West Bromwich lies on countless coal seems that played an important role in the development of the town. When the canal (the BCN) was built, heavy and bulky items such as coal and iron ore, could be easily and cheaply transported for the first time. Many ironworks and iron foundries were built, close to the canal, where they greatly prospered. This continued with road improvements and the arrival of railways.

Many ferrous and non-ferrous foundries opened in the town, along with essential patternmakers. The industry was extremely successful until the disappearance of many factories in the 1970s and 1980s.

T. Masters & Sons (Park Foundry) Company Limited.

The firm was established in Birmingham in 1896, before moving to the present site in Glover Street, West Bromwich, in about 1924. It originally specialised in ingot moulds, general engineering castings and ingot casting equipment for the non-ferrous industry.

The company developed an ingot casting conveyor that was manufactured for the non-ferrous and pig iron industries. It also exported ingot moulds and casting equipment to many countries and was widely known for its ingot moulds.

It now specialises in the design and production of ingot casting machines and specialised equipment for the non-ferrous and ferrous secondary and primary metal refining industries.

An advert from the mid 1950s.

William Mills Limited.

The firm was one of the oldest established aluminium founders in the country. It had around 500 employees and had up-to-date facilities for sand casting, gravity die casting, and pressure die casting. The firm had a laboratory with X-ray units and analytical and tensile testing departments.

William Mills Limited.

Newby & Son (Ironfounders) Limited.

The business was started in 1882 by Henry Newby. It became a limited liability company in 1938, manufacturing all types of castings for electrical control gear, general engineering, and castings that were suitable for vitreous enamelling. The company began to specialise in high duty iron to BSS. Grade 17, which is suitable for all types of pressure tight castings, crank cases, water pump bodies, compressors and air-cooled cylinders etc.

An airless shot-blast machine was installed in the early 1950s for the efficient cleaning of castings and the checking for any hidden defects. The firm also began to construct pattern equipment to customers' drawings. The firm now has four sites in the West Midlands and employs around 240 staff.

An airless shot blasting machine at Newby & Son.

An advert from the mid 1950s.

The Sandwell Casting Company.

The company, formed in 1928, originally supplied its parent company, Sanbra Limited, with sanitary brass castings, but in 1939 it began making general engineering castings in copper and aluminium alloys. From the late 1940s the business expanded and the factory covered an area of over 100,000 square yards, with a staff of 400.

In the core shop, forty operators were employed, mostly women. Cores of all sizes were manufactured, weighting up to several hundredweights. State of the art core-blowers were installed along with a central steel band conveyor which took the cores to the drying ovens.

The firm's five foundries operated as follows in the 1950s: Small orders were executed in the copper-base jobbing foundry, along with complicated work unsuited to moulding machinery. In the mechanised copper-base foundry the greater part of production was brass castings, such as valves, stopcocks and plumbers' fittings for Sanbra Limited. Large orders were quickly undertaken thanks to the use of modern machinery and furnaces. The aluminium sand foundry made accurate castings, particularly for the aircraft industry. About thirty workers were employed in gravity die-casting in aluminium, brass and bronze, specialising in precision castings. High quality castings in aluminium and brass were mass produced in the pressure die-casting section, where the latest machinery turned out brass castings up to 6½ lb. in weight and aluminium castings up to 3¼ lb. in weight.

In the shot-blasting department, copper-base castings were first cleaned, inspected and dressed on electric grinding machines. Aluminium castings were not as a rule, sand blasted. The surplus metal was usually removed in the aluminium dressing shop by abrasive grinding wheels. All dies used on the premises were manufactured in the die-sinking section.

The very modern machine shop employs highly qualified technical staff, producing mainly patterns in metal, but also in wood, if required. There was a metal recovery plant which handled about 25 tons of foundry residues each week and a heat-treatment section.

In the laboratory, all raw materials can be analysed before processing, and finished castings checked to ensure that specifications are met. Moulding sand used in the foundries was checked at 15-minute intervals and a close check was kept on the temperature of the metal in the foundries before each casting was poured. There was a well-planned despatch department and a fleet of lorries and vans, so that countrywide deliveries could be quickly and efficiently made.

Today, Sandwell Castings is capable of producing a wide variety of cylinder heads, manifolds, crankcases, covers, cases, water pipes, housings and sumps, all of which are used extensively in the manufacture of diesel engines.

Sandwell Castings produce a wide variety of products for various applications and environments, including components used in the manufacture of light passenger vehicles, such as manifolds, steering boxes, covers, housings, water connections and pipes, engine mounts, sumps, water pump bodies and a variety of mounting brackets.

Sandwell Castings is capable of producing high integrity parts for use in air compressors and also castings that are subject to high pneumatic pressures. The firm can also produce castings in copper based alloys and in aluminium, that are used in safety critical areas and hostile environments for the water and gas supply industries.

One of the Sandwell Casting Company's foundries.

The Sandwell Casting Company's Factory.

An advert from the mid 1950s.

Patternmakers

Grew’s Pattern-Making Company Limited.

The "Tower Pattern Works," Carters Green, West Bromwich, was established in the early 20th century. After its incorporation in February, 1942, as Grew's Pattern-Making Company Limited, it gained a reputation for high quality work. Modern machinery was installed for both wood and metal patterns, which enabled the company to quote keen competitive prices for patterns up to several tons in weight.

Wood and metal patterns for air and water-cooled cylinder blocks, crankcases, baths and cisterns, helical, spur and bevel gear wheels, as well as all types of patterns for the aero and auto-engineering, electrical or general engineering trades were produced. The firm was a pioneer in the pressure-cast plaster process. Large numbers of the most intricate plates were produced, either in double-sided aluminium plates or cope and drag plates.

Machining a metal pattern for a flywheel housing at Grew's Works.

Making a wooden crankcase pattern at Grew's Works.

An advert from the mid 1950s.

W. G. Thursfield (Patternmakers) Limited.

The company was founded in 1946 by a partnership between a patternmaker and a foundry man. It specialised in high-class patternmaking, the manufacture of aero castings, along with general foundry work and accurate model making.

The firm went into voluntary liquidation in September 2021.

An advert from the mid 1950s.

An advert from the mid 1950s.