British Thomson-Houston
Encyclopedia : B : BR : BRI : British Thomson-Houston
British Thomson-Houston (BTH) was a British engineering and heavy industrial company, known primarily for their electrical systems and steam turbines. They were merged with the similar Metropolitan-Vickers company in 1928, but the two maintained their own identities until 1960. The holding company, Associated Electrical Industries (AEI), would later merge with GEC which exists today as Marconi Corporation plc.
Contents
History
- 1886: The company Laing, Wharton and Down formed, to sell products from the American Electric Company. They soon won a contract for electrical lighting for the east end of London.
- 1982: General Electric in USA was created by the merger of Thomson-Houston and Edison Electric.
- 1893: The American Electric Company became Thomson-Houston.
- 1894: British Thomson-Houston was formed.
- 1896 May: Laing, Wharton and Down was renamed as BTH. BTH got production licenses for the American Electric Company's products, and soon started setting up factories in the British midlands. For much of the late 19th century they competed for electrical generation and distribution contracts with British Westinghouse, mirroring the same company's battles in the US between their parents, General Electric (created by the merger of Thomson-Houston and Edison Electric in 1892) and Westinghouse. BTH became mainly associated with Rugby, Warwickshire, due to its good accessibility by rail and a local coal supply.
- 1899: BTH chose Rugby.
- 1900: BTH bought Glebe Farm for £10,000, from Thos. Hunter & Co., to build their Mill Road factory on it.
- 1900: The Power Act of 1900 was passed. It let BTH and British Westinghouse get new contracts to supply electric power to large areas.
- 1902 March: BTH opened their factory in Mill Road in 1902 making electric motors and generators.
- 1902: BTH got a license to produce the Curtis steam turbine, which became one of their major products.
- 1904: BTH started making turbines.
- 1905: BTH made its first turbo-alternator.
- 1907: BTH started a joint venture with Wolseley Motors to make petrol-electric buses.
- 1909: BTH supplied major coal-fired steam generators to London to power an electric trolley system that was being set up.
- 1911: BTH got licenses for all of General Electric's drawn-wire light bulbs, which they produced under the Mazda trademark.
Consolidation
- 1914-1918 (World War I): BTH expanded into naval electrical equipment, supplying the Royal Navy with various lighting, radio and signalling gear.
- 1916: Howard C. Levis became chairman of BTH.
- 1918 and after: BTH expanded dramatically, adding or expanding factories at Willesden, Birmingham, Chesterfield, and Lutterworth. (It later had factories in Coventry, and in Larne in Northern Ireland.)
- 1924: BTH's Building 52, the research laboratory, was purpose built in 1924.
- 1926: Gerard Swope, president of General Electric, proposed that BTH, Westinghouse, GEC and English Electric should amalgamate. Lord Hirst of GEC was not interested in Swope’s scheme, but a new holding company was formed, Associated Electrical Industries (AEI).
- 1928: AEI bought BTH and Metropolitan-Vickers. Howard C. Levis became chairman of AEI.
- 1928 or after: AEI bought Edison Swann (Ediswan) and Ferguson Pailin, which BTH had been in the process of buying in 1928.
- 1929: Howard C. Levis retired.
- 1930 or earlier: The AEI started to build buildings west of the footpath that runs north through the AEI site to the Leicester Road (known in the area as the Black Path).
- 1937: Frank Whittle's Power Jets company built the world's first prototype jet engine at the BTH works in Rugby. BTH had a major role in developing it. Development was later moved to the Lutterworth works, which were falling into disuse at the time. BTH's directors seemed skeptical of the design and offered little help.
- 1939-1945 (WWII): BTH expanded north of the River Avon into the Boughton Road site to make magnetoes for aircraft engines and other war products.
- 1940: BTH decided they were not really interested in making jet engines due to their commitment to electrical equipment. Rover was soon selected to make jet engines.
- 1943: Rover passed on jet engine making to Rolls-Royce.
- 1944: The Lutterworth Power Jets work was nationalized.
- 1945: After WWII Oliver Lyttelton took over AEI, and started a massive expansion.
- 1947: The Hungarian scientist Dennis Gabor invented holography at the BTH site in Rugby.
- 1954-1963: Lord Chandos was chairman of AEI.
- 1957: The massive new £8 million turbine works was opened at Larne as a result.
- 1957 or after: BTH won the contract to build the new Buenos Aires power station, valued at £35 million. Rivalries intensified with Metrovick. Lyttelton continued to try to reduce this friction, leading to several unsuccessful reorganizations and slipping profits.
AEI (Associated Electrical Industries)
- 1960 Jan 1: To try to cure this, AEI stopped using the names BTH and Metrovick. This led to a huge falling-off in sales because no-one had heard of "AEI" before, and in turn, a massive drop in AEI's stock price. Continued attempts to streamline what was two separate management structures continued to fail, and by the mid-60's the entire AEI empire was in financial trouble.
- 1960: The AEI research lab was built (building BR57 in the Boughton Road site).
- about 1960: The size of BTH's Rugby site peaked.
- 1961: The name AEI was first used on products.
- 1967: AEI brands included Metropolitan-Vickers, BTH, Edison Swan, Siemens Bros., Hotpoint, and W.T. Henley.
GEC (General Electric Company)
- 1967: GEC bought AEI outright. The heavy engineering interests of GEC were merged into GEC Alsthom, now Alstom. GEC thus became the UK's largest electrical group. The remaining parts of GEC are now known as Marconi plc.
- 1980's and around: GEC Rugby shrank . Many buildings were pulled down. The area west of the Black Path became a supermarket site. The Boughton Road site became several separate small firms.
- 1989: GEC in Rugby split into GEC Alstom and Cegelec Projects.
- 1998: GEC Alstom and Cegelec Projects were reunited as Alstom.
External links
- [A detailed history of BTH]
- [The industrial history of Rugby]
- [Images of BTH]
- [AEI (Rugby) RFC website]
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