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Ruston (engine builder)
Encyclopedia
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 locomotive
s and also of steam shovel
s. Other products included cars
, steam locomotives and a range of internal combustion engines, and later gas turbines. The company is now part of the Siemens
group of Germany.
The original company was Proctor and Burton established in 1840, operating as millwrights and engineers. They became Ruston, Proctor and Company
in 1857 when Joseph Ruston
joined them, acquiring limited liability status in 1899. From 1866 they built a number of four and six-coupled tank locomotive
s, one of which was sent to the Paris Exhibition in 1867. In 1868 they built five 0-6-0
tank engines for the Great Eastern Railway
to the design of Samuel W. Johnson
. Three of these were converted to crane tanks, two of which lasted until 1952, aged eighty-four. Among the company's output were sixteen for Argentina
and some for T. A. Walker, the contractor building the Manchester Ship Canal
.
During the First World War, Ruston assisted in the war effort
, producing some of the very first tank
s and a number of aircraft, notably the Sopwith Camel
.
On 11 September 1918, the company amalgamated with Richard Hornsby & Sons
of Grantham to become Ruston and Hornsby Ltd (R&H). Hornsby was the world leader in heavy oil engines, having been building them since 1891, a full eight years before Rudolph Diesel's engine was produced commercially.
Ruston built oil and diesel engines in sizes from a few HP up to large industrial engines. Several R&H engines are on display at the Anson Engine Museum
at Poynton
nr Manchester
. Also at Internal Fire Museum of Power, Tanygroes near Cardigan. The company also diversified into the manufacture of petrol engines, again from around 1.5 hp upwards, some of these designs were later manufactured under licence by the Wolseley Sheep Shearing Company.
s and portable steam engines for many years, mainly for the agricultural market.
(B7380), built at the plant in 1917, was named the Wings of Horus
. The company built around 1,600 Sopwith Camels, 250 Sopwith 1½ Strutter
s, and 200 Royal Aircraft Factory B.E.2s. The company, as Ruston & Proctor, was the largest British builder of aero-engines in the War, and built the largest bomb of the war. During the one of the directors, Frederick Howard Livens, had a son who was an army officer on the front line. Captain William Howard Livens
was sent to Lincoln, where he developed the Livens Projector
and the Livens Large Gallery Flame Projector
.
Neighbouring manufacturer Clayton & Shuttleworth
also built planes.
In 1919, Colonel J.S. Ruston was inspired to create a garden suburb in Lincoln – the Swanpool Garden Suburb. His vision was to provide affordable houses for his workers, with easy access to healthy outdoor recreation, such as a pleasure ground, cricket ground and swimming baths. Ruston purchased 25 acres of the Boultham Hall estate and established the Swanpool Co-operative Society. Architects Hennell and James
of London created the designs for the houses, which were built between April 1919 and September 1920. The vision for the new suburb included a technical institute, church and schools. After running into financial difficulties the development was sold in 1925 to Swanpool Garden Suburb Ltd, a private company, but only 113 of the planned 2–3000 houses had been constructed and no more were built.
the company attempted to diversify and one outcome was the Ruston-Hornsby car. Two versions were made, a 15.9 hp with a Dorman 2614 cc engine and a larger 20 hp model with 3308 cc engine of their own manufacture. The cars were however very heavy, being built on a 9-inch chassis, and extremely expensive – the cheapest was around £440 and the most expensive nearly £1000, and within a few years other makers were selling similar vehicles that weighed only 3/4 ton and cost around £120 - £200 – and never reached the hoped-for production volumes. About 1500 were made between 1919 and 1924 two of which are still retained by Siemens on the Lincoln site, one is fully restored in running/driving condition while the second example is still awaiting attention.
The R-H car was developed by the Chief Engineer, Edward Boughton, who joined the company in 1916 after helping to develop the tank
. Later he would start the Automotive Products
Group (APG) in Leamington Spa
in 1920 which made Borg & Beck
clutches, Lockheed hydraulic brakes, and Purolator
fuel filter
s.
OB West
headquarters at Saint-Germain-en-Laye
(near Paris) were captured, previously commanded by Field Marshal
Günther von Kluge
(from 2 July 1944), they were found to be powered by Ruston diesel engines.
It built the first prototype of the Valiant tank
in 1944. The Grantham site built the Matilda II tank.
s for land and marine applications. The company began to build diesel locomotives in 1931 (and continued up until 1967). It was a pioneer and major developer in the industrial application of small (up to 10,000 kW) heavy duty gas turbines from the 1950s onwards. In the 1960s it was Europe's leading supplier of land-based gas turbines. It introduced Dry Low Emission (DLE) combustion technology in the mid 1990s becoming market leaders.
The initiation of the production and design of gas turbines was largely due to Bob Feilden
OBE (1917–2004) who joined the company in 1946. Gas turbines were first produced in 1952.
The Beevor Foundry on Beevor Street was opened in 1950 by General Sir William Joseph Slim (later Field Marshal William Slim, 1st Viscount Slim
), and claimed to be the biggest foundry in Europe.
In the 1950s, it was producing one turbine a fortnight. The company sold its 1000th gas turbine in July 1977. It won the MacRobert Award
in December 1983 for the Tornado gas turbine. The company's Cambridge
-educated Egypt
ian chairman, Dr Waheeb Rizk OBE, was concurrently President of the IMechE
from 1984-5 and also President of the International Council on Combustion Engines from 1973-77. He was Managing Director from 1971–83 and developed the W layout for gas turbine power stations that were used as emergency generating stations for the National Grid, also known as peaking power plant
s. These had to be developed due to prolonged electricity blackout
s in south-east England in 1961 caused by cascading failure
.
