1.
General Electric Company
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The General Electric Company, or GEC, was a major UK-based industrial conglomerate involved in consumer and defence electronics, communications, and engineering. The company was a constituent of the FTSE100 Index, in December 1999, GECs defence arm, Marconi Electronic Systems, was amalgamated with British Aerospace to form BAE Systems. The rest of GEC continued as Marconi plc, the financial troubles that followed the bursting of the dot-com bubble in 2001 led to the restructuring in 2003 of Marconi plc into Marconi Corporation plc. In 2005, Ericsson acquired the bulk of Marconi Corporation plc, along with its principal subsidiary, the remainder of the business was renamed Telent. GEC had its origins in the G. Binswanger and Company, regarded as the year GEC was founded,1886 saw a fellow immigrant, Hugo Hirst, join Byng, and the company changed its name to The General Electric Apparatus Company. Their small business found success with its unorthodox method of supplying electrical components over the counter. Hugo Hirst was a salesman who saw the potential of electricity and was able to direct the standardisation of an industry in its infancy. He travelled across Europe with an eye for the latest products, the following year, the company acquired its first factory in Salford, where electric bells, telephones, ceiling roses and switches were manufactured. In 1889, the business was incorporated as a company known as General Electric Company Ltd. The company was expanding rapidly, opening new branches and factories and trading in everything electrical, in 1893, it decided to invest in the manufacture of lamps. The resulting company, was to lead the way in lamp design, GEC was incorporated as a public limited company, The General Electric Company Ltd. In 1902, its first purpose-built factory, the Witton Engineering Works, was opened near Birmingham, with the death of Gustav Byng in 1910, Hugo Hirst became the chairman as well as managing director, a position he had assumed in 1906. Hirsts shrewd investment in lamp manufacture was proving extremely profitable, in 1909, Osram began production of the most successful tungsten filament lamps in the industry. Rapidly growing private and commercial use of electricity created huge demand, the company expanded both at home and overseas, with the establishment of agencies in Europe, Japan, Australia, South Africa, and India. It also did trade with South America. The outbreak of World War I transformed GEC into a player in the electrical industry. It was heavily involved in the war effort, with such as radios, signal lamps. Between the wars, GEC expanded to become a global corporation, the takeover of Fraser and Chalmers in 1918 took GEC into heavy engineering and bolstered their claim to supply everything electrical
2.
Laboratory
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A laboratory is a facility that provides controlled conditions in which scientific or technological research, experiments, and measurement may be performed. Laboratories used for scientific research take many forms because of the requirements of specialists in the various fields of science. A physics laboratory might contain a particle accelerator or vacuum chamber, a chemist or biologist might use a wet laboratory, while a psychologists laboratory might be a room with one-way mirrors and hidden cameras in which to observe behavior. In some laboratories, such as commonly used by computer scientists. Scientists in other fields will use other types of laboratories. Engineers use laboratories as well to design, build, and test technological devices, scientific laboratories can be found as research and learning spaces in schools and universities, industry, government, or military facilities, and even aboard ships and spacecraft. Early instances of laboratories recorded in English involved alchemy and the preparation of medicines, larger or more sophisticated equipment is generally called a scientific instrument. Both laboratory equipment and scientific instruments are increasingly being designed and shared using open hardware principles, open source labs use open source scientific hardware. The title of laboratory is used for certain other facilities where the processes or equipment used are similar to those in scientific laboratories. In many labs, though, hazards are present, in laboratories where dangerous conditions might exist, safety precautions are important. Rules exist to minimize the risk, and safety equipment is used to protect the lab user from injury or to assist in responding to an emergency. This standard is referred to as the Laboratory Standard. Under this standard, a laboratory is required to produce a Chemical Hygiene Plan which addresses the specific hazards found in its location, the CHP must be reviewed annually. Many schools and businesses employ safety, health, and environmental specialists, such as a Chemical Hygiene Officer to develop, manage, and evaluate their CHP. Additionally, third party review is used to provide an objective outside view which provides a fresh look at areas. An important element of such audits is the review of regulatory compliance, training is critical to the ongoing safe operation of the laboratory facility. Educators, staff and management must be engaged in working to reduce the likelihood of accidents, injuries, efforts are made to ensure laboratory safety videos are both relevant and engaging. The dictionary definition of laboratory at Wiktionary Media related to Laboratory at Wikimedia Commons Nobel Laureates Interactive 360° Laboratories
3.
Marconi Research Centre
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Marconi Research Centre is the former name of the current BAE Systems Applied Intelligence Laboratories facility at Great Baddow in Essex, United Kingdom. As the electronics industry developed the campus expanded during the 1940s and 1950s to include research into radar, general physics, high voltage, vacuum physics, at its peak the Centre employed more than 1,200 engineers, technicians, craftsmen and support staff. It was also home to the Marconi Companys museum containing numerous artifacts from the pioneering period of Guglielmo Marconis work on wireless telegraphy. The site still includes a prominent local landmark, a 360-foot -high former Chain Home radar tower visible across the surrounding countryside
4.
GEC Computers
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GEC Computers Limited was the computer manufacturing company under the GEC holding company. Elliott Automation retained the real-time computing systems, the Elliott 900 series computers, the rules of the reorganisation disallowed Elliott Automation to continue working on data processing computing products for some years after the split. Three new computer ranges were identified, known internally as Alpha, Beta, Alpha became the GEC2050 8-bit minicomputer, and beta became the GEC4080 16-bit minicomputer with its unique Nucleus feature. Gamma was never developed, so a few of its features were consequently pulled back into the GEC4080. In the mid-1970s, GEC Computers was working on OS4000, an advanced operating system for the GEC4000 series. This opened up the GEC4000 series computers to more customers, including many in the academic, a number of collaborative projects ran, some of which resulted in applications which GEC Computers developed further and sold, in addition to the sales of the computers themselves. One of the largest of these were X.25 packet switch systems, in the late 1970s, UK General Post Office developed Prestel on GEC4000 series. This resulted in sales of similar systems all over the world, in 1979, the company was awarded the Queens Award for Technical Achievement for the development of the 4000 series, particularly Nucleus. This turned out to be a valuable asset, throughout the 1980s, GEC Computers expanded from its Borehamwood offices into 3 large purpose-built factory units in Woodside Estate, Dunstable. The company closed these as the business contracted in the 1990s, GEC Computers developed some reduced cost workstations called the GEC Series 21 based on Atari 520ST and 1040ST systems with replaced PROM operating system code. There were a number of offices in many other countries too. By the 1990s, the process control market was moving to cheaper microprocessor based systems. X.25 networks were being replaced by Internet networks, and this left just the Videotex sales to other countries, and so the company concentrated on this product. However, there was only a window of a few years before the World Wide Web displaced Videotex systems, from the mid-1990s, manufacture of systems ceased, although maintenance of installed systems and 3rd party maintenance still continues today. The company had different names throughout its lifetime, although GEC Computers is probably the most well recognised in connection with the companys main products through the 1970s and 1980s. GEC Computers was granted permission by GEC to not use the logo on its products. At the time, there was pressure from some other GEC subsidiary companies to have the GEC logo modernised, inherited the Marconi Transistorised Automatic Computer, employed units on Nuclear Power Station for Data Presentation. Inherited the Marconi Myriad, but probably only maintained existing ones
5.
GEC Traction
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GEC Traction Limited was a British industrial company formed in 1972 which designed and manufactured electric traction equipment for railway rolling stock. The company had manufacturing sites at Manchester, Preston and Sheffield and was a wholly owned subsidiary of Lord Weinstocks General Electric Company plc. The companys pedigree is traced back to a long list of British companies involved in railway traction almost to the start of the age in the first half of the 19th century. In the following year GEC merged with the English Electric Co, from this, in 1969, a new subsidiary company was born, English Electric-AEI Traction Ltd. This new organisation slowly integrated together the traction divisions of both AEI and EE, culminating in 1972 when the company was renamed GEC Traction Ltd, also added to the company was the Industrial Locomotive Division of the former English Electric which was based at Vulcan Works, Newton-le-Willows. The company that became GEC Traction Ltd, employment across the three sites totalled 3,500 people. In April 1989, the Company was conferred with the Queens Award for Technological Achievement in the field of railway propulsion equipment. Only a few weeks after having gained this honour, a merger was agreed between the power and transport businesses of GEC and those of Alsthom of France, part of Compagnie Générale dElectricité. As a result, GEC Traction became a subsidiary of this newly formed Anglo-French group, GEC Alsthom, the company was successfully floated in June 1998 and changed to the simpler, single name, Alstom. GEC and Alcatel subsequently sold their remaining stakes, all references to the GEC name and branding was removed from the ex-GEC businesses which remained in Alstom. GEC Alsthom Traction Ltd. became Alstom Traction Ltd. on 22 June 1998, today, the Alstom Transport factory at Preston is the only remaining site of the former GEC Traction that is still operating, albeit on a much reduced scale to that in the 1970s and 80s. Having suffered around 500 job losses in August 2003, the Preston site was reported to be employing around 240 people in October 2010, the site specialised in all types of traction control equipment. This building was vacated in 1998 when power modules and switchgear was moved to Tarbes in south west France. Strand Road, Preston OS Grid Ref, SD525296 Previously an English Electric Co site, both traction control equipment and rotating machines were manufactured. In 1994 under GEC-Alsthom, the entrance was changed to the Dock side of the site off the newly formed Channel Way. The site was sold off by Alstom in 2002 but immediately leased back by the company with Alstom stating that they had right of occupancy at least until 2018, BAE Systems have occupied part of the site since 2006 as tenants of Alstom. The site was closed in 1984 and redeveloped, leaving little remaining to identify the original factory
6.
