Crossley
Encyclopedia
Crossley, based in Manchester
, United Kingdom
, was a pioneering company in the production of internal combustion engine
s. Since 1988 it has been part of the Rolls-Royce
Power Engineering group.
More than 100,000 Crossley oil and gas engines have been built.
Crossley Brothers was set up in 1867 by brothers Francis (1839-97) and William J.
(1844-1911). Francis, with help from his uncle, bought the engineering business of John M Dunlop at Great Marlborough Street in Manchester
city centre, including manufacturing pumps, presses, and small steam engines. William (Sir William from 1910 - Baronet) joined his brother shortly after the purchase. The company name was initially changed to Crossley Brothers and Dunlop. Each of the brothers had served engineering apprentice
ships: Francis, known as Frank, at Robert Stephenson and Company
; and William at W.G. Armstrong
, both in Newcastle upon Tyne
. William concentrated on the business side, Frank provided the engineering expertise.
The brothers were committed Christian
s and strictly teetotal, refusing to supply their products to companies such as breweries, whom they did not approve of. They adopted the early Christian
symbol of the Coptic Cross (Coptic Christianity
) as the emblem to use on their road vehicles.
In 1869 they had the foresight to acquire the UK and world (except German
) rights to the patents of Otto and Langden of Cologne
for the new gas fueled atmospheric internal combustion engine and in 1876 these rights were extended to the famous Otto
four-stroke cycle
engine. The changeover to four stroke engines was remarkably rapid with the last atmospheric engines being made in 1877.
The business flourished. In 1881, Crossley Brothers became a private limited company (i.e. Crossley Brothers Ltd.), and then in 1882 it moved to larger premises in Pottery Lane, Openshaw
, in eastern Manchester.
Further technical improvements also followed, including the introduction of poppet valve
s and the hot-tube ignitor
in 1888 and the introduction of the carburettor, allowing volatile liquid fuels to be used.
By adopting the heavier fuelled "oil" engine, the first one being demonstrated in 1891, the company's future was assured. Among other applications, these "oil" engines were used with Gwynnes Centrifugal Pumps for irrigation. Then in 1896, they obtained rights to the diesel
system, which used the heat of compression alone to ignite the fuel. Their first diesel was built in 1898.
By the turn of the century, there was also some production of petrol engines, and from 1901 these engines were finding their way into road vehicles, including, in 1905, Leyland buses.
A major contribution to manufacturing was the introduction of the assembly line
. The Crossley system even influenced Henry Ford
, who visited Pottery Lane at the turn of the century.
This company was sold to Associated Equipment Company (AEC) in 1948, and vehicle production continued until 1958.
, Nottingham
, who built very large engines, and in 1935 changed their name to Crossley Premier Engines Ltd. The Nottingham factory was expanded, and production continued there until 1966.
By the 1960s, although sales remained reasonable, the company had become unprofitable. The design of the engines then being made was essentially 40 years old, so in 1962 agreement was reached to use the French Pielstick design. Production of these engines, intended for ships, railway locomotives and electricity generation, was initially carried out at Nottingham. But, before the engines could become established, the money ran out and the company had to call in the receivers. A purchaser was found in Bellis and Morcom Ltd. but the name Crossley-Premier was kept.
The market for engines was continuing to shrink, and in 1968 the new company joined the Amalgamated Power Engineering (APE) group and the name became APE-Crossley Ltd. For the first time the new company used the Coptic
Cross logo on the engines. Previously, this had only appeared on Crossley Motors products — the rights to use it had to be bought from British Leyland. APE, in its turn, became part of Northern Engineering Industries
(NEI) in 1981, and the company name became the unwieldy NEI-Allen Limited – Crossley Engines.
The Crossley Works on Pottery Lane was closed on 27 February 2009, with what remains of the business being relocated to a Rolls-Royce factory in Dunfermline
. Demolition of the works began in December 2009.
Their marine engines had a reputation for durability and reliability. However, their rush to be a part of the emerging railway traction market was an umitigated disaster.
Crossley apparently took one of its successful World War II Patrol Boat motors and re-engineered it for railway service. This resulted in the construction of;
All three were two stroke engines equipped with Crossley's system of exhaust pulse pressure charging
whereby surplus air in the exhaust manifold was forced back into the cylinder by the exhaust pulse from a neighbouring cylinder.
