The first chapter of this story belongs to the pioneers of electrical engineering in particular to Michael Faraday who in 1831 discovered the principles of electromagnetic induction, and the many experiments carried out by Ferranti, Weber, Gramme and the Siemens brothers to perfect the principle of the dynamo and to the Town Council of Norwich whose foresight allowed one of the earliest public lighting supply systems in the country to be installed and hence contribute to the establishment of electrical engineering in the City.
The story begins in Feb 1879 when a demonstration of an arc lamp lighting system in St Andrews Hall by the Anglo American Electric Lighting Company Ltd was made to the Town Council. This was apparently so impressive that in July 1880 the Parliamentary and Bylaws Committee authorised lighting of the Market Place for a 3 month trial period and in May 1881 Mr R E Crompton of Chelmsford completed the installation of a system of Crompton arc lamps.
On 20 Sep 1881 he successfully tendered to extend the system but there were problems with the large arc lamps in the narrow streets and the final system comprised of 6 large Crompton arc lamps lighting the Haymarket, Market Place, Bank Plain and Post Office Plain and 12 smaller Weston arc lamps lighting London Street and Prince of Wales Road. There were also 2 Crompton arc lights in St Andrews Hall and 50 incandescent lamps in the Free Library.
The generating station for this first lighting system was in Elm Hill over the site of the Blackfriars Crypt. A semi portable 20 hp steam engine drove 6 Crompton-Burgin dynamos with coal from Derbyshire brought into the wharfs at the back of Elm Hill. Distribution was by bare copper wires carried overhead on telegraph poles and it cost 40d/hr to light the 15 arc lamps. On 30 June 1882 there appears to have been some form of merger as payments were transferred to the Swan United Electric Light Company Ltd. From that date and on 24 April 1883 supplies stopped altogether with a final payment of £333 6s 8d being made for the 10 months distribution. This was the last time that public street lighting was to be seen in Norwich for another 30 years.
During this period there seems to have been several applications made to the Council to set up Lighting systems including the: Provincial Brush Electric Light and Power Co Ltd, Edison Electric Light Company Ltd - Hammond Electric Light and Power Supply Company Ltd.
One of the employees of the Hammond Company, Mr E A Paris on visiting Norwich to look for business in installing lighting systems came into contact with a Mr J Colman. Mr Colman being a shrewd business man realised that although he wanted electric light in his mill he already had a well equipped workshop and only really needed an electrical expert to supervise the work.
Mr Paris was also shrewd enough not to claim to be the expert but knew of a man who was. That man of course was W H Scott who also was employed by Hammonds. Paris persuaded Scott to design a dynamo for Colman who would then set them up in business and pay them salaries and provide facilities and some capital. The dynamo was completed in early 1884 and Scott and Paris left Hammonds and moved to Norwich to begin trading as Paris and Scott Ltd.
Premises were found at Gothic Works, 107 King Street (formerly owned by Messrs Skipper and Witleys-biscuit and mustard manufacturers) and Scott set about improving the dynamo he had designed for Colman.
Paris was the business partner and looked after the order book and finances and this probably explains his salary of £4 per week, £1 more than Scott, the engineer.
R Laurence arrived in 1887 and invested £6,000 in the business which was desperately needed. Colman took 3,000 of the £1 shares and Paris and Scott also were given 3,000 each. Laurence, Paris and Scott were on their feet.
Scott was prolific in his output and produced accumulator switches, automatic cutouts, starting switches and a patent automatic fuse; with Mr Sabberton, local engine builder, he also made portable generating sets.
Scott was convinced that an electricity undertaking in Norwich would prove an invaluable proving ground for some of his ideas. So in Nov 1888 the company issued a scale of charges for motive and lighting power to prospective customers. Sufficient support was promised from potential consumers and a generating station was equipped and supply began in 1889.
The station was sited in Stamp Office Yard where 2 dynamos of C7 size supplied 180 amps at 100 volts and consumers were charged a flat rate per quarter. Supply was by means of overhead wires and on March 29 the Council agreed to pay £90 for lighting of the Free Library followed on 16 April 1889 by its support for the lighting of St Andrews Hall and the Asylum for £200.
By the end of 1889 the Stamp Office Yard Station was getting close to its output limits and a new station was becoming necessary. On 25 Jan 1890 The Norwich Electricity Company was registered and land on the site of the Dukes Palace Ironworks was bought for £5,100 and a station planned.
Scott whilst not a Director of the company carried out the planning, building and equipping of` the station and supply commenced on 3 Aug. 1893.
Expenditure on the mains was minimised at the outset by the 3 wire 220/11C volt DC distribution system which took the form of bare copper strip supported by slotted earthenware insulators within iron pipes. The cost of the distribution system was averaged at 9s 9d per yard and by 1896 7 miles of conduits had been laid with only one explosion believed to be due to a gas leak! In 1895 the cost of a unit was 8d.