Marconi Company
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The Marconi Company was a British telecommunications and engineering company that did business under that name from 1963 to 1987. The company was founded by the Italian inventor Guglielmo Marconi and began as the Wireless Telegraph & Signal Company, the company was a pioneer of wireless long distance communication and mass media broadcasting, eventually becoming one of the UKs most successful manufacturing companies. In 1999, its manufacturing division, Marconi Electronic Systems. In 2006, extreme financial difficulties led to the collapse of the company, with the bulk of the business acquired by the Swedish telecommunications company. The company opened the worlds first radio factory on Hall Street in Chelmsford in 1898 and was responsible for some of the most important advances in radio and television. These include, In 1900 the companys name was changed to Marconis Wireless Telegraph Company, the company and factory was moved to New Street Works in 1912, to allow for production expansion in light of the RMS Titanic disaster. Along with private entrepreneurs, Marconi company formed in 1924 the Unione Radiofonica Italiana, after the war, URI became the RAI, which lives on to this day. In 1939, the Marconi Research Laboratories at Great Baddow were founded, English Electric acquired the Marconi Company in 1946 which complemented its other operations, heavy electrical engineering, aircraft and its railway traction business. In 1948 the company was reorganised into four divisions, These had expanded to 13 manufacturing divisions by 1965 when a reorganisation took place. It also owned Marconi Instruments, Sanders Electronics, Eddystone Radio, in 1967 Marconi took over Stratton and Company to form Eddystone Radio. In 1903 Marconi founded the Marconis Wireless Telegraph Company of Canada which was renamed as the Canadian Marconi Company in 1925, the radio business of the Canadian Marconi Company is known as Ultra Electronics TCS since 2002 and its avionic activities as CMC Electronics, owned by Esterline since 2007. In 1967 or 1968 English Electric was subject to a bid by the Plessey Company. Under UK government pressure, the section of GEC, English Electric Leo Marconi. In 1968 Marconi Space and Defence Systems and Marconi Underwater Systems were formed, the Marconi Company continued as the primary defence subsidiary of GEC, GEC-Marconi. Marconi was renamed GEC-Marconi in 1987, during the period 1968–1999 GEC-Marconi/MES underwent significant expansion. Acquisitions which were folded into the company and partnerships established include, Other acquisitions include, in 1999 GEC underwent a major transformation. Marconi Electronic Systems which included its wireless assets was demerged and sold to British Aerospace which then formed BAE Systems, GEC, realigning itself as a primarily telecommunications company following the MES sale, retained the Marconi brand and renamed itself Marconi plc. BAE were granted limited rights to continue its use in existing partnerships, major spending and the dot-com collapse led to a major restructuring of that group, in a debt-for-equity swap shareholders were given 0. 5% of the new company, Marconi Corporation plc
7.
Marconi Electronic Systems
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Marconi Electronic Systems, or GEC-Marconi as it was until 1998, was the defence arm of The General Electric Company. It was demerged from GEC and acquired by British Aerospace on 30 November 1999 to form BAE Systems, GEC then renamed itself Marconi plc. MES exists today as BAE Systems Electronics Limited, a subsidiary of BAE Systems, mES-related businesses include BAE Systems Submarine Solutions, BAE Systems Surface Ships, BAE Systems Insyte and Selex ES. MES represented the pinnacle of GECs defence businesses which had a heritage of almost 100 years. Following GECs acquisition of Marconi as part of English Electric in 1968 the Marconi brand was used for its defence businesses e. g. Marconi Space & Defence Systems, Marconi Underwater Systems Ltd. GECs history of military products dates back to World War I with its contribution to the war effort then including radios, World War II consolidated this position with the company involved in many important technological advances, most notably radar. Between 1945 and GECs demerger of its business in 1999. In June 1998, MES acquired Tracor, a major American defence contractor, for $1. 4bn, in June 1997 British Aerospace Defence managing director John Weston commented Europe. Is supporting three times the number of contractors on less than half the budget of the U. S, European governments wished to see the merger of their defence manufacturers into a single entity, a European Aerospace and Defence Company. As early as 1995 British Aerospace and the German aerospace and defence company DaimlerChrysler Aerospace were said to be keen to create a transnational aerospace and defence company, merger discussions began between British Aerospace and DASA in July 1998. A merger was agreed between British Aerospace chairman Richard Evans and DASA CEO Jürgen Schrempp in December 1998, GEC was also under pressure to participate in defence industry consolidation. GEC favours forging a national champion defence group with BAe to compete with the giant US organisations, when GEC put MES up for sale on 22 December 1998, BAE abandoned the DASA merger in favour of purchasing its British rival. The merger of British Aerospace and MES was announced on 19 January 1999, Evans stated that in 2004 that his fear was that an American defence contractor would acquire MES and challenge both British Aerospace and DASA. The merger created an integrated company which The Scotsman described as contracting and platform-building skills with Marconis coveted electronics systems capability. For example combining the manufacturer of the Eurofighter with the company provided many of the aircrafts electronic systems. In contrast, DASAs response to the breakdown of the discussion was to merge with Aérospatiale to create the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company. EADS has since considered a merger with Thales to create a fully rounded company, also the major electronics & equipment supplier for the class. Civil avionics, e. g. Boeing 777 fly-by-wire systems UK Prime Contractor on the Horizon CNGF programme until 1999, following the withdrawal of the UK from the programme MES was awarded the subsequent Type 45 destroyer Prime Contractor position several days before merging with BAe
8.
Marconi Instruments
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Marconi Instruments Limited was a British company, one of the Marconi group of companies, formerly part of GEC. In 1941, there was a buyout of Marconi-Ekco Instruments to form the company Marconi Instruments, the company was based in St Albans, Colchester and Stevenage, all in southern England. Prior to the consolidation in Stevenage, its site was at Longacres on the eastern outskirts of St Albans. There were four sites, one at Hedley Road, one on Hatfield Road, St Albans, one on the Donibristle Industrial Estate in Fife, Scotland and one at Luton Airport. The company produced electronic test and measurement equipment and systems, including automatic test equipment and it was known for its extensive range of signal generators, from audio up to microwave frequencies. The company operated an approved calibration and metrology laboratory for the electronics industry, Marconi Instruments was sold to IFR Systems Inc. in 1998, itself acquired by Aeroflex in 2002. The name is no longer used
9.
Osram
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OSRAM Licht AG is a multinational lighting manufacturer headquartered in Munich, Germany. OSRAM was founded in 1919 by the merger of the businesses of Auergesellschaft, Siemens & Halske. On 5 July 2013, OSRAM was spun off from Siemens, the Osram name is derived from osmium and Wolfram, as both these elements were commonly used for lighting filaments at the time the company was founded. The brand name of OSRAM was born in 1906 and registered by the Deutsche Gasglühlicht-Anstalt, in 1906 the Osram incandescent lamp was developed by Carl Auer von Welsbach. The British General Electric Company imported Osram filaments for their own production of light bulbs, in 1919 Auergesellschaft, Siemens & Halske and Allgemeine Elektrizitäts-Gesellschaft combined their electric-lamp production with the formation of the company Osram. In 1998 Osram acquired the business of ECE Industries India Ltd at a cost of $9.55 million. In 2009 Osram acquired TRAXON Technologies, on 8 July 2013 Siemens spun off Osram, which then listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange. Osram is a corporation with headquarters in Munich and it employs around 34,000 people throughout the world. Osram has operations in over 120 countries, in the 2014 financial year, revenue of about €5.1 billion was achieved. Osram Opto Semiconductors is an owned subsidiary of Osram which designs. One of the products of this subsidiary is light-emitting diodes. Besides its headquarters in Regensburg, Germany, it has production sites in Penang, Malaysia, and Wuxi, China. Osram Sylvania Inc. manufactures and markets a range of lighting products for homes, business. In fiscal year 2006, the company achieved sales of about 2 billion euros and it employs about 11,200 people in North America and is headquartered in Wilmington, Massachusetts, north of Boston. Most of the products are marketed in North and South America under the SYLVANIA or OSRAM brand names. Traxon Technologies, together with its brand, e, cue lighting control, is a solid state lighting. In 2009, Traxon Technologies entered into a joint venture with OSRAM, german football manager Jupp Heynckes was nicknamed Osram because his face would sometimes redden under the stress of matches. EnOcean Fluorescent lamp Phoebus cartel OSRAM OSRAM Licht AG – website of the listed holding company
10.
Vickers Shipbuilding & Engineering
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Vickers Shipbuilding and Engineering, Ltd was a shipbuilding company based at Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria in northwest England that built warships, civilian ships, submarines and armaments. The company was historically the Naval Construction Works of Vickers Armstrongs and has a heritage of building large naval warships, through a complicated history the companys shipbuilding division is now BAE Systems Submarine Solutions and the armaments division is now part of BAE Systems Land & Armaments. The Company was founded in 1871 by James Ramsden as the Iron Shipbuilding Company, in 1897, Vickers & Sons bought the Barrow Shipbuilding Company and its subsidiary the Maxim Nordenfelt Guns and Ammunition Company, becoming Vickers, Sons and Maxim, Limited. The shipyard at Barrow became the Naval Construction & Armaments Company, in 1911 the company was renamed Vickers Ltd, and in 1927 became Vickers Armstrongs Ltd after a merger with Armstrong Whitworth, whose shipyard at High Walker on the River Tyne became the Naval Yard. In 1955 the name of the division changed to Vickers Armstrongs Shipbuilders, Ltd. The shipbuilding group was nationalised under the Aircraft and Shipbuilding Industries Act in 1977, the ex-Vickers yard at Barrow was the first shipyard of the British Shipbuilders group to return to the private sector. It was sold in March 1986 to a company, VSEL Consortium. The company was floated on the London Stock Exchange in December 1986, in 1994 VSEL was subject to two takeover proposals, one from GEC and another from British Aerospace. Both bids were referred to the Monopolies and Mergers Commission which issued its conclusions, bAes bid was approved, while the MMC concluded that GECs bid was likely to operate against the public interest. However it was GECs bid that was approved and accepted by VSEL, since Secretary of State Michael Heseltine did not accept the MMCs recommendation, following GECs purchase VSEL became Marconi Marine, part of the companys GEC-Marconi division. With the merger of British Aerospace and GECs defence business – Marconi Electronic Systems – VSEL passed to the resulting company, in 2003 it became an independent division known as BAE Systems Submarines after BAE systems split its ship and submarine building operations. This was renamed BAE Systems Submarine Solutions in January 2007
11.