Research work was done in conjunction with the University of Sussex
and with Cranfield University in the 1980s, where extensive development was undertaken of the combustion chamber and of the gallery to the turbine.
in October 1968, who were bought by John Thompson of Wolverhampton
four months later. They were bought by Clarke Chapman
in 1970.
) with a (experimental) gas turbine.
In 1959, it opened a new type of power plant using waste sewage gas that powered eight turbines at Britain's biggest sewage works at the Northern Outfall Sewer
at Beckton
in east London. This was a combined heat and power plant.
The company pioneered combined heat and power
schemes. In the 1970s, these were not as well developed as today because electricity companies were not interested in developing a market that would provide direct competition to themselves. CHP schemes were then known as total energy schemes.
The large Singer
factory in Clydebank
, which employed 11,000 people, was notably powered by Rustons turbines. The King Faisal Specialist Hospital
was installed with a CHP unit in 1975. Whitehall in London is heated and has its electricity from a CHP unit built in the late 1990s.
diesel engine company of Colchester
in Essex
. In the later stages of the war, this company would build 4,000 Vee-form
diesel engines that powered all the British-built tank landing craft
(LCT) on D-Day. The company built a large proportion of diesel engines for British trains in the 1960s. From 1954-64 the company's Managing Director was Geoffrey Bone who had been part of the Power Jets team, and whose father Victor Bone was Managing Director of R&H from 1944 until his death. It was due to Geoffrey Bone that Bob Feilden was recruited for R&H who subsequently formed the gas turbine manufacturing operations.
The company closed its Grantham (diesel engine) factory in 1963. In 1934 the company had formed Aveling-Barford
from two companies Aveling and Porter
of Kent and Barford & Perkins of Peterborough, using a former site of R&H.
who paid £25m. Robert Inskip, 2nd Viscount Caldecote
became Chairman of the company. In the R-H Group was also Bergius, Kelvin of Glasgow (now called Kelvin Diesels
); Davey, Paxman & Co
of Colchester (now owned by MAN SE); and Alfred Wiseman & Co Ltd (known as Alfred Wiseman Gears) in Grantham
.
Up to that point, the company had been listed on the Stock Exchange
. This formed Britain's second largest diesel engine group, second to Hawker-Lister. From that moment on it was a subsidiary of a larger company.
(GE)) in 1968, because GEC bought English Electric. The Ruston Paxman diesels division became known as Ruston Diesels. The former Power Jets plant at Whetstone
became a research plant for the gas turbine division of GEC. GEC then merged its heavy engineering division with Alsthom of France, becoming part of GEC-Alsthom in 1989, which changed its name to Alstom
in 1998, when the Lincoln subsidiary was known as EGT.
) to Siemens
(of Germany) in 2003 when Alstom faced financial ruin. The site of the former headquarters at Thorngate House, on the opposite side of the A15, is now residential flats.
and early 1970s
, many (if not the vast majority) of Lincoln engineering firms did not survive difficult financial conditions. This included Clayton Dewandre, (who made vacuum and air-pressure brake servos and associated equipment for commercial vehicles) and Dorman Diesels (also owned by GEC). W.H.Dorman had been bought by English Electric in 1961 and took over an old R & H factory on Beevor Street. Dormans would be bought by Perkins in 1993, then closed in 1995
Only the Ruston group of companies (including Dormans) survived the 1970s. The company actually expanded during this difficult time, helped by the fact that 80% of its engines were exported and the North Sea oil
industry was rapidly expanding at this time, which required portable electricity generation and heating.
With the change of ownership in 1989 the name was changed to European Gas Turbines Ltd (EGT Ltd), following a spell as Alstom Gas Turbines Ltd the company is now known as Siemens Industrial Turbomachinery Ltd.
The design and research centre in Lincoln opened in May 1957.
Its gas turbines are still manufactured in the Ruston Works in Lincoln
and widely used around the world. Siemens announced in September 2009 that Gas Turbine packaging operations were to move abroad with the Lincoln site becoming 'feeder' plant.
Technically, Ruston & Hornsby Ltd existed at the Vulcan Foundry
in Newton-le-Willows
in Merseyside
until 2002, which was known as Ruston Diesels (former Ruston Paxman Diesels). It was taken over by MAN B&W Diesel
AG on 12 June 2000.
Heritage railways with Ruston locomotives include :
Preserved marine engines include :
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....
, 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...
, the company's history going back to 1840. The company is best known as a manufacturer of narrow and standard gauge
Standard gauge
The standard gauge is a widely-used track gauge . Approximately 60% of the world's existing railway lines are built to this gauge...
diesel locomotive
Diesel locomotive
A diesel locomotive is a type of railroad locomotive in which the prime mover is a diesel engine, a reciprocating engine operating on the Diesel cycle as invented by Dr. Rudolf Diesel...
s and also of steam shovel
Steam shovel
A steam shovel is a large steam-powered excavating machine designed for lifting and moving material such as rock and soil. It is the earliest type of power shovel or excavator. They played a major role in public works in the 19th and early 20th century, being key to the construction of railroads...
s. Other products included cars
Automobile
An automobile, autocar, motor car or car is a wheeled motor vehicle used for transporting passengers, which also carries its own engine or motor...
, steam locomotives and a range of internal combustion engines, and later gas turbines. The company is now part of the Siemens
Siemens
Siemens may refer toSiemens, a German family name carried by generations of telecommunications industrialists, including:* Werner von Siemens , inventor, founder of Siemens AG...
group of Germany.
