|
Spear & Jackson, Inc. is one of the world's oldest manufacturers
of hand and garden tools, and also makes magnetic equipment and
measuring tools. The firm's brands include Spear & Jackson
garden tools, Neill hand tools, Elliot Lucas pincers and pliers,
Robert Sorby wood turning tools, Moore & Wright precision tools,
Eclipse magnetic equipment, and Bowers measuring tools and bore
gauges. Headquartered in Florida, Spear & Jackson's operations
are primarily located in the United Kingdom. The roots of Spear & Jackson date to 1760, when drapery maker John Love decided to found a steelmaking company in Sheffield, England, where that country's production of steel, cutlery, and tools were becoming centered due to an abundance of raw materials. He was joined in the business by Alexander Spear, a wealthy merchant from the nearby town of Wakefield, and the new firm took the name Spear & Love. Over the following decades the company came to focus on producing saws, and business grew. In 1814, with the firm now run by Alexander Spear's nephew John Spear, an apprentice named Sam Jackson was added. Jackson proved a capable assistant, and in 1830 the company was renamed Spear & Jackson. In "The Official Illustrated Guide to the Great Northern, Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire and Midland Railways" published in 1861 George Measom described the company as follows: "The Ætna Works, the Property of Messrs. Spear and Jackson, Manufacturers of Hardware and Steel. The premises known under the above designation are situated in Saville-street, and are among the first-class manufactories in this town of industrial curiosities. The business carried on occupies a small army of workmen, numbering six hundred strong, aided by steam of 100-hourse power. The buildings cover more than three acres of land, and are bounded on one side by the Midland Railway, from which trains permeate the various departments.
Messrs. Spear and Jackson have long been known as the largest makers of saws in the kingdom, and we may safely add, in the world. Saw-making may appear to be a very simple process in the eyes of most people, but the processes employed are many, and require care. In this branch of the business, the ingot, tilt-hammer, and crushing rollers, with the shears, are in regular requisition. In the Saw Department the visitor will observe immense numbers of large sheets of steel.
These are cut into required lengths by the aid of the shears. The first process, after being cut, is very natural one in an infant saw, being that of teething. The teeth are cut with considerable rapidity. The tooth-cutter is a sharp instrument at the lower end of a working screw, which is acted upon by a hand lever; every pull of this lever confers a full-grown tooth, and the teething in an ordinary saw only requires a few moments in the hand of the operator. After this the teeth are filed, and then the tool is hardened by being subjected to a powerful heat in an oven, after which it is immersed in an oil-bath. The next process is that of being smithed. After the saw has been hardened, it is all over full of inequalities. The smithing consists in hammering the tool until it assumes a perfectly level surface; after this it is ground, hammered and glazed. The next ordeal is that of being blocked, which means that is once more hammered; this time, however, the hammering is done on a block of wood, instead of being done on an anvil, as formerly. The next process it passes through is by far the most particular in point of nicety of workmanship; that is what is termed the setting of the teeth. The manner in which this is done is by the operator striking every alternate tooth on each side of the tool until he has finished the whole. The next process is that of stiffening. This is done by once more heating the saw until it assumes a straw colour, after which it is rubbed through fine emery, sharped, and handled.
A multitude of objects are made at the Ætna Works: Surgical and other Instruments, Sugar-Cane Bills (the latter being largely exported to the United States and South America), Ledger Blades for Cloth Shearing, Files, Edge Tools, Machine Knives, Agricultural Implements, Spiral Cutters, Curriers’ Knives, Splitting Knives, Paper Knives, Chaff Knives, Cane and Corn Knives, &c. Upon entering the premises and passing into the centre of the quadrangle, we have before us the Forge, and our on our left the large Packing Rooms. Here, during a recent visit, we observed circular saws in preparation for despatch to Woolwich five feet in diameter, and we were informed that Messrs. Spear and Jackson have had circular saws constructed six feet in diameter! Here, also, we observed saws ten feet long, intended for the Californian market. The Cutting-Out Shop in the Saville-street Works contains Giant Shears, Toothing, and other valuable machines. IN the Circular Saw Grinding Department we were much interested in the various processes carried on. In the yards are enormous piles of grinding stones, and in other parts of the premises are large stores of iron from Sweden and worth £20 to £30 per ton. In the Steel Converting Room we noticed several Furnaces at work, each laden with about twenty tons of iron, which was being converted into steel; and in the Melting Furnace there was provision for fifty crucibles, each of which would turn out near one hundredweight of cast steel per day. The Edge Tool Warehouse is a marvelous storehouse of goods; amongst other articles we observed a large stock of Bill-books ready for exploration, and were informed that during the Crimean war 25,000 of these useful articles were made for the Government. IN the Fork Forging Shop we noticed some fine machines by Whitworth. In the Pick Forge, 1,000 picks are manufactured weekly for Government. On the whole, the Æ Works are of unrivalled interest, and are known in all the industrial circles of Europe. Messrs Spear and Jackson received the Council Medal at the Great Exhibition of 1851, and the Midaille d’Honneur at Paris in 1855, together with the Cross of the Legion of Honour." The firm continued to produce saws and other tools throughout the 19th and into the 20th century. In 1962 the company acquired Brades Nash & Tyzack Industries Ltd., and in 1971 bought Spearwell Tools. In 1974 two firms, John Bedford and AMV, were also acquired. In 1985 Spear & Jackson was purchased by the James Neill Group following a heated takeover battle.
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