Alstom
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A merger with parts of the General Electric Company plc formed GEC-Alstom in 1989, the company became Alstom in 1998. In 2014, Alstom and General Electric announced that a US$17 billion bid for the power and grid divisions had been made. The GE acquisition deal for the power and grid division was accepted by EU and US anticompetition authorities in mid 2015, in 1932, Alsthom expanded into transportation by acquiring Constructions Electriques de France, Tarbes, a manufacturer of electric locomotives as well as electrical and hydraulic equipment. In 1969, Compagnie Générale dElectricité became the majority shareholder of Alsthom, in 1976, Alsthom merged with Chantiers de lAtlantique, becoming Alsthom Atlantique. Thus, the business expanded into marine, the next year, it constructed the first 1300 MW generator set for the Paluel power station, setting a world record with an output of 1500 MW. In 1978, Alsthom delivered its first TGV to SNCF, the TGV went on to break world rail speed records in 1981 and in 1990. It also set the endurance record for high-speed train lines in 2001. In 1986, Alsthom Belfort received an order from EDF for the largest gas turbine in the world, in 1988–89, holding company CGEE Alstom acquired ACEC Energie and ACEC Automatisme from the dissolution of Belgian electrical engineering company ACEC SA. Alstom acquired 100% of ACECs transport division, renaming it ACEC Transport, in 1991, Alstoms parent company CGE was renamed Alcatel Alsthom Compagnie Générale dElectricité, or Alcatel Alsthom for short. In 1994, GEC Alsthom acquired the vehicle manufacturer Linke-Hofmann-Busch from Salzgitter AG. In 1995, the acquired the remaining shares in the steam turbine manufacturer MAN Energie. In early 1998, GEC Alsthom acquired the electrical contractor Cegelec, in 1998, GEC-Alsthom bought Italian firm SASIB SpAs rail signalling subsidiary Sasib Railways, which included the former General Railway Signal. In June 1998, GEC Alsthom was listed on the Paris Stock Exchange, GEC, at the same time, the company name was changed to Alstom. In 1999, Alstoms energy division merged with ABB in a 50–50 joint company known as ABB Alstom Power, Alstom also bought Canadas Télécité, a passenger information and security solutions company, and sold its heavy-duty gas turbine business to General Electric. The next year, it bought out ABBs share in ABB Alstom Power, in 2000, Alstom sold its diesel engine businesses to MAN Group. It also acquired a 51% stake in Fiat Ferroviaria, the Italian rail manufacturer, in April 2003, Alstom sold its industrial turbine business to Siemens for €1.1 billion. By 2003, Alstom was facing a crisis due to poor sales and over $5 billion of debt liabilities. Alstoms share price had dropped 90% over two years, in 2004, the French state took a 21% stake in Alstom and received an EU-approved French government bailout worth €2.5 billion
12.
GEC Plessey Telecommunications
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GEC Plessey Telecommunications was founded in 1988 as a joint venture between GEC and the British electronics, defence and telecommunications company Plessey. A joint holding company of GEC and the German conglomerate Siemens AG acquired Plessey a year later, during the mid-1990s, the name GPT gradually disappeared in the UK. In August 1998, GEC acquired the 40% stake of Siemens in GPT, through a series of mergers, divisions and restructuring in 1998/1999, GEC was renamed to Marconi plc, which was again restructured to Marconi Corporation plc in May 2003. Eventually in 2005, Marconi Corporation plc along with its subsidiary Marconi Communications, was sold to Ericsson, the takeover bid was barred by regulatory authorities. As an amicable solution, GEC and Plessey merged their telecommunications businesses on 1 April 1988 as GEC Plessey Telecommunications, in 1989, GEC and the German conglomerate Siemens made a hostile takeover of the Plessey Company through their joint holding company, GEC Siemens plc. While most of Plesseys assets were divided between the companies, GPT remained a joint venture with a 60/40 shareholding by GEC and Siemens respectively, in 1991, GEC Plessey Telecommunications officially renamed itself to just the initial letters GPT because Plessey no longer existed. In December 1999, GECs defence arm Marconi Electronic Systems was amalgamated with British Aerospace to form BAE Systems, the entity left out of GEC was renamed to Marconi plc, and Marconi Communications became its principal subsidiary. Marconi plc decided to focus on the telecoms sector. On 19 May 2003, Marconi plc underwent a restructuring into Marconi Corporation plc. In 2005, the failed to secure any part of BTs 21st Century Network programme. The majority of Marconi Corporations businesses were sold to Ericsson in 2005, on 27 October 2006, the company wound up voluntarily. The part of GPT which evolved into Siemens Communications would eventually merge into Siemens Enterprise Communications in 2008
13.
British Thomson-Houston
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They were known primarily for their electrical systems and steam turbines. The holding company, Associated Electrical Industries, later merged with GEC, in the 1960s BTH apprenticeships were highly thought-of, with apprentices exposed to production of a wide range of industrial products. Each year in Rugby there was a big parade of floats run by its apprentices, turbine Generators Ltd, on the Rugby site, was awarded a Queens Awards for Enterprise. 1886, The company Laing, Wharton and Down formed, to products from the American Electric Corporation. They soon won a contract for lighting for the east end of London. 1892, General Electric in USA was created by the merger of Thomson-Houston and Edison General Electric Company,1893, The American Electric Company became Thomson-Houston. 1896 May, Laing, Wharton and Down was renamed as BTH, BTH got production licences for the American Electric Companys products, and soon started setting up factories in the English Midlands. BTH became mainly associated with Rugby, Warwickshire, due to its accessibility by rail. 1898 December 22, Opened the Cork Electric Tramways and Lighting Company 1899,1900, BTH bought Glebe Farm for £10,000, from Thos. Hunter & Co. to build their factory on it,1900, The Power Act 1900 was passed. It let BTH and British Westinghouse get new contracts to supply power to large areas. 1901 April 4, Opened the Isle of Thanet Electric Tramways 1902 March,1902, BTH got a licence to produce the Curtis steam turbine, which became one of their major products. 1902 June, Opened the Chatham and District Light Railways Company 1904,1905, BTH made its first turbo-alternator. 1907, BTH started a joint venture with Wolseley Motors to make petrol-electric buses,1909, BTH supplied major coal-fired steam generators to London to power an electric trolley system that was being set up. 1911, BTH got licences for all of General Electrics drawn-wire light bulbs, 1914-1918, BTH expanded into naval electrical equipment, supplying the Royal Navy with various lighting, radio and signalling gear. Levis became chairman of BTH.1918 and after, BTH expanded dramatically, adding or expanding factories at Willesden, Birmingham, Chesterfield,1924, Demetrius Comino joins BTH as an apprentice. 1926, Gerard Swope, president of General Electric, proposed that BTH, Westinghouse, GEC, Lord Hirst of GEC was not interested in Swope’s scheme, but a new holding company was formed, Associated Electrical Industries. 1927 Sold the Chatham and District Light Railways Company to Maidstone,1928, AEI bought BTH and Metropolitan-Vickers
14.
Edison and Swan Electric Light Company
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The Edison and Swan Electric Light Company Limited was an English manufacturer of incandescent lamp bulbs and other electrical goods. It was formed in 1883 with the name Edison & Swan United Electric Light Company with the merger of the Swan United Electric Company, joseph Swan had established the Swan United Electric Light Company in the early 1880s to market the incandescent lamp bulb he had invented. The lamp bulbs manufactured by the company were almost entirely to Swans design, from 1887 or earlier Sir Ambrose Fleming was an adviser to the company, and conducted research at Ponders End. The company had offices at 155 Charing Cross Road, London, in 1928, the company was acquired by Associated Electrical Industries. In 1956, a new cathode ray tube plant was opened in Sunderland, the company was renamed Siemens Ediswan following the takeover of Siemens Brothers by AEI in 1957. In 1964, AEI merged its lamp and radio valve manufacturing interests with those of Thorn Electrical Industries to form British Lighting Industries Ltd. Edison Swan produced a range of vacuum tubes and cathode ray tubes under the names Ediswan or Mazda. Was Technical Consultant to the Edison Swan Company at the time and it was this close co-operation between University and Factory which resulted in the first radio valve in the world
15.
