Buckley & Taylor facts for kids

Buckley & Taylor

Industry	Engineering
Successor	Brightside Foundry and engineering Co. Ltd., Sheffield
Founded	1861
Founder	Samuel Buckley, James Taylor
Defunct	1947 (Take over)
Headquarters	Oldham
Number of locations	1 (Castle Ironworks, Greenacres)
Products	Stationary steam engines
Owner	1861- Samuel Buckley, James Taylor

Buckley & Taylor was a British engineering company. They built powerful stationary steam engines. These engines were used in factories and mills. The company was the biggest engine maker in Oldham, Lancashire, England. Their large steam engines powered textile mills in Oldham. They also sent engines to countries like India, Holland, and Brazil.

Buckley & Taylor: Powering the Industrial Age

A Look at Their History

Buckley & Taylor started their business in 1861. They made different types of steam engines for factories. These included beam, horizontal, and vertical engines. They also made parts for machines. By 1867, they were already known for producing many factory engines. Many early engines were large beam engines. By 1870, they were famous for their horizontal twin tandem engines.

Their first workshop, called Castle Ironworks, was in Greenacres. It started as a 0.2-hectare (0.5-acre) site. By 1880, it grew to 1.2 hectares (3 acres). They also had a special workshop for shaping metal in Openshaw. In 1890, about 400 people worked for the company. They built their very last engine in 1926.

Buckley & Taylor worked closely with other companies. They had a strong link with Oldham Boiler Works Ltd. They also often teamed up with Platt Bros. This partnership helped them create main power systems and spinning machines for mills.

The Founders: Samuel Buckley and James Taylor

The company was founded by Samuel Buckley and James Taylor. Samuel Buckley was born in November 1837. He grew up in Hey, Lees. His father worked with spinning machines. Samuel started working in a factory when he was just six years old. Even while working, he studied hard and learned about engineering. Before he turned twenty, he became the chief engineer at two big mills. Samuel was also interested in local government. He served as the Mayor of Oldham three times: in 1883-1884, 1889-1890, and 1890-1891. A mayor is a leader of a town or city.

James Taylor was born in 1838 in Shaw. He learned his engineering skills through an apprenticeship with Woolstenhulmes & Rye. Both men were skilled engineers. James Taylor focused on the practical building of the engines. Samuel Buckley handled the business side of the company.

In 1861, they opened their Castle Ironworks in Oldham. After James Taylor passed away, Samuel Buckley managed the business alone. In 1902, the company became a formal business. James Taylor's son, William, then took charge. In 1947, another company called Brightside Foundry took over Buckley & Taylor. However, the company continued to operate under its original name.

Types of Engines They Built

Buckley & Taylor made several kinds of steam engines. Each type had special features for different needs.

Horizontal Twin Tandem Engines

These engines were very popular with factories in Oldham. They were considered "standard" for many mills. An early example was a 1,000-horsepower engine. It was delivered to the North Moor spinning company in 1876. These engines had a traditional design. They used slide valves and gear drives to transmit power.

Later, in 1883, they started adding more advanced features. These included Corliss valves and rope drives. These new features became standard by the 1890s. A great example of this was a 2,000-horsepower engine. It was a horizontal twin tandem triple expansion engine. This powerful machine was delivered to Pearl Mill in 1892.

Buckley & Taylor also expanded their business to India around 1865. They partnered with Platt Bros. to build power systems and spinning machines. These were for a jute mill in Bombay (now Mumbai) and later in Narayanganj.

Powerful Beam Engines

In the 1890s, Buckley & Taylor brought back the beam engine design. They built at least 11 of these engines. They used designs from JH Tattersall, an engineer from Preston. Two of their most impressive beam engines were for Nile Mill and Tay Mill. These were twin beam triple expansion engines. They were the biggest beam engines ever put into a cotton mill. Each engine produced 2,500 horsepower. They cost over £10,000, which was a huge amount of money back then!

Space-Saving Marine Type Engines

Another type of engine they made was the inverted vertical engine. These were often called marine type engines. They were special because they took up less space. This was very useful in crowded factories. Around 1899, Buckley & Taylor started to focus on these engines.

Their first marine type engine was for Don Mill in Middleton. Between 1899 and 1916, they built 29 of these engines. Together, they produced a total of 33,000 horsepower. In 1906, they installed a large marine type engine at Regent Mill in Failsworth. It was their biggest, with 1,800 horsepower. This engine had a 160-centimeter (63-inch) wide low-pressure cylinder. Sometimes, it even ran at 2,000 horsepower. This amazing engine worked until around 1960s. It powered 60,000 spinning machines. It had a 7.9-meter (26-foot) flywheel. This wheel used 26 ropes and spun at 64 rotations per minute.

Buckley & Taylor's steam engines were also popular in Brazil. Before World War I, many factories in Minas Gerais preferred their engines. This was before factories started switching to electricity in the 1920s.

Where Their Engines Worked

Between 1861 and 1926, Buckley & Taylor built over 200 factory engines. These engines produced more than 160,000 horsepower in total. An expert named Arthur Roberts listed 26 of these engines in his notes. Here are some of the mills that used their engines:

• Sun Mill, Chadderton (1867)
• Lees & Wrigley No.3. Mill, Glodwick (1875)
• Pearl Mill, Oldham (1878)
• Nile Mill
• Tay Mill
• Don Mill, Middleton (1901)
• Regent Mill, Failsworth (1906)
• Orb Mill, Waterhead (1908)
• Wye No.2 Mill, Shaw (1926)