Richard Hornsby & Sons
Encyclopedia
Richard Hornsby & Sons was an engine and machinery manufacturer in Lincolnshire
Lincolnshire
Lincolnshire is a county in the east of England. It borders Norfolk to the south east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south west, Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire to the west, South Yorkshire to the north west, and the East Riding of Yorkshire to the north. It also borders...

, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 from 1828 until 1918. The company was a pioneer in the manufacture of the oil engine
Oil engine
Oil engine may refer to:* Hornsby-Akroyd oil engine* Hot bulb engine* Hesselman engine...

 developed by Herbert Akroyd Stuart
Herbert Akroyd Stuart
Herbert Akroyd-Stuart was an English inventor who is noted for his invention of the hot bulb engine, or heavy oil engine.-Life:...

 and marketed under the Hornsby-Akroyd name. The company developed an early track system for vehicles, the patent for which was sold to Holt & Co. (predecessor to Caterpillar Inc.
Caterpillar Inc.
Caterpillar Inc. , also known as "CAT", designs, manufactures, markets and sells machinery and engines and sells financial products and insurance to customers via a worldwide dealer network. Caterpillar is the world's largest manufacturer of construction and mining equipment, diesel and natural gas...

) in America. The Company became a subsidiary of the neighbouring engineering firm of Rustons of Lincoln
Ruston (engine builder)
Ruston & Hornsby, later known as Ruston, was an industrial equipment manufacturer in Lincoln, England, the company's history going back to 1840. The company is best known as a manufacturer of narrow and standard gauge diesel locomotives and also of steam shovels. Other products included cars, steam...

 in 1918 to create Ruston & Hornsby.

Formation

The company bearing the name of Richard Hornsby
Richard Hornsby
Richard Hornsby was born in Elsham in Lincolnshire on June 4, 1790. He lived with a farming family, the son of William Hornsby and his wife Sarah.-The formation of his company:...

 (1790–1864), the agricultural engineer, was founded when Richard opened a blacksmith
Blacksmith
A blacksmith is a person who creates objects from wrought iron or steel by forging the metal; that is, by using tools to hammer, bend, and cut...

y in Grantham, Lincolnshire in 1815 with Richard Seaman, after joining Seaman's business in 1810. The company became Richard Hornsby & Sons in 1828, when Richard bought out his partner's ownership, when Seaman retired.

Agricultural machinery

R. Hornsby & Sons grew into a major manufacturer of agricultural machinery, at their Spittle Gate Works. The firm went on to produce steam engine
Steam engine
A steam engine is a heat engine that performs mechanical work using steam as its working fluid.Steam engines are external combustion engines, where the working fluid is separate from the combustion products. Non-combustion heat sources such as solar power, nuclear power or geothermal energy may be...

s used to drive threshing machines and other equipment such as traction engine
Traction engine
A traction engine is a self-propelled steam engine used to move heavy loads on roads, plough ground or to provide power at a chosen location. The name derives from the Latin tractus, meaning 'drawn', since the prime function of any traction engine is to draw a load behind it...

s; their portable steam engine was one of their most important products and the market leader. A farm was procured nearby, where all their new products were tested before being produced.

Caterpillar tractor

Later a chain-track was added to a paraffin-engined tractor. It had been developed by Hornsby's chief engineer (and managing director), David Roberts
David Roberts (engineer)
David Roberts was the Chief Engineer and managing director of Richard Hornsby & Sons in the early 1900s...

, and was patented in July 1904. The following year Roberts demonstrated his tractor unofficially to the British Army's Mechanical Transport Committee, and a formal demonstration was staged at Grantham in February 1906, at which the machine outperformed a conventional wheeled tractor. A lightweight version of the tracks was also fitted to a Rochet-Schneider motor car.

In July 1907 an improved chain-track was demonstrated at the British Army's HQ at Aldershot. Roberts explained that he had plans for a trailer, also fitted with a chain-track, on which a gun could be mounted. It was at this trial that British soldiers gave the tractor the nickname "caterpillar", an expression that has stuck ever since. Roberts completed his tracked trailer and demonstrated it to the Royal Artillery in November of the same year.