Early history
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:...
in 1857 when Joseph Ruston
Joseph Ruston
Joseph Ruston was an English engineer and manufacturer and Liberal Party politician.Ruston was the son of Robert Ruston a farmer of Chatteris, Isle of Ely and his wife Margaret Seward. He was educated at Wesley College, Sheffield and became an apprentice at the Sheffield cutlery firm of George...
joined them, acquiring limited liability status in 1899. From 1866 they built a number of four and six-coupled tank locomotive
Tank locomotive
A tank locomotive or tank engine is a steam locomotive that carries its water in one or more on-board water tanks, instead of pulling it behind it in a tender. It will most likely also have some kind of bunker to hold the fuel. There are several different types of tank locomotive dependent upon...
s, one of which was sent to the Paris Exhibition in 1867. In 1868 they built five 0-6-0
0-6-0
Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, 0-6-0 represents the wheel arrangement of no leading wheels, six powered and coupled driving wheels on three axles, and no trailing wheels...
tank engines for the Great Eastern Railway
Great Eastern Railway
The Great Eastern Railway was a pre-grouping British railway company, whose main line linked London Liverpool Street to Norwich and which had other lines through East Anglia...
to the design of Samuel W. Johnson
Samuel W. Johnson
Samuel Waite Johnson was Chief Mechanical Engineer of the Midland Railway from 1873 to 1903. He was born in Bramley, Yorkshire and educated at Leeds Grammar School.-Career:...
. Three of these were converted to crane tanks, two of which lasted until 1952, aged eighty-four. Among the company's output were sixteen for Argentina
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
and some for T. A. Walker, the contractor building the Manchester Ship Canal
Manchester Ship Canal
The Manchester Ship Canal is a river navigation 36 miles long in the North West of England. Starting at the Mersey Estuary near Liverpool, it generally follows the original routes of the rivers Mersey and Irwell through the historic counties of Cheshire and Lancashire. Several sets of locks lift...
.
During the First World War, Ruston assisted in the war effort
War effort
In politics and military planning, a war effort refers to a coordinated mobilization of society's resources—both industrial and human—towards the support of a military force...
, producing some of the very first tank
Tank
A tank is a tracked, armoured fighting vehicle designed for front-line combat which combines operational mobility, tactical offensive, and defensive capabilities...
s and a number of aircraft, notably the Sopwith 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...
.
Ruston & Hornsby
Richard Hornsby & Sons
Richard Hornsby & Sons was an engine and machinery manufacturer in Lincolnshire, England from 1828 until 1918. The company was a pioneer in the manufacture of the oil engine developed by Herbert Akroyd Stuart and marketed under the Hornsby-Akroyd name. The company developed an early track system...
of Grantham to become Ruston and Hornsby Ltd (R&H). Hornsby was the world leader in heavy oil engines, having been building them since 1891, a full eight years before Rudolph Diesel's engine was produced commercially.
Ruston built oil and diesel engines in sizes from a few HP up to large industrial engines. Several R&H engines are on display at the Anson Engine Museum
Anson Engine Museum
The Anson Engine Museum is situated on the site of the old Anson colliery in Poynton, Cheshire, England. It is the result of years of work by Les Cawley and Geoff Challinor who began collecting and showing stationary engines for a hobby. When the number and size of engines they collected...
at Poynton
Poynton
Poynton is a town within the civil parish of Poynton-with-Worth, and the unitary authority area of Cheshire East, England. For ceremonial purposes it is part of the county of Cheshire. Poynton is located at the eastern most fringe of the Cheshire Plain, north of Macclesfield, south of Stockport...
nr 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...
. Also at Internal Fire Museum of Power, Tanygroes near Cardigan. The company also diversified into the manufacture of petrol engines, again from around 1.5 hp upwards, some of these designs were later manufactured under licence by the Wolseley Sheep Shearing Company.
Steam machinery
The firm were builders of steam engineSteam 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 portable steam engines for many years, mainly for the agricultural market.
World War 1
In World War 1, the company made around 2750 aeroplanes and 3000 aero engines. The 1000th Sopwith CamelSopwith 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...
(B7380), built at the plant in 1917, was named the Wings of Horus
Horus
Horus is one of the oldest and most significant deities in the Ancient Egyptian religion, who was worshipped from at least the late Predynastic period through to Greco-Roman times. Different forms of Horus are recorded in history and these are treated as distinct gods by Egyptologists...
. The company built around 1,600 Sopwith Camels, 250 Sopwith 1½ Strutter
Sopwith 1½ Strutter
The Sopwith 1½ Strutter was a British one or two-seat biplane multi-role aircraft of the First World War. It is significant as the first British-designed two seater tractor fighter, and the first British aircraft to enter service with a synchronised machine gun...
s, and 200 Royal Aircraft Factory B.E.2s. The company, as Ruston & Proctor, was the largest British builder of aero-engines in the War, and built the largest bomb of the war. During the one of the directors, Frederick Howard Livens, had a son who was an army officer on the front line. Captain William Howard Livens
William Howard Livens
William Howard Livens DSO MC was an engineer, a soldier in the British Army and an inventor particularly known for the design of chemical warfare and flame warfare weapons. Resourceful and clever, Livens’ successful creations were characterised by being very practical and easy to produce in large...
was sent to Lincoln, where he developed the Livens Projector
Livens Projector
The Livens Projector was a simple mortar-like weapon that could throw large drums filled with flammable or toxic chemicals. In the First World War, the Livens Projector became the standard means of delivering gas attacks and it remained in the arsenal of the British Army until the early years of...
and the Livens Large Gallery Flame Projector
Livens Large Gallery Flame Projector
Livens Large Gallery Flame Projectors were large experimental flamethrowers used by the British Army in World War I.They were named after their inventor, a Royal Engineers officer William Howard Livens. Four were deployed in 1916 the Battle of the Somme and one in 1917 in an offensive near...