This central station was to prove highly successful and in 1894 186,500 units were sold. Scott had some advanced ideas in regard to tariff rates and he devised a system whereby charges were halved during the day to encourage motive power load. He then developed a special 2 rate meter to measure the units used but as these meters required a separate circuit and this often failed this may have explained the need for high tariff charges and why Scott decided to drop the meter and concentrate on dynamos.
By 1899 the unit rate was 5d, dropping to 4.5d in 1905.
This station was taken over by the corporation in 1902 and with modifications and extensions stayed in use until Thorpe Power Station was built in 1926.
During these early years a contracting business had been built up at 2 Redwell Street with a turnover of approx. £5,000 p.a. In 1889 the stock and goodwill of this business were sold to Mr Mann for £2,600 who subsequently went into the horseless carriage business with a Mr Egerton.
Meanwhile at King Street the 25 employees were busy with export orders for France, South Africa and Russia. These early designs operated on voltage ranges of 50v to 140v and brushes were made of copper gauze, copper strip or fine copper wire and breakdowns were still common due to oil throwing onto the brushgear.
Scott was in the forefront of development and was one of the first to use compound windings and appreciate that control gear and motor should be planned as a unit. Progress was rapid and in 1889 12 machines were made for show at the Birmingham Exhibition however the shortcomings of the works were becoming apparent and money had to be saved for a new works.
Paris felt that this would not produce the money he had hoped and left the company. Laurence and Scott Ltd was formed in 1896 with a £50,000 authorised capital. Income tax was 8d in the £.
The memorandum of association reads: ******** quote from "Scott Built A dynamo **********.
The land owned by Colmans was transferred in 1898 by which time the factory at Hardy Road had been completed occupying approx. 7,500 square feet. Most of the power came from two steam sets although power was taken from the Norwich Electricity Company at times of light load.
About 100 men were employed at the new Gothic works and accommodation must have appeared lavish in spite of the 54 hour week. Quote from ****** "The Engineer 1896"****** Development work continued at the new works with the "battle of the brushes at its height including copper gauze/carbon black arrangements held together with an elastic band. Various pole arrangements, higher voltages, larger machine were also being designed. Scott also found time to develop the high speed engine later to be made by Mr Reavell of Ipswich. The ammunition hoist was designed for which orders were received in batches of 30; totally enclosed machines were made and noted for their ability to warm kettles and the first electrics for a winch were made for the "Victoria and Albert" royal yacht.
The biggest order in 1899 was for Lincoln Power Station and was planned very much on the Norwich style. The order for £4,266 yielded a gross profit £600.
Other major customers were Vickers Son and Maxim, Norwich Electricity Company, Colmans and already the Admiralty was high on the list. By the end of ¬1898 the company had made 1571 dynamos and the following year it made 570 more with a net profit of £7,000 and as a result a 10% dividend was paid out and the men received a small contribution towards their Christmas outing.
By the beginning of the century square frame machines were being replaced by a circular construction with steel magnets, former windings and ventilated armature and carbon brushes. Catalogues claimed oil throwing had been absolutely cured. A few years later and laminated pole caps and cast steel rather than cast iron yokes were introduced also Mica and Micanite were used to a greater extent that was common. But time was still found for other social outings and functions.
However competition was increasing with C A Parsons and the General Electric Company starting business in 1889. Whilst power station business was in hand including Kings Lynn and Lowestoft, it was the electric motor that was to provide the biggest potential.
This did not worry Scott and he wrote a handbook in 1903 explaining the principles of machines to help the income. Some thousands of these handbooks were sent out including 230 electricity authorities, 80 railway companies, 70 locomotive makers and 100 tramway concerns.
1905 was not a good year, men were on 75% time and a few were dismissed however Scott was convinced that things would improve and £6,250 was spent on a new test shop. Fortunately the Admiralty began to awaken to the danger from Germany and orders for turret turning gear, lifts and 25in and 30in fans were plentiful. In 1907 the monthly Admiralty order input for June alone was three times the figure for the whole of 1905. In 1908 the first submarine MG set was made and an agreement was realised with Penrose Ltd for lift motors and controllers and crane equipment became an important part of the business.
By 1907 there were 430 men on the payroll rising to 550 in 1910 making 1,000 machines a year and a pension fund was started. A London agent was appointed in 1910 to add to the Glasgow agency. There is also a first reference to the ‘switch-shop’ making a useful contribution to profits including the manufacture of searchlights.
In 1912 there was a flood when the water rose about 2 feet in the shops and drawing office. Fortunately no great damage was done.
Orders in 1913 amounted to £157,000 and with wages amounting to £52,000, it was important to control overheads. It was noted that telephone calls were averaging 22.5d per day! By the start of 1914 670 were employed at the works.