There was a further demonstration at Aldershot in 1908, at which King Edward VII was present. The tractor and trailer with dummy gun in place performed impressively, crossing various types of obstacles and difficult ground, and the demonstration became national news. A horse team that became bogged down was easily hauled out of the mud by Roberts's machine. The Motor Transport Committee was amongst those that considered the system to have great potential. A newspaper even suggested that this was "the germ of a land fighting unit when men will fight behind iron walls". Roberts was awarded a £1000 prize from the War Office, for his machine's performance in travelling 40 miles without stopping.

A third machine was tested at Aldershot in May 1910, easily towing a 60-pounder gun and its ammunition over rough ground. It was here that Major W.E. Donohue of the Mechanical Transport Committee suggested to Roberts that a single tractor unit might be fitted with a gun and bulletproof shields, thus creating, if not a tank, at least a sort of self-propelled gun. Roberts, by now becoming disillusioned, did not pursue the idea and later expressed regret at not having done so.

A further trial took place in North Wales. After contests between the No. 3 machine and horse teams, artillery officers gave a less favourable opinion of the tractor, observing that it was underpowered. An attempt was made to remedy the problem by converting it to run on petrol, a move that increased the Brake Horse Power to 105.

The Mechanical Transport Committee remained convinced of the tractor's possibilities, provided it was used in careful conjunction with horse teams. The Royal Artillery saw things differently. The Director of Artillery, Brigadier General Stanley von Donop, chose to emphasise the tractor's shortcomings and was unenthusiastic.

Sale of caterpillar tractor patent

By 1911, the prospects for Roberts's machine were fading. The War Office had never been greatly interested, and refused the Mechanical Transport Committee permission to buy a Holt Tractor for evaluation. Von Donop continued to be obstructive. Roberts had spent five years on the project, barely covering his development costs with the fees received from the Army, and had secured no orders, either military or civilian. He sold the patents to the Holt Manufacturing Company in America for £4,000. Learning of the Hornsby's nickname, Holt registered "Caterpillar" as a trademark in 1911. Holts later merged with C.L. Best and became The Caterpillar Tractor Company.

Great Britain had missed the opportunity to establish a lead in tracked vehicle technology and, perhaps, produce the world's first practical Tank. When the First World War broke out, Britain had to purchase caterpillar tractors from Holt to tow the Army's heavy guns, and the designers of the Tank had to start from scratch, basing their ideas on imported American machines.

Roberts's chain-track played no direct part in the development of the Tank, although Lt-Col. R.E.B. Crompton, who later had an important role in its creation, had been present at some of the early trials and was influenced to some extent by the Hornsby. In the event, the first British Tanks had no sprung suspension, and the track plates were an improved version of those of another American vehicle, the Bullock tractor. Central to British Tank development was William Foster & Co., agricultural machinery manufacturers, based at Lincoln, only about 25 miles from Hornsby's.

Hornsby Akroyd Engine

Work with Herbert Akroyd Stuart
Herbert Akroyd Stuart
Herbert Akroyd-Stuart was an English inventor who is noted for his invention of the hot bulb engine, or heavy oil engine.-Life:...

 in the 1890s lead to the world's first commercial heavy oil engines being made in Grantham (from 8 July 1892). Other larger engineering companies had been offered the option of manufacturing the engine, but they saw it as a threat to their business instead. Only Hornsbys saw its possibilities. The first one was sold to the Newport
Newport Pagnell
Newport Pagnell is a town in the Borough of Milton Keynes , England. It is separated by the M1 motorway from Milton Keynes itself, though part of the same urban area...

 Sanitary Authority (later to be re-bought by Hornsbys and displayed in their office). Later in 1892, T.H. Barton at Hornsbys replaced the engine's vaporiser with a cylinder head
Cylinder head
In an internal combustion engine, the cylinder head sits above the cylinders on top of the cylinder block. It closes in the top of the cylinder, forming the combustion chamber. This joint is sealed by a head gasket...