Crossley's foray into traction motor construction was less than successful, with all but those installed in the WAGR X class having a very short working life. Motor failures occurred within months of the various classes being introduced. The WAGR Crossleys underwent over 600 modifications in their service life. The CIE 001 Class
were re-motored with EMD engines within years of their commissioning.
Manchester
Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...
, United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, was a pioneering company in the production of internal combustion engine
Internal combustion engine
The internal combustion engine is an engine in which the combustion of a fuel occurs with an oxidizer in a combustion chamber. In an internal combustion engine, the expansion of the high-temperature and high -pressure gases produced by combustion apply direct force to some component of the engine...
s. Since 1988 it has been part of the Rolls-Royce
Rolls-Royce plc
Rolls-Royce Group plc is a global power systems company headquartered in the City of Westminster, London, United Kingdom. It is the world’s second-largest maker of aircraft engines , and also has major businesses in the marine propulsion and energy sectors. Through its defence-related activities...
Power Engineering group.
More than 100,000 Crossley oil and gas engines have been built.
Crossley Brothers
Sir William Crossley, 1st Baronet
Sir William John Crossley, 1st Baronet was a British engineer and Liberal politician.W J Crossley was born at Glenburn, near Lisburn, County Antrim. His ancestors had come to Ireland from Lancashire at the time of the Williamite War...
(1844-1911). Francis, with help from his uncle, bought the engineering business of John M Dunlop at Great Marlborough Street in Manchester
Manchester
Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...
city centre, including manufacturing pumps, presses, and small steam engines. William (Sir William from 1910 - Baronet) joined his brother shortly after the purchase. The company name was initially changed to Crossley Brothers and Dunlop. Each of the brothers had served engineering apprentice
Engineering apprentice
An engineering apprenticeship is an apprenticeship in mechanical engineering or electrical engineering. A typical example is the apprenticeships formerly available at the BTH and EEC at Rugby in England...
ships: Francis, known as Frank, at Robert Stephenson and Company
Robert Stephenson and Company
Robert Stephenson and Company was a locomotive manufacturing company founded in 1823. It was the first company set up specifically to build railway engines.- Foundation and early success :...
; and William at W.G. Armstrong
Armstrong Whitworth
Sir W G Armstrong Whitworth & Co Ltd was a major British manufacturing company of the early years of the 20th century. Headquartered in Elswick, Newcastle upon Tyne, Armstrong Whitworth engaged in the construction of armaments, ships, locomotives, automobiles, and aircraft.-History:In 1847,...
, both in Newcastle upon Tyne
Newcastle upon Tyne
Newcastle upon Tyne is a city and metropolitan borough of Tyne and Wear, in North East England. Historically a part of Northumberland, it is situated on the north bank of the River Tyne...
. William concentrated on the business side, Frank provided the engineering expertise.
The brothers were committed Christian
Christian
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
s and strictly teetotal, refusing to supply their products to companies such as breweries, whom they did not approve of. They adopted the early Christian
Christian
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
symbol of the Coptic Cross (Coptic Christianity
Coptic Christianity
The Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria is the official name for the largest Christian church in Egypt and the Middle East. The Church belongs to the Oriental Orthodox family of churches, which has been a distinct church body since the Council of Chalcedon in AD 451, when it took a different...
) as the emblem to use on their road vehicles.
In 1869 they had the foresight to acquire the UK and world (except German
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
) rights to the patents of Otto and Langden of Cologne
Cologne
Cologne is Germany's fourth-largest city , and is the largest city both in the Germany Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia and within the Rhine-Ruhr Metropolitan Area, one of the major European metropolitan areas with more than ten million inhabitants.Cologne is located on both sides of the...
for the new gas fueled atmospheric internal combustion engine and in 1876 these rights were extended to the famous Otto
Nicolaus Otto
Nikolaus August Otto was the German inventor of the first internal-combustion engine to efficiently burn fuel directly in a piston chamber. Although other internal combustion engines had been invented these were not based on four separate strokes...
four-stroke cycle
Four-stroke cycle
A four-stroke engine, also known as four-cycle, is an internal combustion engine in which the piston completes four separate strokes—intake, compression, power, and exhaust—during two separate revolutions of the engine's crankshaft, and one single thermodynamic cycle.There are two...
engine. The changeover to four stroke engines was remarkably rapid with the last atmospheric engines being made in 1877.