.
Neighbouring manufacturer 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:...
also built planes.
In 1919, Colonel J.S. Ruston was inspired to create a garden suburb in Lincoln – the Swanpool Garden Suburb. His vision was to provide affordable houses for his workers, with easy access to healthy outdoor recreation, such as a pleasure ground, cricket ground and swimming baths. Ruston purchased 25 acres of the Boultham Hall estate and established the Swanpool Co-operative Society. Architects Hennell and James
Charles Holloway James
Charles Holloway James R.A., F.R.I.B.A., , architect, specialised in designs for homes and housing projects, but also completed large public works, particularly in collaboration with Stephen Rowland Pierce.James was born in 1893 at Gloucester...
of London created the designs for the houses, which were built between April 1919 and September 1920. The vision for the new suburb included a technical institute, church and schools. After running into financial difficulties the development was sold in 1925 to Swanpool Garden Suburb Ltd, a private company, but only 113 of the planned 2–3000 houses had been constructed and no more were built.
The Ruston-Hornsby car
After World War IWorld War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
the company attempted to diversify and one outcome was the Ruston-Hornsby car. Two versions were made, a 15.9 hp with a Dorman 2614 cc engine and a larger 20 hp model with 3308 cc engine of their own manufacture. The cars were however very heavy, being built on a 9-inch chassis, and extremely expensive – the cheapest was around £440 and the most expensive nearly £1000, and within a few years other makers were selling similar vehicles that weighed only 3/4 ton and cost around £120 - £200 – and never reached the hoped-for production volumes. About 1500 were made between 1919 and 1924 two of which are still retained by Siemens on the Lincoln site, one is fully restored in running/driving condition while the second example is still awaiting attention.
The R-H car was developed by the Chief Engineer, Edward Boughton, who joined the company in 1916 after helping to develop the tank
Tank
A tank is a tracked, armoured fighting vehicle designed for front-line combat which combines operational mobility, tactical offensive, and defensive capabilities...
. Later he would start the Automotive Products
Automotive Products
Automotive Products, commonly abbreviated to AP, was an automotive industry components company set up in 1920 by Edward Boughton, Willie Emmott and Denis Brock, to import and sell American-made components to service the fleet of ex-military trucks left behind in Europe after World War I.In 1928,...
Group (APG) in Leamington Spa
Leamington Spa
Royal Leamington Spa, commonly known as Leamington Spa or Leamington or Leam to locals, is a spa town in central Warwickshire, England. Formerly known as Leamington Priors, its expansion began following the popularisation of the medicinal qualities of its water by Dr Kerr in 1784, and by Dr Lambe...
in 1920 which made Borg & Beck
BorgWarner
BorgWarner Inc. is a United States-based worldwide automotive industry components and parts supplier. It is primarily known for its powertrain products, which include manual and automatic transmissions and transmission components, , turbochargers, engine valve timing system...
clutches, Lockheed hydraulic brakes, and Purolator
Purolator
Purolator may refer to:* Purolator Courier, a Canadian courier company* Purolator Filters, a joint venture of Bosch and Mann-Hummel, which distributes the Purolator brand of automotive filtration products...
fuel filter
Fuel filter
A fuel filter is a filter in the fuel line that screens out dirt and rust particles from the fuel, normally made into cartridges containing a filter paper. They are found in most internal combustion engines....
s.
World War II
In September 1944, when the German WehrmachtWehrmacht
The Wehrmacht – from , to defend and , the might/power) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the Heer , the Kriegsmarine and the Luftwaffe .-Origin and use of the term:...
OB West
OB West
The German Army Command in the West The German Army Command in the West The German Army Command in the West (Oberbefehlshaber West (German: initials OB West) was the overall command of the Westheer, the German Armed Forces on the Western Front during World War II. It was directly subordinate to...
headquarters at Saint-Germain-en-Laye
Saint-Germain-en-Laye
Saint-Germain-en-Laye is a commune in the Yvelines department in the Île-de-France in north-central France. It is located in the western suburbs of Paris from the centre.Inhabitants are called Saint-Germanois...
(near Paris) were captured, previously commanded by Field Marshal
Generalfeldmarschall
Field Marshal or Generalfeldmarschall in German, was a rank in the armies of several German states and the Holy Roman Empire; in the Austrian Empire, the rank Feldmarschall was used...
Günther von Kluge
Günther von Kluge
Günther Adolf Ferdinand “Hans” von Kluge was a German military leader. He was born in Posen into a Prussian military family. Kluge rose to the rank of Field Marshal in the Wehrmacht. He was also a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves and Swords...
(from 2 July 1944), they were found to be powered by Ruston diesel engines.
It built the first prototype of the Valiant tank
Valiant tank
The Tank, Infantry, Valiant was a British tank design of the Second World War that only reached the prototype stage. The design was so infamously bad that the sole example was retained by the School of Tank Technology post-war as a dire lesson to its students.- Origins :The A38 Valiant began as a...
in 1944. The Grantham site built the Matilda II tank.
Diesels and Gas Turbines
Ruston & Hornsby was a major producer of small and medium diesel engineDiesel 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...
s for land and marine applications. The company began to build diesel locomotives in 1931 (and continued up until 1967). It was a pioneer and major developer in the industrial application of small (up to 10,000 kW) heavy duty gas turbines from the 1950s onwards. In the 1960s it was Europe's leading supplier of land-based gas turbines. It introduced Dry Low Emission (DLE) combustion technology in the mid 1990s becoming market leaders.
