Title
British Thomson-Houston Co Ltd negatives
Reference
GEC/4/4/14
Production date
1927 - 1927
Creator
- British Thomson-Houston Co LtdBiographyBiography
The British Thomson-Houston Co. Ltd., (BTH) was created as a subsidiary of the General Electric Company, USA in 1896 to exploit the sale of products in the United Kingdom. BTH was a reconstruction of an existing firm, Laing, Wharton and Down (1886). The BTH manufacturing works were based at Rugby, Warwickshire and the company’s products included induction motors, alternators, switchgear, turbo-generators and turbines, as well as a large number of rotary converters and motor converters, primarily for chemical plants.
During the First World War, BTH’s most significant contribution was the development of marine apparatus for the naval service. The 1920s saw a period of vast expansion for the company with new extensions built at many of its factories such as Willesden, Birmingham, Chesterfield and Lutterworth. BTH amalgamated with Metropolitan-Vickers Electrical Company Ltd to form Associated Electrical Industries (AEI) in 1928 although both companies retained their separate identities and continued to compete for the same contracts.
BTH developed manufactured electric torpedoes and electrical components for aircraft engines, munitions, etc., during the Second World War and in 1935 independently of each other, BTH and Metropolitan-Vickers were the first two companies in the world to construct jet engines.
Scope and Content
This box contains British Thomson-Houston Co Ltd (Rugby) negatives in small thin translucent envelopes, in the following drawing series, and have been arranged in the following numerical order 566201 - 566499, 570615 - 576432, 581900 - 583200. One or two sample drawings from each batch are detailed below.
566201 Electrical layout of Central Argentine motor coach, ordered 1925
581925 Section BTH 508 motor
582151 Pinion drawing tool
582596 Control connection box
582779 Panel for auxiliary fuse box
582905 Arrangement of collector shoe
582913 BTH 265B motor frame
582914 Layout of axle suspension
582972 BTH 509 bearing withdrawal tools
583035 Gearwheel for BTH 507 motor
Extent
1 box
Level of description
FILE
Repository name
National Railway Museum, York
Associated people and organisations
- BTH Rugby WorksBiographyBiography
British Thomson-Houston (BTH) (1896) identified a 25 acre site known as Glebe Farm in Rugby in 1900, which was chosen because of its central location in Britain, the close proximity of the River Avon to provide cooling for the manufacturing operations, and the important intersection of the site by two main railway lines.
The Works opened in 1902 making electric lamps, motors, generators and meters, by 1903 the works had expanded across the footpath towards Leicester Road. The Works were taken over by Associated Electrical Industries (AEI) in 1928, which manufactured motor and control gears and traction equipment. During the Second World War the Rugby works commenced manufacture of supplies for the armed forces as well as a general increase in output for all of its existing products. Part of the original lamp works had to be cleared to create space for the manufacture of ammunition shells.
In April 1937-1938, the works expanded with a new office block at Rugby, designed to house the engineering and commercial offices, this new building enabled 27,000 sq. ft. elsewhere in the Works to be released for manufacturing functions. During World War II, the Rugby Works produced products and mechanisms for the war efforts. Following the war was the expansion of the research laboratory onto Boughton Road in 1957. In 1967 the General Electric Company (GEC) bought AEI took over the Rugby works. In the 1980s GEC Rugby buildings were demolished and parcels of land were sold off to developers. In 1989 GEC merged with the French company Alsthom, and the Rugby works were split into GEC Alstom and Cegelec Projects, with the two firms reunited in 1998 as Alstom.
In 2007, some of the buildings of the Works were partially demolished as part of redevelopment. In the present day building 140 is occupied by General Electric (American) and the other part of the site is owned by Warwickshire College Sport Fitness & Rugby Centre.
- Central Argentine Railway Company Ltd.BiographyBiography
The Central Argentine Railway Company Ltd. (CAR) was established in 1863 by William Wheelwright. In 1862, Wheelwright obtained a concession with Thomas Brassey and George Wythes, from the Argentine government to construct a railway line from Rosario to Cordoba, originally granted to Jose Buschenthal (1802 -1870) in 1854. It was a British-owned, broad gauge (5’ 6”) company serving the Buenos Aires, Sante Fe, Tucuman, Santiago del Estero and Cordoba provinces of Argentina. By 1910, the company was considered one of the ‘Big Four’ British-owned, broad gauge railway companies in Argentina, alongside Pacific and Western, Buenos Aires and Great Southern.
The Rosario –Cordoba line was the main broad gauge line constructed by Central Argentine Railways, extending from the eastern seaport of Rosario to Cordoba, started in 1863 and inaugurated on May 17th 1870. In 1870, President Sarmiento arranged a £6 million loan for Central Argentine Railway to extend this line north from Cordoba to Tucuman. In the Buenos Aires province there were three main suburban lines of Tigre West, Tigre East and Villa Ballester. The Retiro – Tigre West service was the first line in South America to be electrified on December 1st 1916, the units being supplied by British Thomson- Houston Company Ltd. The Tigre East and Villa Ballester lines were electrified in 1924, and 221 units were supplied by Metropolitan-Vickers Electrical Company Ltd. The Central Argentine Railway operated the fastest train in South America, known as the “Rapido”, running between Buenos Aires and Rosario from 1910.
Central Argentine Railways transported timber from the north including goods such as railway sleepers and fence posts, and sugar from Tucuman. The company was a major grain carrier, transporting maize, wheat and linseed amongst others. CAR was the first to adopt gas lighting in trains, to provide sleeping cars and luxurious dining and restaurant cars, and to use block and pneumatic signalling. The main stations are Retiro, the Buenos Aires terminus, opened in August 1915; Cordoba opened in 1919; Campana opened in 1925. The company continued to function until 1948, when President Juan Peron nationalised the Argentine Railway, creating six state owned railway networks and Central Argentine Railways was incorporated into the Ferrocarril Mitre network.
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