Hotpoint
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The Hotpoint Electric Heating Company is an American and European brand of domestic appliances. Ownership of the brand is split between the American Whirlpool, which has European rights, and Haier which has North American rights and it was known as the Hotpoint iron, with its hottest point at the front and not the center. In 1912 the company began making electric irons, and electric cookers in 1919 in the USA, earl Richardson also invented the first iron that switched off automatically when a maximum temperature was reached. Richardson founded his own settlement, Adelanto, California, in 1915 and it became known as the Edison General Electric Company in 1931. In 2014, Electrolux agreed to buy General Electrics household appliances business including the Hotpoint brand in North America for £2bn, the deal was expected to close in 2015. Due to blockage by U. S. regulators, the Electrolux deal was terminated, in 1920 it established a joint venture with US competitor General Electric, forming the Hotpoint Electric Appliance Company Limited to market GE branded goods in the UK. HEAC was already an American company and it was famous for its all-white products, and hence the generic product name white goods. In 1929, HEAC joined the Associated Electrical Industries group and became a part of The General Electric Company or GEC group in 1967, by the 1960s it was the UK market leader, followed by Swedens Electrolux. In 1998, the Redring and Xpelair brands also joined GDA, GEC was eventually transformed into Marconi plc, from which Indesit bought 50% of GDA on 21 December 2001 for £121m. At this point, Hotpoint employed around 7,000 people at its four UK sites, Indesit UK has been based at Peterborough since 1 June 2003. In 2008, the Indesit Company acquired the final quota of shares from General Electric for US$57,120,000, from late 2011, Indesit rolled out the Hotpoint brand name across Europe - replacing the Ariston & Hotpoint-Ariston names. In 2014, 56% of Indesit was purchased by the Whirlpool Corporation, Hotpoint was formed in 1911 in California and entered the British market in 1920. It is well known for its refrigerators and washing machines, the company, including sister brands Creda and Indesit, at one time produced the largest amount of kitchen appliances in the UK. The headquarters was in Woodston, Peterborough with about 1,500 people based there making refrigerators and freezers, the refrigerators plant closed in 2008. Hotpoint is the leader for domestic appliances in the UK. The former Hotpoint plant in Yate that makes tumble dryers, is now the only UK plant still in production, most machines are now made in Italy as opposed to the UK. Hotpoint washing machines were manufactured at a plant in Bodelwyddan, in Denbighshire, North Wales. The site made around 800,000 washing machines in 2007 with about 1,000 employees and their refrigeration products, formerly manufactured at the Peterborough factory now are made in Poland
16.
Metropolitan-Vickers
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Metropolitan-Vickers, Metrovick, or Metrovicks, was a British heavy electrical engineering company of the early-to-mid 20th century formerly known as British Westinghouse. Metrovick holds a place in history as the builders of the first commercial transistor computer, the Metrovick 950, and the first British axial-flow jet engine, the Metropolitan-Vickers F.2. Their factory in Trafford Park, Manchester, was for most of the 20th century one of the biggest and most important heavy engineering facilities in Britain, in 1917 a holding company was formed to try to find financing to buy the companys properties. On 15 March 1919, Docker agreed terms with Vickers, for Vickers to purchase all the shares of the Metropolitan Carriage, Wagon, on 8 September 1919, Vickers changed the name of the British Westinghouse Electrical and Manufacturing Company to Metropolitan Vickers Electrical Company. The immediate post-war era was marked by low investment and continued labour unrest, sales shot up, and 1927 marked the companys best year to date. On 15 November 1922 the BBC was registered and the BBCs Manchester station, in 1928 Metrovick merged with the rival British Thomson-Houston, a company of similar size and basically the same product lineup. Combined, they would be one of the few able to compete with Marconi or English Electric on an equal footing. In fact the merger was marked by poor communication and intense rivalry, rivalry between Metrovick and BTH continued, and AEI was never able to exert effective control over the two competing subsidiary companies. Problems worsened in 1929 with the start of the great depression, the British government intervened, the engineers were released and trade with Russia was resumed after a brief embargo. During the 1930s Metropolitan Vickers produced two very large diameter three-phase AC traction motors for the Hungarian railways V40 and V60 electric locomotives. The 1640 kW rated power machinery, designed by Kálmán Kandó, was paid for by British government economic aid, in 1935 the company built a 105 MW steam turbogenerator, the largest in Europe at that time, for the Battersea powerstation. In 1936 Metrovick started work with the Air Ministry on automatic systems, eventually branching out to gunlaying systems. In 1938 they reached an agreement with the Ministry to build a design developed at the Royal Aircraft Establishment under the direction of Hayne Constant. It is somewhat ironic that BTH, their partners, were at the same time working with Frank Whittle on his pioneering jet designs. In mid-1938, MVs were given a contract to build Avro Manchester twin-engined heavy bombers under licence from A. V. As this type of work was different from their traditional heavy engineering activities, a new factory was built on the western side of Mosley Road. Despite this the firm went on to complete 43 examples, by the end of the war, MVs had built 1,080 Lancasters. These were followed by 79 Avro Lincoln derivatives before remaining orders were cancelled, in 1940 the turboprop effort was re-engineered as a pure jet engine after the successful run of Whittles designs
17.
Siemens Brothers
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Siemens Brothers and Company Limited owned an electrical engineering design and manufacturing business in London, England. It was first established as a branch in 1858 by a brother of the founder of the German electrical engineering firm Siemens & Halske, the principal works, set up in 1863, was at Charlton for cables and other light-current electrical apparatus. The site is now at the end of the Thames Barrier. A new works was built at Stafford in 1903 for the manufacture of generators of all kinds and sizes, during World War I Siemens Brothers was bought by a British consortium because most of its ownership was in the hands of enemy aliens. Siemens Brothers and Company Limited was bought by Associated Electrical Industries in 1955, through subsidiaries it was engaged in the manufacture of lamps of all kinds, miscellaneous electrical equipment and electrical railway signals. Its purpose was to help lay Newalls newly developed submarine communications cable, the London branch was under the control of William, later Sir William Siemens, formerly known as Carl Wilhelm Siemens. Hanover-born Sir William went to England in 1843 to sell a patent he shared with his brother Werner. He found employment in Birmingham with engineers Fox, Henderson & Co and became a naturalised British subject in 1859 and her brother was Lewis Gordon business partner of R S Newall. During the 1850s Sir William developed the Siemens regenerative furnace, following various failures in Newalls installed cables the link with them was dropped at the end of 1860. In 1865 Johann Georg Halske, partner in Siemens & Halske, the elder brothers were born in the Kingdom of Hanover into a highly educated upper-middle-class family in relatively humble economic circumstances. Their father, youngest son of a family, farmed a leased estate. In 1823 the family moved to the Baltic coast, near Lübeck, both parents had died by the time Ernst Werner was 24. He was adopted by the childless Sir William and his wife, managing director from 1889 to 1899 he remained on the board until he retired in 1918 aged 70. Following the invention of the generator or Dynamo in the late 1860s. Siemens Brothers opened a new factory at their Telegraph Works Charlton, London SE7 in 1863. It expanded to cover over 6 acres and employ more than 2,000 people. In 1869 the London and Berlin firms jointly made and laid a line from Prussia to Teheran which formed a principal part of the direct line from England to India,2,750 miles. Principal cables made and laid by Siemens Brothers between 1873 and 1883, In 1874-5 the London firm alone completed the first direct Atlantic cable, known as the DUS, in 1876 a direct Paris-New York cable was discussed in France
18.
English Electric
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The English Electric Company Limited was a British industrial manufacturer formed after the armistice of World War I at the end of 1918. It was created to make one of Britains three principal electrical manufacturing concerns by amalgamating five businesses which, during the war, had been making munitions, armaments and it initially specialised in industrial electric motors and transformers, railway locomotives and traction equipment, diesel motors and steam turbines. In the end its activities expanded to include electronics, nuclear reactors, guided missiles, military aircraft. English Electrics operations were merged with GECs in 1968, the combined business employing more than 250,000 people, two English Electric aircraft designs became landmarks in British aeronautical engineering, the Canberra or B-57 and the Lightning. In 1960, long before the merger with GEC, English Electric Aircraft merged with Vickers, of Preston founded 1880 and its subsidiaries, United Electric Car Company of Preston Willans & Robinson of Rugby which retained a separate identity—not wholly owned. The owners of the component companies took up the shares in English Electric, John Pybus was appointed managing director in March 1921 and chairman in April 1926. Initially J H Mansell of Coventry Ordnance Works, John Pybus of Phoenix Dynamo Manufacturing and W Rutherford of Dick, in November 1919, English Electric bought the Stafford works of Siemens Brothers Dynamo Works Ltd. In 1931 Stafford became English Electrics centre, however, there was no post-war boom in electrical generation. Though English Electric products were indeed in heavy demand, potential buyers were unable to raise the capital funds. In 1922, a reorganisation of the works was carried through. The Coventry Ordnance Works was practically closed down, cables, lamps and wireless equipment were then in buoyant demand, but that would have been a new field for the company to enter. English Electrics business was in electrical and mechanical plant. Both the 1926 general strike and the strike caused heavy losses. In 1929 part of the Coventry Ordnance Works was sold and the shop at Preston. By the end of 1929, it was clear the only solution to English Electrics financial difficulties was a financial restructure, the restructure acknowledged the loss of much of the shareholders capital and brought in new capital to re-equip with new plant and machinery. In the event, an American syndicate fronted by Lazard Brothers and Co. bankers came up with the new capital, in June 1930, four fresh directors were appointed, filling four new vacancies. Ten days later, there was an announcement of an American Arrangement. It was made clear that this technical and manufacturing link did not carry with it any control from America
19.
Dick, Kerr & Co.