The impact of the war was quickly felt. By October 1914 the payroll was 509 and by November 1915, 470 were on the books, 60% of the business was direct to the Admiralty and In 1915 the shortage of high explosive shells became acute. With the help of Boulton and Paul, LS built two shops for £14,000 to make 3in and 5in shells. Specialist tools were made in the factory and the first shells were dispatched within 9 months of the first call. During the rest of the war LS made £1M worth of shells or 250 shells per day for every day of the war.
Towards the end of the war men in the shell shop were working a 67.5 hr week and taking home 103/- a week.
Contact with industrial business had declined during the war although an electric steering gear system was devised with Harland and Wolff.
Scott foresaw that the use of electric power for pumps and fans, auxiliaries and the increase of diesel engines ships would open up the opportunities for the electric cargo winch. By 1917 the, order book looked healthier and the sales exceeded £500,000 for the first time.
A private house at Thorpe Road came on the market and was bought for £3,148 and the house and grounds converted to make control gear. The Gothic works were also expanded increasing the shop space by 50%. New agencies were added in Birmingham, Manchester, Leeds and South Wales and Holland. Apprentices were always on a waiting list despite the rates being 11/3d at age 16 rising to 20/3d at age 20.
In 1920 it appears the company was going places and it was swamped with orders but by 1922 the workload was so low that the wage bill had to be cut by 40% and the staff took a 10% salary cut. The highest paid executive received only £650 pa and business was approximately 25% of the 1920 value and there was an overdraft of £91,000 at the bank.
This turnaround had largely come about by competitors taking on the industrial business during the years after the war and whilst in 1920 Harland and Wolff owned 64% of the order book by 1924 this had fallen to 10% after an ill-fated share exchange and boardroom shuffle.
£30,000 was raised and Scott developed his winch. In 1922, its year of introduction, 30 winches were made, in 1923 100 were made and within 5 years the business was running at over 200 per annum with exports to Japan, France Holland and Russia. This business was so successful that a foundry was built at the Thorpe Road site in 1923 and by 1926 was turning out 600 tons/year. Marine business generally began to pick up and in 1924 4,000hp of equipment was supplied for the Canadian Pacific "Empress Of Britain". Mr R Laurence died in 1923 leaving behind a company whose financial standing was largely due to his personal efforts.
The general state of the electrical engineering industry however was in a poor way and whilst efforts were made to improve the winch and side lines such as the ‘bumping’ machine for foundry moulding and the KS welder were developed it was the growth of the AC market that was inhibiting the company's growth.
Electromotors Ltd in Manchester employing 500 people was formed in 1899 to make small standard DC machines and as they were in the process of developing an AC range they appeared to be a ready made entry in the AC field and a takeover was arranged for £51,000 of LS shares forming the LSE Company.
At about this time the national DC/AC changeover was getting underway and as AC replacement motors were envisaged these would need to be mechanically interchangeable with the existing DC machines hence a fabricated design was proposed based on the ‘Emcol’ patented design.
The company did not know a lot about welded structures but they did know that they were liable to distortion hence a system of internal building mandrels was devised that is used to this day that ensures distortion is transferred radically to the outside of the core.
In 1931 the company made 5 AC machines, fortunately it also made 1250 DC machines. Women were employed for the first time.
The company then faced probably its most difficult period with the recently, received order for 15,000 hp of electrics for the Queen Mary being suspended and the staff took a further 10% salary cut. In an attempt to diversify the Control gear works became involved in the manufacture of traffic lights and the Gothic works made electrical equipment for diesel-electric locomotives. Another successful side line was the newly developed plotting table- a form of mechanical computer. This was to be the beginnings of the instrument department employing 10
people and using the corner of the canteen for testing.
By 1936 the Queen Mary contract was given the go ahead and the 'Emcol' patents were paying up so that the works were busy again and with profits exceeding £100,000 for the first time a new test bed was equipped although in 1936 Manchester suffered an arguable setback when the works was burnt down.
In 1938 W H Scott died at a time when 3,000 people were employed in 3 factories making equipment ranging from fractional horsepower to well over 1,000 hp. It was a great blow to the industry in general and LSE in particular as he was a man involved in all aspects of the company and he had his name on over 100 patents. The blow was made that much worse by the announcement of the 2nd world war.
During the Second World War the Control Gear works came into its own making switchgear for the "T" class submarines, controllers for tank landing craft, and controllers for the leg lifting motors of Mulberry harbour pontoons, compass corrector coils and change over switches. Also the "Osprey" submarine detecting gear was made which involved over thirty sub contractors in the region often working in virtually garden sheds. The instrument department grew from ten to about three hundred men at this time making plotting tables and mechanical computers referred to as "clocks" and qualifying for it's own Drawing Office.
Following the war technical changes and automatic devices expanded the variable speed market and opened up opportunities.