The initiation of the production and design of gas turbines was largely due to Bob Feilden
Bob Feilden
Geoffrey Bertram Robert Feilden CBE FRS FREng FIMechE was a mechanical engineer, and an important part of the Power Jets team that developed the first jet engine with Frank Whittle in the early 1940s.-Early life:...
OBE (1917–2004) who joined the company in 1946. Gas turbines were first produced in 1952.
The Beevor Foundry on Beevor Street was opened in 1950 by General Sir William Joseph Slim (later Field Marshal William Slim, 1st Viscount Slim
William Slim, 1st Viscount Slim
Field Marshal William Joseph "Bill"'Slim, 1st Viscount Slim, KG, GCB, GCMG, GCVO, GBE, DSO, MC, KStJ was a British military commander and the 13th Governor-General of Australia....
), and claimed to be the biggest foundry in Europe.
In the 1950s, it was producing one turbine a fortnight. The company sold its 1000th gas turbine in July 1977. It won the MacRobert Award
MacRobert Award
The MacRobert Award has been presented every year since 1969 by the Royal Academy of Engineering.The award seeks to recognise innovative ideas in engineering.-History:The award is named in honour of Lady Rachel Workman MacRobert .-Winners:...
in December 1983 for the Tornado gas turbine. The company's Cambridge
University of Cambridge
The University of Cambridge is a public research university located in Cambridge, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest university in both the United Kingdom and the English-speaking world , and the seventh-oldest globally...
-educated Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
ian chairman, Dr Waheeb Rizk OBE, was concurrently President of the IMechE
Institution of Mechanical Engineers
The Institution of Mechanical Engineers is the British engineering society based in central London, representing mechanical engineering. It is licensed by the Engineering Council UK to assess candidates for inclusion on ECUK's Register of professional Engineers...
from 1984-5 and also President of the International Council on Combustion Engines from 1973-77. He was Managing Director from 1971–83 and developed the W layout for gas turbine power stations that were used as emergency generating stations for the National Grid, also known as peaking power plant
Peaking power plant
Peaking power plants, also known as peaker plants, and occasionally just "peakers," are power plants that generally run only when there is a high demand, known as peak demand, for electricity.-Peak hours:...
s. These had to be developed due to prolonged electricity blackout
Power outage
A power outage is a short- or long-term loss of the electric power to an area.There are many causes of power failures in an electricity network...
s in south-east England in 1961 caused by cascading failure
Cascading failure
A cascading failure is a failure in a system of interconnected parts in which the failure of a part can trigger the failure of successive parts.- Cascading failure in power transmission :...
.
Research work was done in conjunction with the University of Sussex
University of Sussex
The University of Sussex is an English public research university situated next to the East Sussex village of Falmer, within the city of Brighton and Hove. The University received its Royal Charter in August 1961....
and with Cranfield University in the 1980s, where extensive development was undertaken of the combustion chamber and of the gallery to the turbine.
Gas turbine product range
Industrial Gas Turbines of note manufactured as the Lincoln plant:- TA
- TB
- TD
- Typhoon (SGT-100)
- Tornado (SGT-200)
- Tempest (SGT-300)
- Cyclone (SGT-400)
Boilers
Until the late 1960s, it produced Thermax boilers. The boiler business was sold for £1.75m to Cochrane & Co of Annan, Dumfries and GallowayAnnan, Dumfries and Galloway
The royal burgh of Annan is a well-built town, red sandstone being the material mainly used. Each year in July, Annan celebrates the Royal Charter and the boundaries of the Royal Burgh are confirmed when a mounted cavalcade undertakes the Riding of the Marches. Entertainment includes a...
in October 1968, who were bought by John Thompson of Wolverhampton
Wolverhampton
Wolverhampton is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands, England. For Eurostat purposes Walsall and Wolverhampton is a NUTS 3 region and is one of five boroughs or unitary districts that comprise the "West Midlands" NUTS 2 region...
four months later. They were bought by Clarke Chapman
Clarke Chapman
Clarke Chapman is a British engineering firm based in Gateshead, which was formerly listed on the London Stock Exchange.-History:The company was founded in 1864 in Gateshead by William Clarke...
in 1970.
Energy schemes
In 1957, it was the first company to fit a main Royal Navy ship (HMS CumberlandHMS Cumberland (57)
HMS Cumberland was a County class heavy cruiser of the Royal Navy that saw action during the Second World War.-Career:Cumberland served on the China Station with the 5th Cruiser Squadron from 1928 until 1938, returning to the UK in March 1935 for a refit...
) with a (experimental) gas turbine.
In 1959, it opened a new type of power plant using waste sewage gas that powered eight turbines at Britain's biggest sewage works at the Northern Outfall Sewer
Northern Outfall Sewer
The Northern Outfall Sewer is a major gravity sewer which runs from Wick Lane in Hackney to Beckton Sewage Works in east London ; most of it was designed by Joseph Bazalgette after an outbreak of cholera in 1853 and "The Big Stink" of 1858.Prior to this work, central London's drains were built...
at Beckton
Beckton
Beckton is part of the London Borough of Newham, England, located east of Charing Cross.Its boundaries are the A13 trunk road to the north, Barking Creek to the east, the Royal Docks to the south, and Prince Regent Lane to the west. The area around Prince Regent Lane is also known as Custom House...
in east London. This was a combined heat and power plant.
The company pioneered combined heat and power
Cogeneration
Cogeneration is the use of a heat engine or a power station to simultaneously generate both electricity and useful heat....
schemes. In the 1970s, these were not as well developed as today because electricity companies were not interested in developing a market that would provide direct competition to themselves. CHP schemes were then known as total energy schemes.