, increased the compression ratio
Compression ratio
The 'compression ratio' of an internal-combustion engine or external combustion engine is a value that represents the ratio of the volume of its combustion chamber from its largest capacity to its smallest capacity...

, and the engine ran on compression alone for six hours; the first time this had been achieved. This was the first recognisable 'diesel engine
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...

', although it was built several years before Rudolf Diesel
Rudolf Diesel
Rudolf Christian Karl Diesel was a German inventor and mechanical engineer, famous for the invention of the diesel engine.-Early life:Diesel was born in Paris, France in 1858 the second of three children of Theodor and Elise Diesel. His parents were Bavarian immigrants living in Paris. Theodor...

 built his first prototype engines. 32,417 of the vaporising oil ('hot-bulb'
Hot bulb engine
The hot bulb engine, or hotbulb or heavy oil engine is a type of internal combustion engine. It is an engine in which fuel is ignited by being brought into contact with a red-hot metal surface inside a bulb....

) engines were made by Hornsbys. They would provide electricity for lighting the Taj Mahal
Taj Mahal
The Taj Mahal is a white Marble mausoleum located in Agra, India. It was built by Mughal emperor Shah Jahan in memory of his third wife, Mumtaz Mahal...

, Rock of Gibraltar
Rock of Gibraltar
The Rock of Gibraltar is a monolithic limestone promontory located in Gibraltar, off the southwestern tip of Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. It is high...

, Statue of Liberty
Statue of Liberty
The Statue of Liberty is a colossal neoclassical sculpture on Liberty Island in New York Harbor, designed by Frédéric Bartholdi and dedicated on October 28, 1886...

 (chosen after Hornsbys won the oil engine prize at the Chicago World's Fair
World's Columbian Exposition
The World's Columbian Exposition was a World's Fair held in Chicago in 1893 to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus's arrival in the New World in 1492. Chicago bested New York City; Washington, D.C.; and St...

 of 1893), many lighthouse
Lighthouse
A lighthouse is a tower, building, or other type of structure designed to emit light from a system of lamps and lenses or, in older times, from a fire, and used as an aid to navigation for maritime pilots at sea or on inland waterways....

s and for powering Marconi
Guglielmo Marconi
Guglielmo Marconi was an Italian inventor, known as the father of long distance radio transmission and for his development of Marconi's law and a radio telegraph system. Marconi is often credited as the inventor of radio, and indeed he shared the 1909 Nobel Prize in Physics with Karl Ferdinand...

's first transatlantic radio broadcast.

First tractor

Hornsbys are credited with producing and selling the first oil-engined tractor (similar to modern-day tractors) in Britain. The Hornsby-Akroyd Patent Safety Oil Traction Engine was made in 1896 with a 20 hp engine. In 1897, it was bought by Mr Locke-King, and this is the first recorded sale of a tractor in Britain. Also in that year it won a Silver Medal of the Royal Agricultural Society
Royal Agricultural Society
The Royal Agricultural Society of England was established in the United Kingdom in 1838 with the motto "Practice with Science". The RASE aim is to promote the scientific development of agriculture. The society received its Royal Charter from Queen Victoria in 1840.From its early days the society...

 of England. That tractor would later be returned to the factory and fitted with a caterpillar track.

First commercial film

Trials featuring the Hornsby Tractor and the Rochet-Schneider were the subject of a film that was used in an attempt to promote sales and also shown in cinemas. Although cinema advertisements had been produced since the late 1890s, this is believed to be the first promotional film of appreciable length. There was also a screening in the presence of senior British officers and foreign military attachés.

Ownership

After Richard's death in 1864, the firm was owned by his son, also Richard. He died at the early age of 50, quite suddenly, in 1877. The company became a public company, being valued at £235,000. Employing about 1,400 workers, it was managed by the two other sons - James and William. Throughout the First World War, Hornsbys were seconded to producing munitions and engines for the Admiralty
Admiralty
The Admiralty was formerly the authority in the Kingdom of England, and later in the United Kingdom, responsible for the command of the Royal Navy...

