A Brief History of Darlaston

Nuts & Bolts (Darlaston) Limited

The company was founded on 13th July, 1912, in Foster Street, Darlaston, on the site of an old timber yard. One of the co-founders was Alfred E. Owen.

Initially everything was hand-made. There were 12 treadle-operated 'Olivers' producing bolts. Nuts were hand-forged and tapped. The first customers were mainly car makers.

Within a short time, automatic machines were installed in the factory, and in 1917 a cold-heading machine was purchased from the USA.

Large numbers of horses were used in the hostilities in World War One. During the war the factory fulfilled Ministry orders for large numbers of frost studs for horseshoes, and picketing pins for tethering horses. They were supplied to all of the Allied forces.

Mr. G. F. V. Richards, Managing Director. From the Christmas 1949 edition of the staff magazine "Goodwill".

One of the original treadle-operated 'Olivers'. From the Christmas 1949 edition of the staff magazine "Goodwill".

The furnaces, which were originally coal-fired were replaced by more modern gas-burning types, and semi-automatic machines were installed for tapping nuts. In 1929 A.G.B. Owen became a Director on the death of his father, and in 1934 the firm amalgamated with Evertite Locknuts Limited to acquire manufacturing and distribution rights for the well-known Evertite patent Evertite locknut, millions of which were made at the works.

By the late 1930s the Darlaston factory could no longer cope with the great demand for the company's products, and so the decision was taken to open a new factory at Tredegar, South Wales, an ideal location because of the industrialisation in the area.

A suitable Government-owned site was purchased by the company in Bridge Street, Tredegar. Before the factory could be built, temporary premises were rented from the Coal Board in order to begin production, and train local employees. Production began in November 1937, when the first nut ever produced in Tredegar came off the production line.

The Tredegar Factory. From the Christmas 1949 edition of the staff magazine "Goodwill".

The works canteen at Tredegar. From the Christmas 1949 edition of the staff magazine "Goodwill".

Toolroom staff and experts in production from Darlaston temporarily took-up residence in Tredegar to ensure that production got off to a good start.

The new factory, covering 33,000 square feet, opened in March 1949 with 40 male, and 40 female workers. Three key staff from Darlaston permanently moved to the area to oversee production.

By 1940 the Darlaston firm was producing cold-headed bolts with diameters of ¼ of an inch to ¾ of an inch.

In the Second World War, thanks to the firm's high level of mechanisation, thousands of special bolts were made for use in the assembly and maintenance of tanks.

Part of the Tredegar factory. From the Christmas 1949 edition of the staff magazine "Goodwill".

A Thread rolling machine at Darlaston.

In 1945 Rubery Owen & Company Limited purchased the total assets of Evertite, along with a controlling interest in Nuts & Bolts (Darlaston) Limited.

In the same year
E. W. B. Owen became a Director.

In the late 1940s, nuts and bolts made for railways, rolling stock manufacturers, shipbuilders, structural engineers, bridge builders, public works contractors, and collieries, etc.

The firm supplied nuts and bolts to almost every country including Africa, Australia, South America, and India. Around 30% of the total production was exported.

Nuts and bolts for special applications were made up to several feet long, and several inches in diameter.

Products could be plated to the customer's specification, or galvanised in the company's spelter galvanising plant.

An advert from 1946.

The firm took-out many patents including:

1948	Special furnace for heating pins or billets.
1950	Furnaces for heating pins or billets.
1951	Tool for cutting one axial half of an internal groove in an open-ended hollow article.
1951	Lock-nuts with an internal 'V' groove.
1952	Improvements in tools for cutting internal grooves.
1953	Machine for cutting internal grooves in open-ended hollow articles.
1962, 1963	Locking or sealing nuts and bolts by cementing.
1965	Special dies for self-locking nuts.
1965	Improved screw-threaded connections.

An advert from the mid 1950s. Courtesy of Christine and John Ashmore.

There were two subsidiary companies, Hartley & Baldwin Limited, Willenhall Street, Darlaston, which produced black bolts and nuts, and tie rods, and J. Stanley & Company Limited, Wednesfield Road, Willenhall, which produced drop forgings in all steels, brass forging engineer's hammers, and small tools.