The large Singer
Singer Corporation
Singer Corporation is a manufacturer of sewing machines, first established as I.M. Singer & Co. in 1851 by Isaac Merritt Singer with New York lawyer Edward Clark. Best known for its sewing machines, it was renamed Singer Manufacturing Company in 1865, then The Singer Company in 1963. It is...
factory in Clydebank
Clydebank
Clydebank is a town in West Dunbartonshire, in the Central Lowlands of Scotland. Situated on the north bank of the River Clyde, Clydebank borders Dumbarton, the town with which it was combined to form West Dunbartonshire, as well as the town of Milngavie in East Dunbartonshire, and the Yoker and...
, which employed 11,000 people, was notably powered by Rustons turbines. The King Faisal Specialist Hospital
King Faisal Specialist Hospital
The King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Center is a hospital in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, which operates 850 beds with approximately 8,500 employees. In all there are 63 different nationalities making up the staff. The hospital is the national referral center for oncology, organ...
was installed with a CHP unit in 1975. Whitehall in London is heated and has its electricity from a CHP unit built in the late 1990s.
Paxmans
In 1940 R&H bought a controlling interest in the well-known PaxmansPaxman (engines)
Paxman is a major British brand of diesel engines. Ownership has changed on a number of occasions since the company's formation in 1865, and now the brand is owned by MAN SE, as part of MAN Diesel & Turbo. At its peak, the Paxman works covered 23 acres and employed over 2,000 people. Engine...
diesel engine company of Colchester
Colchester
Colchester is an historic town and the largest settlement within the borough of Colchester in Essex, England.At the time of the census in 2001, it had a population of 104,390. However, the population is rapidly increasing, and has been named as one of Britain's fastest growing towns. As the...
in Essex
Essex
Essex is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England, and one of the home counties. It is located to the northeast of Greater London. It borders with Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent to the South and London to the south west...
. In the later stages of the war, this company would build 4,000 Vee-form
V engine
A V engine, or Vee engine is a common configuration for an internal combustion engine. The cylinders and pistons are aligned, in two separate planes or 'banks', so that they appear to be in a "V" when viewed along the axis of the crankshaft...
diesel engines that powered all the British-built tank landing craft
Landing craft tank
The Landing Craft, Tank was an amphibious assault ship for landing tanks on beachheads. They were initially developed by the British Royal Navy and later by the United States Navy during World War II in a series of versions. Initially known as the "Tank Landing Craft" by the British, they later...
(LCT) on D-Day. The company built a large proportion of diesel engines for British trains in the 1960s. From 1954-64 the company's Managing Director was Geoffrey Bone who had been part of the Power Jets team, and whose father Victor Bone was Managing Director of R&H from 1944 until his death. It was due to Geoffrey Bone that Bob Feilden was recruited for R&H who subsequently formed the gas turbine manufacturing operations.
The company closed its Grantham (diesel engine) factory in 1963. In 1934 the company had formed Aveling-Barford
Aveling-Barford
Aveling-Barford was a large engineering company making road rollers and dumper trucks in Grantham, Lincolnshire. In its time, it was an internationally known company.-Ruston and Hornsby:...
from two companies Aveling and Porter
Aveling and Porter
Aveling and Porter was a British agricultural engine and steam roller manufacturer. Thomas Aveling and Richard Thomas Porter entered into partnership in 1862, developed a steam engine three years later in 1865 and produced more steam rollers than all the other British manufacturers combined.-The...
of Kent and Barford & Perkins of Peterborough, using a former site of R&H.
English Electric
The company itself was only taken over once, in November 1966, by English ElectricEnglish Electric
English Electric was a British industrial manufacturer. Founded in 1918, it initially specialised in industrial electric motors and transformers...
who paid £25m. Robert Inskip, 2nd Viscount Caldecote
Robert Inskip, 2nd Viscount Caldecote
Robert Andrew Inskip, 2nd Viscount Caldecote was a 20th century British peer and eminent engineer. The son of Thomas Inskip, 1st Viscount Caldecote, he succeeded to the Viscountcy on the death of his father. Educated at Eton and King's College, Cambridge, he served in the RNVR during World War...
became Chairman of the company. In the R-H Group was also Bergius, Kelvin of Glasgow (now called Kelvin Diesels
Kelvin Diesels
Kelvin Diesels is a manufacturer of marine diesel engines based in Glasgow, Scotland. The company's engines are used in a variety of vessels such as fishing boats and small tugs.- History :...
); Davey, Paxman & Co
Paxman (engines)
Paxman is a major British brand of diesel engines. Ownership has changed on a number of occasions since the company's formation in 1865, and now the brand is owned by MAN SE, as part of MAN Diesel & Turbo. At its peak, the Paxman works covered 23 acres and employed over 2,000 people. Engine...
of Colchester (now owned by MAN SE); and Alfred Wiseman & Co Ltd (known as Alfred Wiseman Gears) in Grantham
Grantham
Grantham is a market town within the South Kesteven district of Lincolnshire, England. It bestrides the East Coast Main Line railway , the historic A1 main north-south road, and the River Witham. Grantham is located approximately south of the city of Lincoln, and approximately east of Nottingham...
.
Up to that point, the company had been listed on the Stock Exchange
London Stock Exchange
The London Stock Exchange is a stock exchange located in the City of London within the United Kingdom. , the Exchange had a market capitalisation of US$3.7495 trillion, making it the fourth-largest stock exchange in the world by this measurement...
. This formed Britain's second largest diesel engine group, second to Hawker-Lister. From that moment on it was a subsidiary of a larger company.
GEC and Alstom
The company progressively became part of the General Electric Company of UK ('GEC', not to be confused with the US firm General ElectricGeneral Electric
General Electric Company , or GE, is an American multinational conglomerate corporation incorporated in Schenectady, New York and headquartered in Fairfield, Connecticut, United States...
