Dean, Smith & Grace
Encyclopedia
Dean, Smith & Grace is a British manufacturer of lathe
s and milling machine
s, based in Keighley
, West Yorkshire
. Their products have been described as "the Rolls Royce of lathes".
In the late 1860s Dean Smith & Grace moved to Keighley, and exported machine tools across the Empire. Following Joseph Dean's retirement, the company traded as Smith & Grace of Thrapston, but in 1908 a private company was reformed as "Dean Smith & Grace 1908 Ltd" .
By the early 20th century, Dean Smith & Grace had grown to be one of the leading heavy tool firms in Yorkshire. In response to the introduction of high speed steel
around 1900, the company ceased building to customers' individual specifications and concentrated on a new type of steel geared lathe built for strength and rigidity.
Herbert Smith, the aircraft designer who was responsible for designs such as the Sopwith Triplane
, Camel
, and Snipe
worked for the firm in the years before the First World War.
The company continued as an independent manufacturer until 1973 when bought out by the Monarch Machine Tool Company of Sidney, Ohio, USA. By this time the company was noted for equipping the engineering research laboratories and workshops at UMIST
in Manchester. The same laboratory continues to use the same machines into the 21st century, citing them in their research publications. When Monarch went into bankruptcy the company was bought by Newsmith Stainless Limited of Roberttown, West Yorkshire, and now trades as Dean Smith & Grace Lathes UK Limited.
Lathe
A lathe is a machine tool which rotates the workpiece on its axis to perform various operations such as cutting, sanding, knurling, drilling, or deformation with tools that are applied to the workpiece to create an object which has symmetry about an axis of rotation.Lathes are used in woodturning,...
s and milling machine
Milling machine
A milling machine is a machine tool used to machine solid materials. Milling machines are often classed in two basic forms, horizontal and vertical, which refers to the orientation of the main spindle. Both types range in size from small, bench-mounted devices to room-sized machines...
s, based in Keighley
Keighley
Keighley is a town and civil parish within the metropolitan borough of the City of Bradford in West Yorkshire, England. It is situated northwest of Bradford and is at the confluence of the River Aire and the River Worth...
, West Yorkshire
West Yorkshire
West Yorkshire is a metropolitan county within the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England with a population of 2.2 million. West Yorkshire came into existence as a metropolitan county in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972....
. Their products have been described as "the Rolls Royce of lathes".
History
The company was founded in 1865 by Joseph Dean (born c1825 in Barnoldswick, then in North Yorkshire), in Bingley, West Yorkshire, known as "Old Dean", who retired in the late 1800s and died in Ilkley, West Yorkshire, in 1909.In the late 1860s Dean Smith & Grace moved to Keighley, and exported machine tools across the Empire. Following Joseph Dean's retirement, the company traded as Smith & Grace of Thrapston, but in 1908 a private company was reformed as "Dean Smith & Grace 1908 Ltd" .
By the early 20th century, Dean Smith & Grace had grown to be one of the leading heavy tool firms in Yorkshire. In response to the introduction of high speed steel
High speed steel
High speed steelMost copyeditors today would tend to choose to style the unit adjective high-speed with a hyphen, rendering the full term as high-speed steel, and this styling is not uncommon . However, it is true that in the metalworking industries the styling high speed steel is long-established...
around 1900, the company ceased building to customers' individual specifications and concentrated on a new type of steel geared lathe built for strength and rigidity.
Herbert Smith, the aircraft designer who was responsible for designs such as the Sopwith Triplane
Sopwith Triplane
The Sopwith Triplane was a British single seat fighter aircraft designed and manufactured by the Sopwith Aviation Company during the First World War. Pilots nicknamed it the Tripehound or simply the Tripe. The Triplane became operational with the Royal Naval Air Service in early 1917 and was...
, Camel
Sopwith Camel
The Sopwith Camel was a British First World War single-seat biplane fighter introduced on the Western Front in 1917. Manufactured by Sopwith Aviation Company, it had a short-coupled fuselage, heavy, powerful rotary engine, and concentrated fire from twin synchronized machine guns. Though difficult...
, and Snipe
Sopwith Snipe
The Sopwith 7F.1 Snipe was a British single-seat biplane fighter of the Royal Air Force . It was designed and built by the Sopwith Aviation Company during the First World War, and came into squadron service a few weeks before the end of that conflict, in late 1918.The Snipe was not a fast aircraft...
worked for the firm in the years before the First World War.
The company continued as an independent manufacturer until 1973 when bought out by the Monarch Machine Tool Company of Sidney, Ohio, USA. By this time the company was noted for equipping the engineering research laboratories and workshops at UMIST
UMIST
The University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology was a university based in the centre of the city of Manchester in England. It specialised in technical and scientific subjects and was a major centre for research...
in Manchester. The same laboratory continues to use the same machines into the 21st century, citing them in their research publications. When Monarch went into bankruptcy the company was bought by Newsmith Stainless Limited of Roberttown, West Yorkshire, and now trades as Dean Smith & Grace Lathes UK Limited.