William Kendall, a draughtsman, and George Gent, a fitter, formed a business in 1847 to manufacture gas burners. Their factory was originally located in in premises adjacent to the recently completed London Road Station, Manchester. The company prospered and soon branched out into other areas of manufacturing. An 1857 trade directory refers to the company as manufacturers of engineering tools, including drills, cutters and lathe tools. To accommodate the expanding business, the company opened a new factory in 1863 at Victoria Works, Springfield Lane, Salford. The company specialised in machine tool manufacture. George Gent died in 1873 but the business continued under the Kendall & Gent name. Further expansion of the business led to Kendall & Gent building a second new works on a site in Gorton, Manchester. The new works, also named Victoria Works, opened in 1897. The company continued to expand on the Gorton site, especially during the First World War when demand for machine tools increased dramatically. Kendall & Gent were one of the founder members of the Associated British Machine Tool Makers, established in 1917. The company underwent a reorganisation in 1920 and became a public limited company under F.C. Mosley, who became Chairman and Managing Director of the new company. The company underwent further expansion and new bays were added to the existing buildings between 1938 and 1956. In 1959 the shareholders of the company were approached by W. E. Sykes Limited to either sell to or swap the shares they owned for W. E. Sykes Ltd non-voting shares, as Sykes wanted to gain a controlling interest in Kendall & Gent. They were successful, and Kendall & Gent became an associated company of W. E. Sykes Limited in the same year. In 1966 Staveley Industries acquired Kendall & Gent. In 1966 Staveley Industries acquired Kendall & Gent.

Crossley Brothers Ltd was the successor company to Crossley Brothers. Following early success with the Otto engines, Crossley Brothers expanded and was registered as a limited company in 1881. In 1882, the company moved to new premises in Pottery Lane, Openshaw, Manchester. In 1891 the company began producing oil fuelled engines and in 1896, the company acquired rights to manufacture engines on the diesel system, producing their first diesel engine in 1898. By the beginning of the 20th century, some petrol engines had been introduced, along with production line technology, and from 1901 petrol engines were being supplied for road vehicles. This led to the establishment of a second company, Crossley Motors Ltd, in 1906. This company had operated from 1904 as the vehicle manufacturing arm of Crossley Brothers based at the Pottery Lane factory. Crossley Brothers Ltd began to expand nationally following the First World War, beginning in 1919 with the acquisition of Premier Gas Engines of Sandiacre, Nottingham and H P Saunderson & Co of Elstow Works, Bradford in 1924. Both new subsidiaries retained their own names. Manufacture of diesel and petrol engines at Crossley Brothers Ltd remained steady until the 1960s, when sales began to fall. To improve on designs that were over 40 years old, Crossley Brothers Ltd entered into an agreement to manufacture the French Pielstick design of diesel engine in 1962. Production was initially carried out at Nottingham based subsidiary Crossley Premier Engines Ltd but failed to save the company. In 1965, the receivers were called in and the company was restructured, with subsidiaries including Crossley Premier Engines Ltd sold off. In 1968, Crossley Brothers Ltd was acquired by the Amalgamated Power Engineering Group and was renamed APE-Crossley.