(GE)) in 1968, because GEC bought English Electric. The Ruston Paxman diesels division became known as Ruston Diesels. The former Power Jets plant at Whetstone
Whetstone, Leicestershire
Whetstone is a village and civil parish in the Blaby district of Leicestershire, England. It has a population of 6,000 and largely acts as a commuter village for Leicester, five miles to the north...
became a research plant for the gas turbine division of GEC. GEC then merged its heavy engineering division with Alsthom of France, becoming part of GEC-Alsthom in 1989, which changed its name to Alstom
Alstom
Alstom is a large multinational conglomerate which holds interests in the power generation and transport markets. According to the company website, in the years 2010-2011 Alstom had annual sales of over €20.9 billion, and employed more than 85,000 people in 70 countries. Alstom's headquarters are...
in 1998, when the Lincoln subsidiary was known as EGT.
Siemens
Latterly, Alstom sold its gas turbine division (in Lincoln and Franche-ComtéFranche-Comté
Franche-Comté the former "Free County" of Burgundy, as distinct from the neighbouring Duchy, is an administrative region and a traditional province of eastern France...
) to Siemens
Siemens
Siemens may refer toSiemens, a German family name carried by generations of telecommunications industrialists, including:* Werner von Siemens , inventor, founder of Siemens AG...
(of Germany) in 2003 when Alstom faced financial ruin. The site of the former headquarters at Thorngate House, on the opposite side of the A15, is now residential flats.
Economy of Lincoln
When owned by GEC in the late 1960s1960s
The 1960s was the decade that started on January 1, 1960, and ended on December 31, 1969. It was the seventh decade of the 20th century.The 1960s term also refers to an era more often called The Sixties, denoting the complex of inter-related cultural and political trends across the globe...
and early 1970s
1970s
File:1970s decade montage.png|From left, clockwise: US President Richard Nixon doing the V for Victory sign after his resignation from office after the Watergate scandal in 1974; Refugees aboard a US naval boat after the Fall of Saigon, leading to the end of the Vietnam War in 1975; The 1973 oil...
, many (if not the vast majority) of Lincoln engineering firms did not survive difficult financial conditions. This included Clayton Dewandre, (who made vacuum and air-pressure brake servos and associated equipment for commercial vehicles) and Dorman Diesels (also owned by GEC). W.H.Dorman had been bought by English Electric in 1961 and took over an old R & H factory on Beevor Street. Dormans would be bought by Perkins in 1993, then closed in 1995
Only the Ruston group of companies (including Dormans) survived the 1970s. The company actually expanded during this difficult time, helped by the fact that 80% of its engines were exported and the North Sea oil
North Sea oil
North Sea oil is a mixture of hydrocarbons, comprising liquid oil and natural gas, produced from oil reservoirs beneath the North Sea.In the oil industry, the term "North Sea" often includes areas such as the Norwegian Sea and the area known as "West of Shetland", "the Atlantic Frontier" or "the...
industry was rapidly expanding at this time, which required portable electricity generation and heating.
Manufacturing plants
The original Ruston works (Waterside South, Lincoln) focused on Gas Turbine manufacture from 1967 becoming the head office of Ruston Gas Turbines Ltd (RGT Ltd). Napier Turbochargers moved to the site from Liverpool, who had been owned by English Electric since 1942.With the change of ownership in 1989 the name was changed to European Gas Turbines Ltd (EGT Ltd), following a spell as Alstom Gas Turbines Ltd the company is now known as Siemens Industrial Turbomachinery Ltd.
The design and research centre in Lincoln opened in May 1957.
Its gas turbines are still manufactured in the Ruston Works in 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....
and widely used around the world. Siemens announced in September 2009 that Gas Turbine packaging operations were to move abroad with the Lincoln site becoming 'feeder' plant.
Technically, Ruston & Hornsby Ltd existed at the Vulcan Foundry
Vulcan Foundry
Vulcan Foundry was a British locomotive builder sited at Newton-le-Willows, Lancashire .-History:It was originally opened in 1832 as Charles Tayleur and Company to produce girders for bridges, switches and crossings, and other ironwork following the opening of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway...
in Newton-le-Willows
Newton-le-Willows
Newton-le-Willows is a small market town within the Metropolitan Borough of St Helens, in Merseyside, England. Historically a part of Lancashire, it is situated about midway between the cities of Manchester and Liverpool, to the east of St Helens, to the north of Warrington and to the south of...
in Merseyside
Merseyside
Merseyside is a metropolitan county in North West England, with a population of 1,365,900. It encompasses the metropolitan area centred on both banks of the lower reaches of the Mersey Estuary, and comprises five metropolitan boroughs: Knowsley, St Helens, Sefton, Wirral, and the city of Liverpool...
until 2002, which was known as Ruston Diesels (former Ruston Paxman Diesels). It was taken over by MAN B&W Diesel
MAN B&W Diesel
MAN Diesel SE was a provider of large-bore diesel engines for marine propulsion systems and power plant applications. MAN Diesel employs over 7,700 staff, primarily in Germany, Denmark, France, the Czech Republic, India and China...
AG on 12 June 2000.
Market focus
Rustons – in its various incarnations – was always an engine producer rather than a machine producer, and it could be considered that they simply produced machines in order to sell engines.Preserved locomotives
- Amberley Museum RailwayAmberley Museum RailwayThe Amberley Museum and Heritage Centre Railway is a gauge railway based at the Amberley Museum and Heritage Centre, Amberley, West Sussex. It has a varied collection of engines and rolling stock ranging from gauge to gauge...