The business flourished. In 1881, Crossley Brothers became a private limited company (i.e. Crossley Brothers Ltd.), and then in 1882 it moved to larger premises in Pottery Lane, Openshaw
Openshaw
Openshaw is a ward of the city of Manchester, in Greater Manchester, North West England. It lies about two miles east of Manchester city centre. Historically a part of Lancashire, Openshaw was incorporated into the city of Manchester in 1890. Its name derives from the Old English Opinschawe, which...
, in eastern Manchester.
Further technical improvements also followed, including the introduction of poppet valve
Poppet valve
A poppet valve is a valve consisting of a hole, usually round or oval, and a tapered plug, usually a disk shape on the end of a shaft also called a valve stem. The shaft guides the plug portion by sliding through a valve guide...
s and the hot-tube ignitor
Hot-tube ignitor
A hot-tube ignitor was an early device that fit onto the cylinder head of an internal-combustion engine, used to ignite the compressed fuel/air mixture by means of a flame heating part of the tube red-hot...
in 1888 and the introduction of the carburettor, allowing volatile liquid fuels to be used.
By adopting the heavier fuelled "oil" engine, the first one being demonstrated in 1891, the company's future was assured. Among other applications, these "oil" engines were used with Gwynnes Centrifugal Pumps for irrigation. Then in 1896, they obtained rights to the diesel
Diesel engine
A diesel engine is an internal combustion engine that uses the heat of compression to initiate ignition to burn the fuel, which is injected into the combustion chamber...
system, which used the heat of compression alone to ignite the fuel. Their first diesel was built in 1898.
By the turn of the century, there was also some production of petrol engines, and from 1901 these engines were finding their way into road vehicles, including, in 1905, Leyland buses.
A major contribution to manufacturing was the introduction of the assembly line
Assembly line
An assembly line is a manufacturing process in which parts are added to a product in a sequential manner using optimally planned logistics to create a finished product much faster than with handcrafting-type methods...
. The Crossley system even influenced Henry Ford
Henry Ford
Henry Ford was an American industrialist, the founder of the Ford Motor Company, and sponsor of the development of the assembly line technique of mass production. His introduction of the Model T automobile revolutionized transportation and American industry...
, who visited Pottery Lane at the turn of the century.
Crossley Motors
In 1904 the company started production of motor cars and a separate company, Crossley Motors Ltd. was registered on the 11th April 1906.This company was sold to Associated Equipment Company (AEC) in 1948, and vehicle production continued until 1958.
Crossley Premier
In 1919 Crossley Brothers bought Premier Gas Engines of SandiacreSandiacre
Sandiacre is a town in the Borough of Erewash in Derbyshire, in the East Midlands region of England adjoining the border with Nottinghamshire....
, Nottingham
Nottingham
Nottingham is a city and unitary authority in the East Midlands of England. It is located in the ceremonial county of Nottinghamshire and represents one of eight members of the English Core Cities Group...
, who built very large engines, and in 1935 changed their name to Crossley Premier Engines Ltd. The Nottingham factory was expanded, and production continued there until 1966.
By the 1960s, although sales remained reasonable, the company had become unprofitable. The design of the engines then being made was essentially 40 years old, so in 1962 agreement was reached to use the French Pielstick design. Production of these engines, intended for ships, railway locomotives and electricity generation, was initially carried out at Nottingham. But, before the engines could become established, the money ran out and the company had to call in the receivers. A purchaser was found in Bellis and Morcom Ltd. but the name Crossley-Premier was kept.
The market for engines was continuing to shrink, and in 1968 the new company joined the Amalgamated Power Engineering (APE) group and the name became APE-Crossley Ltd. For the first time the new company used the Coptic
Coptic Christianity
The Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria is the official name for the largest Christian church in Egypt and the Middle East. The Church belongs to the Oriental Orthodox family of churches, which has been a distinct church body since the Council of Chalcedon in AD 451, when it took a different...
