Salter Housewares facts for kids
Salter is a famous British company that makes things for your home, like kitchen and bathroom scales. It started way back in 1760, so it's been making cool and accurate products for over 260 years! Salter is known for its scales, but it also makes electrical gadgets, cooking pots, and countertop items. It's one of the oldest brands in the UK. In 2021, a company called Ultimate Products bought Salter. They had already been selling some Salter kitchen items since 2011.
A Long History
The Salter company began in the late 1760s in a small village in England called Bilston. A man named Richard Salter, who made springs, started creating the very first spring scales in Britain. He called them "pocket steelyards."
Around 1825, Richard's nephew, George Salter, took over the business. The company then became known as George Salter & Co. George later opened a bigger factory in West Bromwich, which was about 7 kilometers from Bilston. Did you know that the West Bromwich Albion football club was started by workers from this factory?
From this new factory, the company made many different kinds of scales, including the UK's first bathroom scales! They also added other items like irons, meat grinders, potato chippers, coin-operated machines, and even the first typewriters made in the UK.
.jpg)
The business did very well throughout the 1900s. By 1950, it had over 2,000 employees, still in the same area and still owned by the same family.
Salter Today
In 1972, a company called Staveley Industries Plc bought Salter. They split the company into different parts, like housewares and industrial products.
Later, in the 1980s and 1990s, Staveley bought more businesses around the world. In 1998, the part of the company that focused on consumer products, Salter Housewares Ltd., was bought by its own management team. This allowed them to focus only on products for homes.
The company grew quickly for the next two years. In 2004, it was sold to HoMedics, a US company that makes "personal wellness" products. In 2006, Salter Housewares USA and another company called Taylor Precision Products Inc. joined their sales and marketing teams.
Salter has since closed its old factory in West Bromwich, England. Now, many of its products are made in China.
In 2010, Salter started working with a famous chef named Heston Blumenthal. Salter's design team works with his team to create very accurate weighing tools for cooking.
In 2011, a big company from Greater Manchester called Ultimate Products Global Sourcing started selling Salter-branded electrical cooking items, bakeware, and small kitchen appliances under a special agreement.
Then, in July 2021, Ultimate Products announced that they had fully bought the Salter brand.
See also
- Avery Weigh-Tronix
- Phil Drabble - a former director