- Blenheim Riverside RailwayBlenheim Riverside RailwayThe Blenheim Riverside Railway is a narrow gauge heritage railway located in Blenheim, New Zealand and runs down the Taylor River which winds its way through the middle of the town...
- Bo'ness and Kinneil RailwayBo'ness and Kinneil RailwayThe Bo’ness and Kinneil Railway is a Heritage railway in Falkirk, Scotland. It is operated by the Scottish Railway Preservation Society, and operates some 5 miles of track, virtually the entire Slamannan and Borrowstounness Railway that became part of the former North British Railway on the Firth...
- Cepu Forest RailwayCepu forest railwayThe Cepu Forest Railway is a light logging railway of gauge that runs through teak plantations to the northwest of the town of Cepu on the boundary between Central and East Java provinces,on the island of Java in Indonesia...
, Indonesia - Corris RailwayCorris RailwayThe Corris Railway is a narrow gauge preserved railway based in Corris on the border between Merionethshire and Montgomeryshire in Mid-Wales....
- Ecclesbourne Valley RailwayEcclesbourne Valley RailwayThe Ecclesbourne Valley Railway is a long heritage railway in Derbyshire, the headquarters of the railway centre around Wirksworth station and services operate between Wirksworth and Duffield and Wirksworth and Ravenstor...
- Electric Railway Museum, BagintonCoventry Railway CentreThe Electric Railway Museum is located in Warwickshire, south of Coventry city, outside Baginton, and near to Coventry Airport. The heritage railway centre was also known as "The Airfield Line" as the railway was built on the site of a greenfield...
- Helston Railway Diesel Group
- Leighton Buzzard Narrow Gauge Railway
- Lincolnshire Wolds RailwayLincolnshire Wolds RailwayThe Lincolnshire Wolds Railway is a heritage railway based at Ludborough station, near Grimsby in Lincolnshire, England and the only standard gauge steam railway in Lincolnshire open to the public. The line is part of the original Great Northern Railway , a rail system that opened in 1848 and once...
- Mid-Suffolk Light RailwayMid-Suffolk Light RailwayThe Mid-Suffolk Light Railway is a heritage railway in Suffolk, which in its heyday it was a branch line which ran for just from Haughley to Laxfield, Suffolk. The line became part of the London and North Eastern Railway in 1924 and the last trains ran on 26 July 1952...
- Moseley Railway TrustMoseley Railway TrustThe Moseley Railway Trust is a major British collection of industrial narrow gauge locomotives and other equipment. It originally had its base in south Manchester, but has completely relocated to the Apedale Country Park near Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire where a passenger railway is now open...
- Northampton & Lamport RailwayNorthampton & Lamport RailwayThe Northampton & Lamport Railway is a standard gauge heritage railway in Northamptonshire, England. It is based at Pitsford and Brampton station, near the villages of Pitsford and Chapel Brampton, roughly north of Northampton.-Overview:...
- Pleasant Point Museum and RailwayPleasant Point Museum and Railwaythumb|right|Pleasant Point Museum and Railway YardThe Pleasant Point Museum and Railway is a narrow gauge heritage railway located in the small country town of Pleasant Point in southern Canterbury, New Zealand, inland from Timaru. Its main terminal is located at Pleasant Point station, which was...
- Rutland Railway MuseumRutland Railway MuseumRutland Railway Museum now trading as Rocks by Rail: The Living Ironstone Museum is a heritage railway on part of a former Midland Railway mineral branch line. It is situated NE of Oakham, in Rutland, England.-Overview:...
- Scottish Industrial Railway CentreScottish Industrial Railway CentreThe Scottish Industrial Railway Centre is an Industrial Heritage museum operated by the Ayrshire Railway Preservation Group. The centre owns a number of standard gauge steam and diesel locomotives and an extensive collection of photographs.- History :...
- Steeple Grange Light RailwaySteeple Grange Light RailwayThe Steeple Grange Light Railway is a heritage railway at Wirksworth in Derbyshire, UK. It uses industrial locomotives and rolling stock from disused mines, quarries, and steelworks around the country.-The line:...
- Talyllyn RailwayTalyllyn RailwayThe Talyllyn Railway is a narrow-gauge preserved railway in Wales running for from Tywyn on the Mid-Wales coast to Nant Gwernol near the village of Abergynolwyn. The line was opened in 1866 to carry slate from the quarries at Bryn Eglwys to Tywyn, and was the first narrow gauge railway in Britain...
- Thamshavn Line, Norway
- Welsh Highland RailwayWelsh Highland RailwayThe Welsh Highland Railway is a long restored narrow gauge heritage railway in North Wales, operating from Caernarfon to Porthmadog, and passing through a number of popular tourist destinations including Beddgelert and the Aberglaslyn Pass. At Porthmadog it connects with the Ffestiniog Railway...
- Yaxham Light RailwayYaxham Light RailwayYaxham Light Railway is a narrow gauge light railway situated adjacent to Yaxham railway station on the Mid-Norfolk Railway. It is located in the village of Yaxham in the English county of Norfolk.- History :...
Preserved marine engines include :
- Ross TigerRoss TigerThe Ross Tiger is a traditional side-winder fishing trawler that was converted into a museum ship in 1992. She is currently berthed in Alexandra Dock at her home port of Grimsby, close to the site of the former PS Lincoln Castle. She forms the star attraction of North East Lincolnshire County...
preserved fishing trawler with 7 cylinder diesel Ruston & Hornsby
Video imagery of Rustons machinery
- Bucyrus RB22 used for draglining
- Bucyrus RB10 Shovel
- 1938 Ruston 4VQZ running
- Dorman 120T Diesel engine running