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Dick, Kerr and Company was a locomotive and tramcar manufacturer based in Kilmarnock, Scotland and Preston, England. W. B. Dick and Company was founded in 1854 in Glasgow by William Bruce Dick, the company were initially oil refiners and manufacturers of paint used for coating the bottom of ships. They had depots and works in Glasgow, Liverpool, Newcastle, Barrow-in-Furness, Cardiff, from 1883 the company joined with John Kerr and under its new name, expanded into tramway equipment and rolling stock and built around fifty locomotives up to 1919. In 1885 Dick, Kerr and Co started construction of 6 steam launches at its Britannia Works, in 1888 it produced the Griffin gas engine which is described and illustrated in The Engineer. In 1890 it took limited company status, as railway and tramway appliance makers and as iron and steel founders, until the late 1890s the company had largely produced steam tram engines, but soon afterwards it became one of the largest manufacturers of electric tramway cars. The company facilities in Preston were acquired in 1893 along with the railway and tramway plant activities of Hartley, Arnoux and Fanning who had bought out by Kerr Stuart. The company was registered on 24 August 1899, as a reconstruction of a company of the same name, in 1900 it was an exhibitor at the First International Tramways and Light Railways Exhibition in London. In 1902 the bulk of the capital of the English Electric Manufacturing Co was acquired, and the capital of that company largely increased, in the same year, the company was a major exhibitor at the Second International Tramways and Light Railways Exhibition in London. In 1904 Dick, Kerr and Co were contractors for the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railways electrification, from 1904 to 1912, the company supplied first generation tram cars to Hong Kong Tramways. The 60 single deck cars were retired in 1935, in 1910 they began construction of steam turbines under the Bergmann patents, and one year later built a lamp factory at Preston, to make metal filament lamps. Dick, Kerr supplied the Municipal Council of Sydney with eleven alternators for its Sydney Electric Lighting Station between 1904 and 1914, during the First World War the company was converted to a munitions factory. The company also made aircraft, to designs from the Seaplane Experimental Station and they also produced 100 petrol-electric locomotives for the War Department Light Railways. These locomotives weighed 7 tons and had a 45 hp Dorman 4JO four-cylinder petrol engine driving a 30 kW DC generator at 1000rpm and this supplied current at up to 500volts to 2 traction-motors driving the 32inch wheels via a 6.68,1 reduction gear. The motors had a rating of 25 hp, allowing the locomotive to haul 100tons at 5.2 mph. The two motors were run in parallel, with speed control by altering the voltage. The generator also offered electric starting of the engine by connecting to another locomotive. To improve morale, some of the employees of this era formed the nationally renowned ladies football team, Dick. Dick, Kerr supplied the New South Wales Railways and Tramways with 25 cycle alternators for use in Ultimo Power Station and White Bay Power Station, in 1917 they acquired the United Electric Car Company of Preston
20.
Elliott Brothers (computer company)
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Elliott Brothers Ltd was an early computer company of the 1950s–60s in the United Kingdom. It traced its descent from a firm of instrument makers founded by William Elliott in London around 1804, the research laboratories were originally set up in 1946 at Borehamwood. The first Elliott 152 computer appeared in 1950, elliotts were a pioneer of Head-up displays - HUDs. The computer scientist Sir Tony Hoare was an employee there from August 1960 to 1968 and he wrote an ALGOL60 compiler for the Elliott 803. He also worked on a system for the new Elliott 503 Mark II computer, although this was unsuccessful. The founder of the UKs first software house, Dina St Johnston, had her first programming job there from 1953-1958, in 1966 the company established an integrated circuit design and manufacturing facility in Glenrothes, Scotland, followed by a MOS semiconductor research laboratory. The Glenrothes site was closed in 1969 following the take over of English Electric by GEC, Elliott Automation merged with English Electric in 1967. The combined company was called International Computers Limited, the remainder of Elliott Automation which produced aircraft instruments and control systems, was retained by English Electric. EASAMS Ltd was an independent company within GEC, founded in 1962 to provide services in design, operational research. In the 1990s EASAMS became part of Marconi Electronic Systems before losing its identity, the following Elliott computer models were produced, Elliott 152 Elliott Nicholas Elliott/NRDC401 Elliott 153 Elliott/GCHQ OEDIPUS Elliott 402 Elliott 403 Elliott 405. Elliott 8026 were sold Elliott 803 about 250 sold, mainly 803B 803A had 4 or 8K of 39 bit words of memory, 803B had 4 or 8K of 39 bit words of memory. The single data path was split into several shorter serial paths to reduce instruction execution time, a hardware floating point option was available. Elliott ARCH1000 Elliott 503 software compatible with 803 Elliott 900 series For military customers there were four models of the 900 series, 920A, 920B, 920M, only a few of the 920A were produced, rapidly obsoleted by the faster 920B. The 920M was a version of the 920B. The 920C was an even faster derivative built using custom integrated circuits. All were shipped in robust militarized cases suitable for mounting in vehicles, ships, civilian customers were sold versions of the 920A, 920B and 920C called Elliott 920A,903 and 905 respectively. These were shipped in desk sized cabinets suitable for use in an office or laboratory environment, versions of the 920B and 920C for industrial automation were sold as Arch 900 and Arch900 respectively. These were shipped in industrial cabinets similar to those used for the civilian systems, the machine was usually programmed in symbolic assembly code, Algol or Fortran II
21.
Ruston (engine builder)
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Ruston & Hornsby, later known as Ruston, was an industrial equipment manufacturer in Lincoln, England, the companys history going back to 1840. The company is best known as a manufacturer of narrow and standard gauge diesel locomotives, other products included cars, steam locomotives and a range of internal combustion engines, and later gas turbines. The company is now part of the Siemens group of Germany, the original company was Proctor and Burton established in 1840, operating as millwrights and engineers. They became Ruston, Proctor and Company in 1857 when Joseph Ruston joined them, from 1866 they built a number of four and six-coupled tank locomotives, one of which was sent to the Paris Exhibition in 1867. In 1868 they built five 0-6-0 tank engines for the Great Eastern Railway to the design of Samuel W. Johnson, three of these were converted to crane tanks, two of which lasted until 1952, aged eighty-four. Among the companys output were sixteen for Argentina and some for T. A. Walker, during the First World War, Ruston assisted in the war effort, producing some of the very first tanks and a number of aircraft, notably the Sopwith Camel. On 11 September 1918, the company amalgamated with Richard Hornsby & Sons of Grantham to become Ruston, Hornsby was the world leader in heavy oil engines, having been building them since 1891, a full eight years before Rudolph Diesels engine was produced commercially. Ruston built oil and diesel engines in sizes from a few HP up to industrial engines. Several R&H engines are on display at the Anson Engine Museum at Poynton nr Manchester, also at Internal Fire - Museum of Power, Tanygroes near Cardigan. In World War 1, the company made around 2750 aeroplanes and 3000 aero engines, the 1000th Sopwith Camel, built at the plant in 1917, was named the Wings of Horus. The company built around 1,600 Sopwith Camels,250 Sopwith 1½ Strutters, the company, as Ruston & Proctor, was the largest British builder of aero-engines in the War, and built the largest bomb of the war. One of the directors, Frederick Howard Livens, had a son who was an officer on the front line. Captain William Howard Livens was sent to Lincoln, where he developed the Livens Projector, neighbouring manufacturer Clayton & Shuttleworth also built planes. Ruston was inspired to create a suburb in Lincoln – the Swanpool Garden Suburb. His vision was to provide houses for his workers, with easy access to healthy outdoor recreation, such as a pleasure ground, cricket ground. Ruston purchased 25 acres of the Boultham Hall estate and established the Swanpool Co-operative Society, architects Hennell and James of London created the designs for the houses, which were built between April 1919 and September 1920. The vision for the new suburb included an institute, church. After World War I the company attempted to diversify and one outcome was the Ruston-Hornsby car, two versions were made, a 15.9 hp with a Dorman 2614 cc engine and a larger 20 hp model with 3308 cc engine of their own manufacture
22.
Robert Stephenson and Hawthorns
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Robert Stephenson and Hawthorns Ltd was a locomotive builder with works in North East England. The goodwill of Leeds locomotive builders Kitson & Co. was obtained in 1938, RSH locomotive numbering began at 6939, this being the first number following the sum total of locomotives built by Robert Stephenson & Co. and Hawthorn Leslie. RSH became part of English Electric in 1955, locomotive building at the Newcastle upon Tyne works ended in 1961 and at Darlington in 1964. RSH entered the locomotive market in November 1937 with a direct reversing locomotive fitted with a Crossley two-stroke engine. There was no reversing gearbox and the engine itself was reversible. When starting, in direction, power was supplied by compressed air until the engine fired. One of these locomotives, Beryl, is preserved at the Tanfield Railway, after the 1955 modernisation plan of British Railways RSH responded by building the following class of diesel locomotives some of which are preserved. Class 04 Class 20 Class 37 Class 40 Industrial Railway Society, Various publications
23.