Fortunately in 1938 Dr Schwarz had joined the company and brought with him two new designs - the Trislot rotor and the NS variable speed motor. Hence the company was well placed with its Ward Leonard DC system and new NS motor AC Schemes to take advantage of the position.
A feature of the post war decade was the insatiable demand for power station auxiliaries. The NS motor was already being applied with great success to boiler fan drives. By 1950, units of 800 hp were being installed and the 'Emcol' designs were being overtaken by closed circuit heat exchanger machines.
The Trislot design was also proving ideally suited to power station auxiliaries with its low starting current and high thermal capacity. Then the demand for power station motors became a flood and a booklet issued in 1955 lists contracts for 50 power stations at home and many for overseas, involving some 600 draught fan motors and about 1,500 milling plant motors.
This was closely followed by a demand for motors for pumps. This was another field for the NS motor and soon over 80% of all variable speed motors installed by water authorities were LSE NS motors. The derivatives of the NS motor, the Speedmaster and the NS frequency converter also made progress mainly in conjunction with the "floating" motor for steel plant.
The Engineering Bulletin was started in Jan 1943 as an internal technical newsletter progressing in 1946 to a wider circulation at 3d a copy. In April 1949 a new series was started at 6d rising to 5/- in Nov. 1953. In 1958 it became free and was to become one of the company’s most respected publications.
However factory space was still a problem and land was leased at Salhouse Road from the Boulton and Paul aircraft division and the automatic notching presses case shop and pattern shop were moved into the new premises where they are situated today. Also the shops and office block were overflowing and in 1954 an entirely new block, next to the control gear works was built whilst a new staff office block at Gothic works was completed in 1957 on the site of the old canteen forming the basis of today's factory layout.
Further expansion was undertaken in 1959 when a new heavy machine bay was completed to enable manufacture of machines up to 10,008 hp. One of the first major contracts to be carried out in the new bay was for special induction motors of 1,570 hp to run in C02 at a pressure of 270 psi for driving gas circulators in the advanced gas cooled reactor at Windscale. This was to be LSE first entry into the nuclear age.
Manchester was also in full flight with an unprecedented demand for industrial AC motors and in particular its range of flameproof motors for minor applications. Whilst Manchester was busy making flameproof machines it also took on an order for the manufacture of small motors for ventilating fans for Ventaxia and established a small works at Blantyre in Scotland for this purpose which continues today with over 100 employed making specialised fractional horsepower machines.
The Control gear works were also developing new products and in 1960 developed a draw out design of motor control centre which was to prove very successful and its manufacture continues to this day.
Development and expansion at this time ran unabated to keep up with the unparalleled demand for specialised high quality equipment and sales offices in Australia and South Africa were opened. The pace of development was such that individual products blur into one image of frenzied activity. 1955 saw the first pattern notched alternator, 1961 the first MG set for a nuclear submarine, 1963 the first induction generator, 1964 the first brushless generator and so on.
On June 11 1966 an open day was arranged-**** quote from pamphlet *****. In 1961 an order for 40 off 5,000 kw, 1.1 KV2 pole gas circulator motors capable of operating in 600 psi of CO2 was placed for Hinkley/Hunterston AGR power station followed by another order in 1979 for a further 40 motors for Heysham/Torness AGR power stations which are presently in production. By 1068 turnover exceeds £10M and 1972 profits exceeded £1M rising to £2M by 1978 for the first time.
The company's project capability was further enhanced by the acquisition of an MTE factory in Wolverhampton in 1975 involved in the manufacture of HIV vacuum contactor gear where manufacture continues today with over 120 employees. This brings us flying into the 1980's with LSE now a member of the MSI group of companies with a turnover in excess of £60M and covering industries from mining, nuclear, defence, petrochemicals and oil, marine, power generation and many more.
We are on the threshold of the next nuclear generation and preparing to make gun platforms for the surface Fleet and putting state of the art equipment in submarines whilst developing machines to last 30 yrs without repair in the North Sea oilfields.
We are making motors and generators of all sizes, motor control centres, vacuum contactors, converters, cycloconverters, plotting tables an of course dynamos. Quite a leap from the early days at King Street and a considerable tribute to the founders!
It is a sobering thought that with all the rapid advances made in the last 100 years, in particular in electronics, that not a single photograph or object exists from the Elm Hill or Stamp Office Yard premises for future generations to learn from. There are a few exceptions including an operating 1898 dynamo at the Bygones Exhibition at Holkham Hall and the proposed renovation of the 1900 New Mills pumping Station which hopefully will be restored to, its former glory, including the LSE equipment in it.
The pace of advance has been frightening within the company over the last 100 years and will be even more so over the next 100 years but let us never forget what has been achieved in the past lest we fail to admire the determination and skills of the electrical engineering pioneers within this fine city.