- Crompton Parkinson
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Crompton Parkinson was a British electrical manufacturing company formed in 1927 by the merger of Crompton & Co., and F & A. Parkinson Ltd.
Crompton & Co. was a lamp manufacturer founded by Colonel Rookes Evelyn Bell Crompton in 1878 and had designed and installed electric lighting installations at buildings such as Windsor Castle and Holyrood Palace. F & A. Parkinson Ltd was a successful electric motor manufacturer founded by two brothers, Frank and Albert Parkinson. Frank Parkinson (1887–1946) was a former student, and later a major benefactor of Leeds University; the university's Parkinson Building, opened in 1951 is named in his honour. Crompton Parkinson was taken over by the Hawker Siddeley aerospace group in 1968. The subsequent history is complex but it appears that Crompton Lighting is now owned by Cooper Lighting and Security Ltd [1] while Crompton Parkinson is now owned by Brook Crompton.[2]
There was a factory located at Writtle Road in Chelmsford, which was originally Crompton & Co. Very little of the original factory remains, although E2V (which is a descendant of Crompton Parkinson following the demise of Marconi) still occupies some of the site. Roads on the housing development include Crompton Street and Parkinson Drive.
Contents
Products
Crompton Parkinson made a wide range of electrical goods including electric motors, electric generators, light bulbs, electric cables and batteries. Some British Railways diesel locomotives (e.g. British Rail Classes 26, 33, 44 and 45, ) had Crompton Parkinson electrical equipment. Crompton also manufactured an extensive range of electrical measuring instruments including voltmeters, ammeters and current transformers. Crompton also made car spark plugs during the early part of its history.
Vidor batteries
Vidor was a manufacturer of radio and torch batteries, founded in 1934 by businessman Thomas Noah Cole in a former Vickers-Armstrong munitions factory at Erith, Kent. He had also purchased Burndept, a well established wireless set manufacturer, and the combined company was called Vidor-Burndept. Cole had made his fortune from his previous company Lissen Ltd, a manufacturer of radio kits, accessories and batteries, which he sold to Ever Ready in 1928.[3]
In April 1941 the Erith factory was almost completely destroyed by a German incendiary raid, forcing the company to relocate production to a former jute mill at Dundee, Scotland. The company also opened other factories at South Shields and Brechin.[3]
In the early 1960s Cole sold Vidor-Burndept to Royston Industries. Following the collapse of Royston Industries in 1968, the Vidor brand was acquired by Crompton Parkinson. The Vidor brand was later sold to Ray-O-Vac in 1989 [4] and is now dormant.
A Vidor slogan from the 1950s was "They do say a Vidor battery lasts a month longer!".[5]
They almost bought out P. R. Mallory and Co Inc in the 1960s.
WWII ammunition manufacture
During the Second World War, Crompton Parkinson produced large quantities of .303 rifle ammunition at its Guiseley, and Doncaster factories.[6]
Guiseley factory
During the 1930s, the company built a large factory at Guiseley near Leeds where most of its lamp, and electric motor manufacturing was based. The lamp works closed in 2002, and the adjacent electric motor works closed in 2004. The entire site was demolished in 2006.[7]
References
- ^ More about Crompton
- ^ Brook Crompton - History
- ^ a b The Setmakers by Keith Geddes and Gordon Bussey (ISBN 0951704206)
- ^ Rayovac Corporation - Company History
- ^ Vidor HT/LT Battery
- ^ Headstamps of the .303 British Calibre Service Ammunition Round
- ^ Bradford Telegraph and Argus - Guiseley loses another part of its industrial heritage
External links
- http://www.thevalvepage.com/tvmanu/vidor/vidor.htm
- http://vintage-technology.info/pages/domestic/vidorport.htm
- http://www.competition-commission.org.uk/rep_pub/reports/1970_1975/fulltext/081c04.pdf An interesting 1974 U.K. government report that mentions them and several other contemporary rival battery firms (PDF.)
- http://archive.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/2006/9/21/188270.html Article about the demolition of the former Crompton Parkinson factory.
- http://www.iec.ch/about/history/articles/colonel_crompton.htm Biography of Colonel Crompton.
- http://www.flickr.com/photos/tasa_m/2617309797/ Photo of the Parkinson Building
Categories:- Consumer battery manufacturers
- Defunct manufacturing companies of the United Kingdom
- Electrical engineering companies of the United Kingdom
- Companies based in Leeds
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