. This left them little room for marketing or manufacturing other products - often needing years of development. The management realised their future was in doubt, so looked for a suitable (and preferably nearby) company to amalgamate with, choosing Ruston. On 11 September 1918 when employing about 3,000 people, the company was bought out by Ruston & Proctor
Ruston (engine builder)
Ruston & Hornsby, later known as Ruston, was an industrial equipment manufacturer in Lincoln, England, the company's history going back to 1840. The company is best known as a manufacturer of narrow and standard gauge diesel locomotives and also of steam shovels. Other products included cars, steam...

 of Lincoln
Lincoln, Lincolnshire
Lincoln is a cathedral city and county town of Lincolnshire, England.The non-metropolitan district of Lincoln has a population of 85,595; the 2001 census gave the entire area of Lincoln a population of 120,779....

.

Surviving machines

Very few of the early machines built by Richard Hornsby & Co. survive, but examples of the major types are still to be found. A working example of a Hornsby Oil tractor can be seen at some vintage vehicle shows in the UK, and another example is under restoration in Australia.

Several examples of Hornsby Ackroyd oil engines survive in preservation.
The Track assembly of the Hornsby Steam Tractor survives.

A number of Hornsby-built steam engine
Steam engine
A steam engine is a heat engine that performs mechanical work using steam as its working fluid.Steam engines are external combustion engines, where the working fluid is separate from the combustion products. Non-combustion heat sources such as solar power, nuclear power or geothermal energy may be...

s and tractors are in preservation, with "The Traction Engine Register 2008" listing 12 portable engine
Portable engine
A portable engine is a small steam engine, mounted on wheels or skids, which is used for driving machinery using a belt from its flywheel. It is not self-propelled and is towed to the work site by horses or bullocks, or even a traction engine. Portable engines were used mainly for driving...

s and 3 traction engine
Traction engine
A traction engine is a self-propelled steam engine used to move heavy loads on roads, plough ground or to provide power at a chosen location. The name derives from the Latin tractus, meaning 'drawn', since the prime function of any traction engine is to draw a load behind it...

s in the UK. One example – no. 1851 built in August 1871 – is in the Science Museum's
Science Museum (London)
The Science Museum is one of the three major museums on Exhibition Road, South Kensington, London in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. It is part of the National Museum of Science and Industry. The museum is a major London tourist attraction....

 store at Wroughton, with another example no. 7297 at the Museum of Lincolnshire Life
Museum of Lincolnshire Life
The Museum of Lincolnshire Life is a museum in Lincoln, Lincolnshire, in the UK. The museum collection is a varied social history that reflects and celebrates the culture of Lincolnshire and its people from 1750 to the present day...

, Lincoln.

See also

  • History of the internal combustion engine
    History of the internal combustion engine
    Although various forms of internal combustion engines were developed before the 19th century, their use was hindered until the commercial drilling and production of petroleum began in the mid-1850s...

  • Ruston (engine builder)
    Ruston (engine builder)
    Ruston & Hornsby, later known as Ruston, was an industrial equipment manufacturer in Lincoln, England, the company's history going back to 1840. The company is best known as a manufacturer of narrow and standard gauge diesel locomotives and also of steam shovels. Other products included cars, steam...

  • Ruston, Proctor and Company
    Ruston, Proctor and Company
    Ruston, Proctor and Company was established in Lincoln, England in 1857, and were manufacturers of steam tractors and engines. They later became Rustons and then Ruston & Hornsby.-History:...

  • Marshall, Sons & Co.
    Marshall, Sons & Co.
    -External links:* – at the Powerhouse Museum, Sydney, Australia...

  • Clayton & Shuttleworth
    Clayton & Shuttleworth
    Clayton & Shuttleworth was an engineering company located at Stamp End Works, Lincoln, Lincolnshire. The company was established in 1842 when Nathaniel Clayton formed a partnership with his brother-in-law, Joseph Shuttleworth .-History:...


External links


Video clips

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