Vulcan Foundry
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The Vulcan Foundry Limited was a British locomotive builder sited at Newton-le-Willows, Lancashire. Because of the distance from the works in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, it seemed preferable to build. In 1832, Robert Stephenson became a partner for a few years, the company had become The Vulcan Foundry Company in 1847 and acquired limited liability in 1864. From the beginning of 1898, the name changed again to The Vulcan Foundry Limited, the site had its own railway station, Vulcan Halt, on the former Warrington and Newton Railway line from Earlestown to Warrington Bank Quay. The halt was opened on 1 November 1916 by the London and North Western Railway and this list claims that the first two locomotives were 0-4-0 Tayleur and Stephenson built in 1833 for Mr Hargreaves, Bolton, but this seems unlikely. The earliest authenticated products were 0-4-0 Titan and Orion, similar to Stephensons design, other early orders came from the Leicester and Swannington Railway and there were also some 4-2-0s for America which were among the first British bogie locomotives. From 1835 the company was selling to Belgium, France, and in 1836 to Austria and Russia, the companys locomotives had a strong Stephenson influence, many during the following decade being of the long boiler design. In 1852 the first locomotives ever to run in India were supplied to the Great Indian Peninsula Railway, a number of Fairlie locomotives were built, including Taliesin for the Ffestiniog Railway and Josephine one of the NZR E class. During 1870 the company supplied the first locos to run in Japan, a number of Matthew Kirtleys double-framed goods engines were also produced for the Midland Railway. The healthy export trade continued, particularly to India and South America, the most notable design manufactured for an overseas railway during this period was the large 4-8-4 built for the Chinese National Railways in 1934-35. These fine locomotives were equipped with a stoker and six of them were fitted with booster engines on the tender. Of the 24 exported, one returned to the UK and is preserved at the National Railway Museum in York, during 1953-54 the company built sixty J Class 2-8-0 locomotives for Victorian Railways, Australia. From 1939 the works was mostly concerned with the war effort, becoming involved in the development, from 1943 large orders were received from the Ministry of Supply for locomotives,390 Austerity 2-8-0s and fifty Austerity 0-6-0 saddle tanks. In 1944 the Vulcan Foundry acquired Robert Stephenson and Hawthorns and in 1945 received an order for 120 Liberation 2-8-0 locomotives for UNRRA in Europe, the war had left Indias railways in a parlous state and in 1947, with foreign aid, embarked on a massive rebuilding plan. Not only was the competition fierce from other countries, but India had developed the ability to build its own locomotives, the company had experience of both diesel and electric locomotives, having built thirty-one so-called Crocodile 2600 hp 1, 500V DC electric banking locomotives in 1929 for India. Indias National Railway Museum in New Delhi exhibits a locomotive from the Vulcan foundry. In 1931, the company supplied the first experimental diesel shunter to the London, Midland and Scottish Railway. In 1936 Vulcan, a diesel-mechanical 0-6-0 shunter with a Vulcan-Frichs 6-cylinder 275 hp diesel engine was loaned to the LMS, and was used by the War Department
24.
Willans & Robinson
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Willans & Robinson Limited manufacturing engineers of Thames Ditton, Surrey. Later, from 1896, at Victoria Works, Rugby, Warwickshire and they were manufacturers of stationary reciprocating steam engines then steam turbines, Diesel motors and generators. They also ran their own foundry, during World War I it became necessary to sell control of the business to Dick, Kerr & Co. They soon went into the English Electric grouping but Willans & Robinson retained its identity, in the 21st century Willans & Robinsons business is represented by Alstom where it was taken by GEC in 1989 along with English Electric. The business was founded by Peter Willans and Mark Robinson in the 1870s at their Ferry Works site to manufacture high speed reciprocating steam engines for launches, the major advance was that Willans engines had all working parts enclosed and they were splash-lubricated, this was new. They soon employed some 400 people, the rise of the Electricity industry created a new demand for their engines. Their engines were designed to operate at a constant speed and were ideal for electricity generation, at their peak their central valve engines provided 68% of Britains installed capacity for generation of electricity. In this period of prosperity Willans was able to improve his designs and develop better manufacturing techniques and his research into the performance of his engines won him the reputation of having a scientific approach. Willans was the engineer, Robinson found the capital and their new buildings at Thames Ditton, Queensferry and Rugby were all of high quality and distinguished design. Sankey designed the new works at Rugby and remained with the business, the Thames Ditton works were destroyed by fire in 1888 but they were rebuilt to a new and better design. That same year formed a limited liability company to own the business. The partners and their friends subscribed for the first issue of shares, the new shares were listed on the London Stock Exchange in July 1894. The works were damaged by flood in 1894. Willans & Robinson moved their operation to Rugby in 1896 but Ferry Works at Ditton remained in use until 1980 by AC Cars, a new building in Pentre, Deeside, Flintshire CH5 2DA was built in 1899 for the manufacture of water tube boilers and special steels. Advertised for sale as early as 1907 the workshops area was 150,000 square feet and its operation was closed in 1910. The building was described by Nikolaus Pevsner as the most advanced British building of its date, soon after establishing their own fine new Victoria Works in 1896 at Newbold Road, Rugby. CV21 2NH, Willans & Robinson began the switch to steam turbines to match the efficiency of their competitions double-acting designs, after new designer H F Fullagar left the business C A Parsons and later Curtis designs were built under licence. English Electrics success with diesel-electric traction sprang from the work carried out at Willans & Robinson, Rugby
25.
Gilbarco Veeder-Root
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Gilbarco Veeder-Root, a subsidiary of Fortive, is a supplier of fuel dispensers, point of sale systems, payment systems, forecourt merchandising and support services. The companys headquarters is in Greensboro, North Carolina, United States, the companys manufacturing and development facilities are located in Greensboro, and in Simsbury, Connecticut, Altoona, Pennsylvania, Lakewood, Colorado and Davenport, Iowa. International manufacturing and development locations include the United Kingdom, Italy, Germany, India, China, the company was founded under the name Gilbert & Barker in 1870 by Charles Gilbert and John Barker. The company was renamed as Gilbarco in 1929 and was acquired by the British engineering company GEC in 1987. In 1999 GEC renamed itself to Marconi and Gilbarco became Marconi Commerce Systems, in 2002 Gilbarco was acquired by the Danaher Corporation, parent company of Veeder-Root and Red Jacket companies, and became Gilbarco Veeder-Root. In 2002, the Gilbarco and Veeder-Root companies combined into one marketing brand, in May 2008, the company launched the website AskAboutPCI. com, as a reference for convenience store retailers to learn more about the Payment Card Industry rules, regulations, and deadlines. Gilbarco Veeder-Root was featured on the June 14th,2008 episode of the television show John Ratzenbergers Made in America, Danaher spun off several subsidiaries, including Gilbarco Veeder-Root, in 2016 to create Fortive. Veeder-Root supplies automatic tank gauging and fuel management systems, including the Red Jacket brand of submersible pumps, Veeder-Root is headquartered in Simsbury, Connecticut. Gasboy also offers a line of automated fueling systems that provide 24-hour unattended fueling capabilities to fleets. Gasboy is headquartered in Greensboro, North Carolina
26.
W & T Avery Ltd.
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W & T Avery Ltd. is a British manufacturer of weighing machines. The company was founded in the early 18th century and took the name W & T Avery in 1818, having been taken over by GEC in 1979 the company was later renamed into GEC-Avery. The company became Avery Berkel in 1993 when GEC acquired the Dutch company Berkel, after the take over by Weigh-Tronix in 2000 the company was again renamed to be called Avery Weigh-Tronix. The company is based in Smethwick, West Midlands, United Kingdom, the undocumented origin of the company goes back to 1730 when James Ford established the business in Digbeth. On Joseph Balden the then owners death in 1813 William and Thomas Avery took over his scalemaking business, the business rapidly expanded and in 1885 they owned three factories, the Atlas Works in West Bromwich, the Mill Lane Works in Birmingham and the Moat Lane Works in Digbeth. In 1891 the business became a company with a board of directors. In 1895 the company bought the legendary Soho Foundry in Smethwick, in 1897 the move was complete and the steam engine business was gradually converted to pure manufacture of weighing machines. By 1914 the company occupied an area of 32, 000m² and had some 3000 employees, during the second world war the company also produced various types of heavy guns. At that time the site underwent severe damage from parachute mines, from 1931 to 1973 the company occupied the 18th-century Middlesex Sessions House in Clerkenwell as its headquarters. The continued expansion was achieved through a series of acquisitions of other companies. The most important are,1895 James Watt & Co 1899 Parnall & Sons Ltd, 1920/1928 Southall and Smith Ltd.1920 Saml. Denison & Son Ltd.1925 Oertling Ltd.1931 The Tan Sad Chair Co. Ltd.1932 Avery-Hardoll Ltd. 1953/1976 Pump Maintenance Ltd.1959 Geo Driver & Son Ltd. merged in 1966 with Southall, after almost a century of national and international expansion the company was taken over by GEC in 1979. In 1993 GEC took over the Dutch-based company Berkel and the Avery-Berkel name was introduced, in 2000 the business was in turn acquired by the US-American company Weigh-Tronix, who already owned Salter, and is today operating as Avery Weigh-Tronix. In 2008 Illinois Tool Works Inc. purchased Avery Weigh-Tronix from its then owners, European Capital. averyweigh-tronix
27.
Yarrow Shipbuilders
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Yarrow Shipbuilders Limited, often styled as simply Yarrows, was a major shipbuilding firm based in the Scotstoun district of Glasgow on the River Clyde. It is now part of BAE Systems Surface Ships, owned by BAE Systems, the company was founded by Alfred Yarrow, later Sir Alfred Yarrow, 1st Baronet, in the year 1865 as Yarrow & Company, Limited. Originally it was based at Folly Wall, Poplar, then in 1898 as the company grew, Yarrow moved his shipyard to London Yard, Cubitt Town. Hundreds of steam launches, lake and river vessels, and eventually the Royal Navys first destroyers, between 4,000 and 5,000 tons of material had to be transported, from models to heavy machine tools. A train-load of from forty to fifty wagons left the works at Poplar every day, the first vessel launched from the new works at Scotstoun on 14 July 1908 was the lead ship of the Pará-class destroyers for the Brazilian Navy. The company also established the Coventry Ordnance Works joint venture in 1905, during the First World War, the company developed the pioneering Erskine artificial limb with Sir William Macewen. The Yarrow company was one of the leading builders of destroyers and frigates from its inception. For many years until the 1960s Yarrow also built a number of merchant ships, specialising particularly on Riverboat vessels for the rivers and lakes of Burma, India, Africa. Several of these vessels were built to serve on lakes that had no access to deliver them by sea. Yarrows Scotstoun yard built the knock down ferry MV Ilala for Nyasaland in 1949 and she was completed and launched on Lake Nyasa in 1951. The yard built three knock down ferries for Lake Victoria in East Africa, RMS Victoria was built in Scotstoun in 1960 and reassembled at the Kenyan port of Kisumu on the lake in 1961. The train ferries MV Umoja and MV Uhuru were built in Scotstoun in 1965, in total Yarrow built approximately 400 ships on the Clyde – these can be traced in detail in the Clyde-built Ship Database. In 1968 the Company became part of Upper Clyde Shipbuilders which collapsed in 1971, Yarrows had already left the UCS joint venture by April 1970 however, as the only profitable division of the joint venture. Investment continued in the yard, with the construction of a large GRP fabrication hall at the end of the yard. Dry dock No.1 was also covered over and this was in preparation for the Hunt-class mine countermeasures vessel project, although only two vessels of the class were eventually built at Yarrow. The long-disused hall was demolished in 2008. The succeeding government of Margaret Thatcher began a programme and the profitable Yarrow was one of British Shipbuilders early divestitures. It was sold in 1985 to GECs GEC-Marconi division, becoming Marconi Marine, GEC began a programme of major capital investment, culminating in the construction of a large Module Hall, north of the covered building berths, in 1987
28.