Cross logo on the engines. Previously, this had only appeared on Crossley Motors products — the rights to use it had to be bought from British Leyland. APE, in its turn, became part of Northern Engineering Industries
Northern Engineering Industries
Northern Engineering Industries plc was a British engineering firm, which for over 10 years was one of the largest employers on Tyneside. It was based in Gosforth in Newcastle upon Tyne.-History:...
(NEI) in 1981, and the company name became the unwieldy NEI-Allen Limited – Crossley Engines.
Rolls-Royce Power Engineering
NEI themselves, in 1988, were taken over by Rolls Royce plc, and the company became part of the Allen Power Engineering - Crossley Engines division of the Rolls-Royce Industrial Power Group. This, in turn, became Crossley Engines division of Rolls-Royce Power Engineering, continuing to produce the Crossley-Pielstick range until 1995.The Crossley Works on Pottery Lane was closed on 27 February 2009, with what remains of the business being relocated to a Rolls-Royce factory in Dunfermline
Dunfermline
Dunfermline is a town and former Royal Burgh in Fife, Scotland, on high ground from the northern shore of the Firth of Forth. According to a 2008 estimate, Dunfermline has a population of 46,430, making it the second-biggest settlement in Fife. Part of the town's name comes from the Gaelic word...
. Demolition of the works began in December 2009.
Diesel engines
Crossley Brothers built diesel engines for marine and locomotive use.Their marine engines had a reputation for durability and reliability. However, their rush to be a part of the emerging railway traction market was an umitigated disaster.
Crossley apparently took one of its successful World War II Patrol Boat motors and re-engineered it for railway service. This resulted in the construction of;
- the HSTVee-8, used in the British Rail Class 28British Rail Class 28The British Rail Class 28 diesel locomotives, or 'Metrovicks' as they were popularly known, were built as part of the British Railways 1955 Modernisation Plan. The locomotives had a Co-Bo wheel arrangement – unique in British Railways practice though not uncommon in other countries, notably Japan...
, the CIE 001 ClassCIE 001 ClassThe Córas Iompair Éireann 001 Class locomotive was manufactured by Metropolitan-Vickers at their Dukinfield Works in Manchester.The 001 Class locomotive was the backbone of mainline passenger and freight train services on the Irish railway network for forty years from 1955 until the mid-1990s when...
and the WAGR X classWAGR X classThe WAGR X class was a class of 48 diesel electric locomotives built for Western Australian Government Railways by Beyer Peacock and Metropolitan Vickers, at Bowesfield Works, Stockton-on-Tees between 1954 and 1956.-The Crossley engine:... - the ESTVee-8 used in the CIE 201 ClassCIE 201 ClassThe Córas Iompair Éireann 201 Class was a class of 34 diesel electric locomotives manufactured by Metropolitan-Vickers at their Dukinfield Works in Manchester. They were a smaller, lighter and less powerful version of the 001 Class and were originally intended for branch line passenger and freight...
- the ESNT6 used in British Rail Class D3/3British Rail Class D3/3British Rail Class D3/3 was a 0-6-0 shunting locomotive built by British Rail at their Derby Works in England. It was similar to the British Rail Class 08, except they were built with different engines and traction motors. They were all withdrawn and scrapped after only twelve years of...
shunting locomotives
All three were two stroke engines equipped with Crossley's system of exhaust pulse pressure charging
Exhaust pulse pressure charging
Exhaust pulse pressure charging is a system for supercharging two-stroke diesel engines of the loop-scavenge type. Loop-scavenge engines cannot be pressure-charged in the same way as uniflow engines or four-stroke engines because the inlet and exhaust ports are open at the same time.-Overview:The...
whereby surplus air in the exhaust manifold was forced back into the cylinder by the exhaust pulse from a neighbouring cylinder.
Crossley's foray into traction motor construction was less than successful, with all but those installed in the WAGR X class having a very short working life. Motor failures occurred within months of the various classes being introduced. The WAGR Crossleys underwent over 600 modifications in their service life. The CIE 001 Class
CIE 001 Class
The Córas Iompair Éireann 001 Class locomotive was manufactured by Metropolitan-Vickers at their Dukinfield Works in Manchester.The 001 Class locomotive was the backbone of mainline passenger and freight train services on the Irish railway network for forty years from 1955 until the mid-1990s when...
were re-motored with EMD engines within years of their commissioning.