Richard
Hornsby & Sons - (en)
Richard Hornsby & Sons was an engine and machinery manufacturer in
Lincolnshire, England. The company bearing the name of Richard Hornsby
(1790-1864), the agricultural engineer, was founded when Richard
opened a blacksmithy in Grantham, Lincolnshire in 1815 with Richard
Seaman. The company became Richard Hornsby & Sons in 1828, when
Richard bought out his partner's ownership.
R. Hornsby & Sons grew into a major manufacturer of agricultural
machinery, at their Spittle Gate Works. The firm went on to produce
steam engines used to drive threshing machines and other equipment
such as traction engines, and to develop caterpillar tracks; these
were developed and patented by Hornsby's chief engineer (and managing
director), David Roberts. These were first used on tractors which
served with the British Army towing artillery from 1906, but were
later fitted to tanks which were used in the First World War. In 1909,
a development model called the Little Caterpillar was demonstrated to
the War Office. The army officers present at the demonstration
believed it would frighten the horses.
Work with Herbert Akroyd Stuart in the 1890s lead to the world's first
commercial compression-ignition engines being made in Grantham (from
1892). 45,000 of these engines were made by Hornsbys. They would
provide electricity for lighting the Taj Mahal, Rock of Gibraltar,
Statue of Liberty, many lighthouses and for powering Marconi's first
trans-atlantic radio broadcast.
In September 1918, the company was bought out by Ruston & Proctor
of Lincoln.