BAE Systems
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BAE Systems plc is a British multinational defence, security, and aerospace company. Its headquarters are in London in the United Kingdom and it has operations worldwide and it is among the worlds largest defence companies, it was ranked as the third-largest based on applicable 2015 revenues. Its largest operations are in the United Kingdom and United States, other major markets include Australia, India and Saudi Arabia. The company was formed on 30 November 1999 by the £7. V, since its formation it has made a number of acquisitions, most notably of United Defense and Armor Holdings of the United States, and sold its shares in Airbus, Astrium, AMS and Atlas Elektronik. BAE Systems is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE100 Index, BAE Systems was formed on 30 November 1999 by the £7.7 billion merger of British Aerospace and Marconi Electronic Systems. As a result, BAE Systems is the successor to many of the most famous British aircraft, defence electronics, British Aerospace was a civil and military aircraft manufacturer, as well as a provider of military land systems. The company had emerged from the consolidation of UK aircraft manufacturers since World War II. British Aerospace was formed on 29 April 1977 by the nationalisation and merger of The British Aircraft Corporation, both BAC and Hawker Siddeley were themselves the result of various mergers and acquisitions. Marconi Electronic Systems was the subsidiary of British engineering firm The General Electric Company, dealing largely in military systems integration, as well as naval. Marconis heritage dates back to Guglielmo Marconis Wireless Telegraph & Signal Company, GEC purchased English Electric in 1968 and thereafter used the Marconi brand for its defence businesses. GECs own defence heritage dates back to World War I, when its contribution to the war effort included radios, World War II consolidated this position, as the company was involved in important technological advances, notably the cavity magnetron for radar. Between 1945 and 1999, GEC-Marconi/Marconi Electronic Systems became one of the worlds most important defence contractors, in June 1998, MES acquired Tracor, a major American defence contractor, for £830 million. In June 1997 British Aerospace Defence managing director John Weston commented Europe, is supporting three times the number of contractors on less than half the budget of the U. S. European governments wished to see the merger of their defence manufacturers into a single entity, as early as 1995 British Aerospace and the German aerospace and defence company DaimlerChrysler Aerospace were said to be keen to create a transnational aerospace and defence company. The two companies envisaged including Aérospatiale, the other major European aerospace company, but only after its privatisation, as well as Airbus, British Aerospace and DASA were partners in the Panavia Tornado and Eurofighter Typhoon aircraft projects. A merger was agreed between British Aerospace chairman Richard Evans and DASA CEO Jürgen Schrempp in December 1998, meanwhile, GEC was also under pressure to participate in defence industry consolidation. GEC favours forging a national champion defence group with BAe to compete with the giant US organisations, when GEC put MES up for sale on 22 December 1998, British Aerospace abandoned the DASA merger in favour of purchasing its British rival. The merger of British Aerospace and MES was announced on 19 January 1999, Evans stated that in 2004 that his fear was that an American defence contractor would acquire MES and challenge both British Aerospace and DASA
29.
Marconi Communications
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Marconi plc was restructured to Marconi Corporation plc in May 2003. During the mid-1990s, its prominent predecessor company, GPT, gradually disappeared, through a series of mergers, divisions and restructuring in 1997-1998, GPT was amalgamated with two major companies, Marconi Communications and Siemens Communications. On 23 January 2006, Ericsson acquired a majority of Marconi Communications parent company, the remainder of Marconi Corporation plc was renamed Telent plc. The operations of Marconi amalgamated into GEC in 1968, when GEC acquired the parent company of Marconi, the takeover bid was barred by regulatory authorities. As an amicable solution, GEC and Plessey merged their telecommunications businesses on 1 April 1988 as GEC Plessey Telecommunications, in 1989, GEC and the German conglomerate Siemens AG acquired the Plessey Company through their joint holding company, GEC Siemens plc. While most of Plesseys assets were divided between the companies, GPT remained a joint venture, with a 60/40 shareholding between GEC and Siemens, respectively, GEC Plessey Telecommunications officially renamed itself GPT, which would continue to exist merely as a legal entity. During the mid-1990s, the name GPT gradually disappeared in the UK, in August 1998, GEC made the move to acquire the remaining 40% stake in GPT, held by its partner, Siemens. The part of GPT which evolved into Siemens Communications in 1998 would eventually become Siemens Enterprise Communications in 2008, the remainder of Marconi Corporation plc was renamed Telent plc. In December 1999, GECs defence arm, Marconi Electronic Systems, was amalgamated with British Aerospace to form BAE Systems, the entity left out of GEC was renamed Marconi plc, and Marconi Communications became its principal subsidiary. Both acquisitions occurred during the peak of the dot-com bubble, the £2. 8bn price tag for FORE Systems and the £1. 3n spent on RELTEC, took a heavy toll on Marconi following the burst of the dot-com bubble in 2000/2001. In July 2001, Marconi plc suffered a 54% drop in its share price following suspension of trading of its shares, on 19 May 2003, Marconi plc underwent a major restructuring into Marconi Corporation plc, advised by Lazard and Morgan Stanley. Marconi shareholders received 1 Marconi Corporation share for every 559 Marconi shares, in a debt-for-equity swap, the firm’s creditors received 99. 5% of the new company’s shares. In 2005, the failed to secure any part of BTs 21st Century Network programme. Various bids were received for the business, including one by Huawei Technologies, the fact that Marconi Corporation plc received no major 21CN contract was a surprise to commentators, and sent the companys shares tumbling. Until the collapse of the Marconi group in 2005-2006, the company was a supplier of asynchronous transfer mode, gigabit Ethernet. The majority of Marconi Corporations businesses were sold to Ericsson in 2005, on 27 October 2006, the company wound up voluntarily. By 1997 the GPT name disappeared in UK, and the company was known by Siemens GEC Communication Systems, the following year, SGCS merged with SBCS to form Siemens biggest division, Siemens Information and Communication Networks division, later to be commonly known as Siemens Communications. Siemens COM division was formed on 1 October 1998 as part of restructuring and recombining of the Siemens information and communication activities
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Telent
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Telent is a British radio, telecommunication, and Internet systems installation and services provision company. The company was formed in 2006 from the United Kingdom and German services businesses of Marconi Corporation which had not been acquired by Ericsson, the company was formed in January 2006 from the UK and German services businesses of Marconi Corporation, following Ericssons acquisition of key assets. In May 2007 telent announced its move from Coventry to Warwick opus 40 business park, in November 2007 telent was purchased by the Pension Corporation, the following month its shares were delisted and telent became a private company. The company has many sites within the UK and Ireland, including at Chorley in Lancashire, Warwick, Camberley in Surrey, Harbour Exchange in London. A team of telecom engineers provide support and new development for the old TDM System X network used by BT, Virgin Media, Kingston Communications, Vodafone. Marconi Electronic Systems telent. com telent. de Yahoo, - telent plc Company Profile Press Release on Marconi. com
31.
Unify Software and Solutions GmbH & Co. KG.
