in South Africa as Mather & Platt SA PTY Ltd.[2][3]
1829: By now only the Sherratts are active at the Salford Iron Works.John and Thomas Sherratt describe themselves as "brass founders, engine makers andiron founders".
1836: The Sherratts called themselves "iron founders, steam engine manufacturers, millwrights and hydraulic press manufacturers".
1836:Colin "Cast iron Colin" Mather and his brother started a small business,William & Colin Mather. It serviced the local textile bleaching industry by providing simple well-made rollers and equipment. They described themselves as "Engineers, machine makers and millwrights". They had a premises at 23 Brown Street, Salford.
Colin Mather had three sons, none of whom were destined to play a large role in the business.
William Mather, who had had little to do with the running of the business, had two sons, and his second sonWilliam Mather became the chairman when Colin retired.[4] William Mather and John Platt travelled extensively in the US and Russia expanding into new markets. Mather was also involved on public life and the advancement of education. He was theLiberalMember of Parliament forSalford in 1885 and later forGorton.
1839: The Salford Iron Works was leased toJohn Platt a machine-maker fromHigher Broughton. Platt and his partner Yates continued Sherratt's business.
1845: John Platt leased part of the Salford Iron Works to William and Colin Mather. Mather and John Platt form Mather & Platt inNewton Heath inManchester (UK)
1847: John Platt dies.
1851: Mather and Platt exhibit at theGreat Exhibition as theSalford Iron Works; they took textile finishing equipment including an eight-colour roller printer forcalico.
1853: John Platt's sonWilliam Platt forms the partnership with the Mathers, formingMather & Platt. William Platt provide capital, land and casting skills; Colin Mather provided the new engineering solution.[4]
1873: ProfessorOsborne Reynolds designed a turbine pump that Mather and Platt improved. Thecentrifugal pump was essential to operating ableachingkier, hence their interest. Later, it became the core product and it is the Pump division alone that survives in India.
1883: Mather & Platt obtain the rights to manufactureEdison’s electricdynamo and, as a result of improvements by Dr.John Hopkinson, the Edison-Hopkinson dynamo was produced. This led to the formation of an electrical engineering division, the military work on submarine motors, and later involvement in electricity generation.
M&P fire pump 1890
1883: Mather & Platt obtain sole rights outside the USA to manufacture the Grinnel's automatic sprinkler:cotton mills were very vulnerable to fire. These rights expired in the 1970s. The production of sprinkler systems forcotton mills led to the prominent water towers and flat roofs for water storage.
1899: Mather & Platt incorporated.
M&P underground loco 1890
The firm was expanding and over the years acquired neighbouring properties such as Drinkwaters Mill and whole streets such as Foundry Street.
1894: An agreement was reached to close Union Street and demolish two rows of cottages for the new "erecting shop" which had the splendid name of the Klondyke.[4] Further expansion was impossible. The need for space was partially caused by the acquisition of three important new products described here.
1900: Mather & Platt erect on the presentPark Works site an administration building, two storeys high. That is the start of moving to and developing the Park Works,Newton Heath, SJ87399853°29′42″N2°11′35″W / 53.495°N 2.193°W /53.495; -2.193 site, joining with Dowson, Taylor & Company Limited, to form Mathers Platt Ltd. The site measured 50 acres (200,000 m2) and was alongside, and with direct access to, theLancashire and Yorkshire Railway.
The first machine shop was originally the Machinery Annexe of theParis Exhibition of 1900. Mather & Platt's staff dismantled it and shipped it to Manchester via theManchester Ship Canal, then re-erected it.[6]
The site expanded over the years, eventually incorporating a research laboratory, an iron foundry and a sports ground.[7]
31 December 1938: The Salford Foundry closed when the heavy iron foundry was built at the Park Works. Mather and Platt left the Salford Iron Works, and it passed into the hands ofThrelfalls thebrewery. Later a part of the works passed to a firm of motor car spring manufacturers.[4]
1940: Mather & Platt's start manufacturing in India with a factory atKolkata
1959: Mather & Platt's set up a second manufacturing unit set up atChinchwad,Pune
1978: Mather & Platt's changes itsshare holding pattern to become an Indian company
1978: Mather & Platt's was taken over by the Australian-based companyWormald International. The Pump Department was later sold to the Scottish companyWeir Pumps, now Clyde Union Pumps, who supply the OEM spare parts. They used the Newton Heath site until Oct 2008. Most of the original buildings have now been demolished but the foundry and main office building have survived
1982: Fraberry Engineering buys Mather & Platt's Process machinery division to formM&P (Engineering) Ltd. based inTrafford Park. The founder, Frank Berry, goes on to form Mather and Platt (Asia) Limited, based inBangkok, Thailand.[8]
7 October 2008: TheWestley Group (a £40m-turnover business with headquarters inCradley Heath, West Midlands and employing 500 people on its four sites) buy the old stainless steel foundry at Park Works, Newton Heath from theWeir Group.
Westley group directors Rob and James Salisbury have a family connection with the foundry and renamed the site "Mather's Foundry". Their grandfather Jim Musgrave served an apprenticeship at Mather & Platt's from 1932, when he was 14.[9] Mathers specialise in the supply of commercial and high-integrity castings incarbon steels,low alloys steels,CrMo steels,nickel alloys,stainless steels, duplex steels,super nickel and theZERON range. They supply bespoke cast products from a few kilos to 10 tonnes in weight to companies supplying the oil and gas,desalination, nuclear (N stamp), paper, rubber, chemical, and power generation industries.[10]
2011: the Indian engineering companyWPIL acquires the Park Works foundry.[11]
2017: The Park Works site closes after 117 years in operation, and has since been demolished.[11][12]
1910:A. V. Roe & Company (Avro) is founded in Manchester by Humphrey and Alliott Verdon Roe.
1914: Outbreak ofWorld War I: Avro rented part of the Newton Heath site so they could expand production.
1919: A new purpose-built factory for Avro was completed.
TheAvro Avian designed byRoy Chadwick was built there, and later, parts for theAvro Lancaster bomber. When Avro left the site after World War II the factory was used as a storage depot by theCo-operative Wholesale Society (CWS). Today the building is used by various businesses for storage.[7]
The Plate Metal Works, also called the Boiler Yard, was owned by yet another John Platt, who was not related to the main Platt family. He occasionally subcontracted for Mather & Platt.
1870: John Platt passed the Boiler Yard over to Mather & Platt and was employed as a foreman over 25 men.
1906: The Boiler Yard was extended, absorbing the adjoining works of Edmondson and. Co., General Engineers and using it as amachine shop and plate shop. It continued as a Mather and Platt Ltd. production site after the Salford Iron Works was closed - maintaining a link between Mather & Platt and Salford till after 1950.[4]
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