Вулканские литейные заводы: история и предприятия

Name of several iron foundries

Vulcan Iron Works was the name of several iron foundries in both England and the United States during the Industrial Revolution and, in one case, lasting until the mid 20th century. Vulcan, the Roman god of fire and smithery, was a popular namesake for these foundries.

During the Industrial Revolution, numerous entrepreneurs independently founded factories named Vulcan Iron Works in England, notably that of Robinson Thwaites and Edward Carbutt at Bradford, and that of Thomas Clunes at Worcester, England. The largest of all the ironworks of Victorian England, the Cleveland Works of Bolckow Vaughan in Middlesbrough, were on Vulcan Street.

The Vulcan Works at Thornton Road, Bradford was a spacious and handsome factory. It was described in Industries of Yorkshire as

the largest of their kind in Bradford, and the centre and headquarters of an industry of magnificent dimensions and condition throughout. The works cover about four acres of ground The buildings are all of stone, and the mechanical equipment could not be surpassed in efficacy at the present day, for it includes the latest and best improvements in all kinds of apparatus that can be advantageously brought to bear upon such an industry as that here engaged in. The working staff numbers about 200 men; and the perfection of order and system prevails in each and every department.

The Vulcan Iron Works at Osmaston Road, Derby was founded in 1874 by Francis Ley (1846 1916). On a site occupying 11 acres by the Birmingham and Derby Junction Railway, he manufactured castings for motor cars. In the London Gazette of April 14, 1876, Ley was granted a patent for "improvements in apparatus for locking and fastening nuts on fish plate and other bolts". The iron foundry was closed and demolished in 1986.

The Vulcan Iron Works at Cromwell Street, Worcester was founded in 1857 by Thomas Clunes (b. 1818, d. 28 September 1879). living in St Martin's, Worcester, with nine children, was a "Master Engineer employing 104 men and 10 boys"; his son Robert at age 11 was an "Apprentice to Engineer". In 1861, Clunes was joined by two former railwaymen, McKenzie and Holland, and the firm moved into railway signalling equipment.

The Vulcan Foundry at Newton le Willows produced ironwork for the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, as well as locomotives.

The G R Turner company's Vulcan Iron Works at Langley Mill, Derbyshire was built in 1874. GR Turner produced railway rolling stock until the 1960s; at its peak it employed 350 men.

In 1857 the firm of Baxendale and Gregson was founded in Shepherd Street, Preston, Lancashire. When the works there became too small, the business moved to a new Vulcan Ironworks, built at Salter Street, just off North Road, Preston, under the name Gregson and Monk. When Monk retired in March 1874, James Gregson became sole proprietor. He employed about 400 men, making up to 100 weaving looms per week. Over 25,000 looms made by Gregson were claimed to be at work in or near Preston in 1884. The machines made by the firm included: The company was established in 1849 by Richard Jones. It built locomotives such as the preserved Berlin Mills Railway 7 (1911), and by 1944 was constructing both steam and diesel locomotives, as illustrated (right). With the advent of internal combustion technology, the firm began producing small locomotives fueled not only with gasoline, but also benzine, alcohol, kerosene and naptha. Vulcan produced its first diesel locomotives in the 1920s; a total of 54 diesel electric switcher units (each weighing or more) came out of Vulcan's shops between 1938 and 1954. Its largest unit was a B B unit built for Carnegie Steel Company in 1944. It also constructed the TCDD 56301 Class for the Turkish State Railways in 1947. Vulcan built a large number of gasoline powered locomotives with a mechanical drive, such as the Maumelle Ordnance Works Locomotive 1, built in 1942.

The Vulcan Iron Works in Seattle had Jacob Furth as its president. Furth ran the Vulcan Iron Works along with the Puget Sound Electric Railway and street railways on the Puget Sound.

A Vulcan Iron Works was established at 135 Fremont Street, San Francisco in 1850 during the California gold rush. The factory occupied the block bounded by Fremont, Mission, Howard, and First Streets. The factory maintained the name through a number of owners building boilers, steam engines, mining machinery, sawmills, and some relatively primitive steam locomotives for 19th century California railroads. It built the Oregon Pony in 1861. The factory was destroyed by the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, but steel fabrication activities resumed on the site after the quake.

There was a Vulcan Iron Works on Cumberland Street, Charleston, South Carolina in 1865.