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Unify, is an Atos SE company. Unify is headquartered in Munich, Germany and is present in over 100 countries, the company provides software-based enterprise unified communications including voice, Web collaboration, video conferencing and contact center, networking product and services. Until January 21,2016 Unify was a joint venture between The Gores Group and Siemens AG, originally announced July 29,2008, the joint venture started operating October 1,2013, with The Gores Group holding a 51% stake, and 49% held by Siemens AG. On February 17,2016 Jon Pritchard was appointed Chief Executive Officer of Unify, Siemens Communications traces its origins to Siemens & Halske Telegraph Construction Company founded by Werner von Siemens on 12 October 1847. Siemens first invention was the pointer telegraph, in 1897, Siemens & Halske went public. During the first half of the 20th century, the company undertook a series of mergers and spin-offs, the original company, Siemens & Halske, focused on communications engineering. Siemens Schuckertwerke GmbH was founded in 1903 to develop electric power engineering, finally, in 1932, Siemens-Reiniger-Werke was founded to specialize in electro-medical equipment. In 1966, through a restructuring process, these main companies merged to form Siemens AG. In the late 1970s, Siemens AG focused on information and communications technology, entering the globalization era of the 1990s, these two divisions made acquisitions. In 1989, the PBX division initiated a structured purchase of ROLM from IBM, renaming it ROLM Systems, the same year, the company acquired a 40% stake in GEC-Plessey Telecommunications which evolved into the UK operations of the current company. In 1991, the carrier networks division acquired Stromberg-Carlson from The Plessey Company plc, in 1996, the PBX businesses of Mercury Communications Ltd, a subsidiary of UK-based Cable & Wireless were also acquired. In late 1998, Siemens AG undertook a restructuring into four main divisions, power generation, industry, rail systems. As part of the ICN Division, Siemens Information and Communication Networks — later to be known as Siemens Communications — became Siemens AGs biggest business unit. Its focus was to Internet-based network technologies, as it was predicted that global data traffic volume would surpass voice telephony traffic in the part of the 21st century. In March,2002, Siemens Communications was divided into two business units - one for public mobile networks and fixed networks, and the other for enterprise networks. The evolution of Siemens Enterprise Communications began in June,2006, on June 19,2006, the carrier networks business was merged with Nokias Network Business Group to form a new joint venture, Nokia Siemens Networks. On October 1,2006, Siemens Enterprise Communications was created as an owned subsidiary of Siemens AG. Since then, the focused on unified communications
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GEC 4000 series
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The GEC4000 was a series of 16/32-bit minicomputers produced by GEC Computers Ltd. of the UK during the 1970s, 1980s and early 1990s. GEC Computers started as Elliott Automation with the then ageing Elliott 900 series, three ranges were identified, known internally as Alpha, Beta, and Gamma. Alpha appeared first and became the GEC2050 8-bit minicomputer, Beta followed and became the GEC4080. Gamma was never developed, so a few of its features were consequently pulled back into the GEC4080. The principal designer of the GEC4080 was Dr. Michael Melliar-Smith, the 4000 series systems were developed and manufactured in the UK at GEC Computers Borehamwood offices in Elstree Way. Development and manufacture transferred to GEC Computers new Dunstable factories in Woodside Estate, in 1979, GEC Computers was awarded the Queens Award for Technical Achievement for the development of the 4000 series, particularly Nucleus. By 1991, the number of systems manufactured was falling off, and manufacture was transferred to GPTs Beeston, Nottinghamshire factory, and development returned to Borehamwood. The last systems were manufactured around 1995, although there are still a few GEC4220 systems operating in 2016 with maintenance provided by Telent, the GEC4000 series hardware and firmware included a pioneering facility known as Nucleus. Nucleus firmware cannot be reprogrammed by any running on the system. Hence, device drivers, file system code, and other features which are found within operating system kernels must be run in processes on the 4000 systems. Inherent in this is that they are all running in their own spaces, protected from the actions of each other. Nucleus is configured by a set of tables, and processes which have a need to modify the operation of nucleus are given access to the relevant system tables. The 4000 series has a CISC instruction set and it has 8-bit bytes, big-endian, byte-addressable memory, twos complement arithmetic, base-16 excess-64 floating point format. The model numbers less than 4090 are 16-bit processors, and model numbers from 4090 upwards are mixed 16-bit and 32-bit processors and this relates to pointer sizes available to programs. All systems support 16-bit pointers, which is known as CST addressing, the 32-bit systems also support 32-bit pointers, known as PAS addressing. Each process has a PAST which lists which of the memory segments the program is permitted to access. CST addressing allows 4 of the PAST entries to be mapped at addresses 0KiB, 16KiB, 32KiB, the 32-bit systems support both CST and PAS addressing mixed in the same process. All instructions are 16 bits wide, except for some PAS addressing instructions which are 32-bits wide, instructions can only be run from CST address space
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GEC Series 63
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The GEC Series 63 was a 32-bit minicomputer produced by GEC Computers Limited of the UK during the 1980s in conjunction with A. B. Dick in USA. During development, the computer was known as the R Project, the hardware development was done in Scottsdale, Arizona whilst the software was the responsibility of GEC in Dunstable, UK. The hardware made use of pipeline concepts, processing one instruction whilst completing the preceding one. This was the first port of UNIX to a different processor order code undertaken in the UK, the C compiler, necessary to effect the implementation, was first produced for OS4000 and cross compiled. There were plans for six models, but only two models of the GEC Series 63 were ever produced, the 63/30 and the 63/40, the 63/40 added an embedded GEC4160 minicomputer running OS4000 to provide additional communications features. The Series 63 was used by several UK universities, including the Alvey Project, the name came from the resemblance of the Series 63s large blue cabinet to Doctor Whos time machine. The Series 63 was discontinued in August 1987 after disappointing sales, approximately 22 systems were sold during the lifetime of the system. GEC Computers Computing at Chilton, GEC Series 63
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British Rail Class 91
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The British Rail Class 91 is a class of 225 km/h,4,830 kW electric locomotives ordered as a component of the East Coast Main Line modernisation and electrification programme of the late 1980s. The other end of the InterCity 225 train set is formed of a Mark 4 Driving Van Trailer, the locomotive body shells are of all-steel construction. Unusually, the motors are mounted and drive bogie mounted gearboxes via cardan shafts. This reduces the mass and hence track wear at high speeds. The locomotive also features an underslung transformer so that the body is relatively empty compared to electric locomotives. Much of the specification for the locomotive was derived from the research. In 1985, ASEA, Brush and GEC Transportation Projects tendered for the design, GEC subsequently won the bid and the fleet was built by sub-contractors BREL in Crewe between 1988 and 1991. The Class 91s began passenger service on 3 March 1989 when 91001 worked 1P2617.36 London Kings Cross to Peterborough train. This train was formed of InterCity 125 Mark 3 coaches and a Class 43 power car converted for use as a DVT as the Mark 4 coaches were not yet ready, the set then worked 1A12, the 10,00 Leeds to London Kings Cross service. Limited funding meant that the procurement of the Class 365, Class 465, the asymmetric body style is streamlined at one end to allow high-speed operation with the fixed sets of Mark 4 coaches in normal push-pull passenger operation. An additional requirement of the design was that they could operate as normal locomotives. A Class 91,91010 holds the British locomotive speed record at 161.7 mph, set on 17 September 1989, although both Class 370s and Class 373s have run faster, both types are EMUs, which means that the Electra is officially the fastest locomotive in Britain. Another loco, hauling five Mk4s and a DVT on a test run and this is still the current record. The set covered the route in a speed of 112.5 mph. The fleet, which was operated by InterCity and then GNER. Since privatisation, the fleet has been owned by Eversholt Rail Group who lease it to the operators, between 2000 and 2003, the whole fleet underwent a refit to improve reliability. This has resulted in the renumbering of the fleet from 910xx to 911xx, during this time, GNER hired in Class 90 locomotives to provide cover. When British Rail was privatised, the Intercity livery was progressively removed, new operator GNER applied their corporate livery of blue and red
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GEC Stephenson locomotive
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The GEC Stephenson locomotives are a type of heavy industrial shunter built in the 1970s by GEC Traction. The locomotives were used for heavy shunting tasks in UK industrial sites for clients including British Steel Corporation and the National Coal Board. Most of the locomotives produced were 3 axle versions of two types - a 50-ton loco with a 500 hp V8 cylinder Dorman 8QT engine, the NCB acquired both locomotive types. British Steel acquired the heavier 75 ton model, twenty five 750 hp locomotives were acquired by BSC Redcar primarily for hauling torpedo wagons, an ex-Barrington Cement Works ex-ICI locomotive named Ludwig Mond was acquired in 2010 by the Rutland Railway Museum. As of 2012 locomotives of type are still in service with Tata Steel Europe in the UK. Www. railphotoarchive. org, BSC LACKENBY, Redcar steel, yellow livery BI92044 NCB Coventry, www. flickr. com,17 February 1992, NCB blue livery
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South African Class 4E
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The South African Railways Class 4E of 1952 was an electric locomotive. The 3 kV DC Class 4E electric locomotive was designed for the South African Railways by the General Electric Company and was built by the North British Locomotive Company between 1952 and 1953 and they were delivered between 1952 and 1954 and were numbered in the range from E219 to E258. The Class 4E was amongst the most powerful locomotives in the world at that time. These dual cab locomotives have two large grilles on one side and a passage linking the cabs on the opposite side, when observing the locomotive from the side with the grilles, the number 1 end would be to the right. Like the Classes 1E, 2E and 3E, the Class 4E has bogie mounted draft gear, the Class 4E has a 1Co+Co1 wheel arrangement, with an additional bissel truck at the outer end of each of the two three-axle powered bogies. The Classes 32-000 and 32-200 diesel-electric locomotive types also used this wheel arrangement and this restricted the locomotives load capacity and mobility. One Class 4E locomotive even briefly served on the Western Transvaal system while being relocated from Natal to the Cape in 1957, e247 for between four and six weeks, before the locomotive was forwarded on to Cape Town. The tunnel system would have enabled a single Class 4E locomotive to haul 1,000 ton trains up the resulting 1 in 66 gradients, the Hex River Tunnels scheme was initially started in 1945, but was deferred indefinitely in 1950 as a result of financial constraints. The tunnel scheme was briefly resuscitated in 1965 but was deferred once again in 1966, work was eventually resumed in 1974 and included the remodelling of the lower section of the deviation between De Doorns and Osplaas stations as well as the construction of the short twin tunnels. This was completed in 1976, at which point financial constraints resulted in yet another postponement, authority to proceed was only given once again in late 1979. The tunnel system was opened on 27 November 1989, by time the Class 4Es were already retired. The Class 4E was delivered in an all over green livery with red cowcatchers. The colour and the almost 22 metres length of the locomotive quickly earned it the nickname Groen Mamba and this changed to Groot Mamba when the much shorter Class 5E was introduced in 1955 and nicknamed Klein Mamba. The attractive whiskers livery was adopted for all the electric locomotives of the SAR. Beginning in 1960, a Gulf Red and yellow livery gradually replaced the green. The NBL works numbers of the Class 4E are listed in the table
