Walter's 3rd son Henry Wilkins married Joyce Winn, daughter of W. Martin Winn.

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1908 would be a memorable year in another way. Walter Wilkins had become a great friend of Charles Richards and his family, and had fallen in love with his daughter Louisa. Before the year was out they were married, and the company’s employees were given an hour off to attend their boss’s wedding.

The second from the left in the middle row is John Gibbons.

Courtesy of Brian Groves.

Expansion

By 1910 business was booming. There were so many orders that they couldn’t cope in the cramped conditions at the Bell Street factory. Luckily the solution was at hand. Darlaston Green Works were available at the time and so Wilkins and Mitchell acquired the factory and renamed it “Phoenix Works”. At the time they were receiving a lot of orders for special machinery from railway carriage and wagon companies.

In 1911 Walter Wilkins and Alfred Owen senior conceived the idea of a massive forming press to cold press vehicle chassis frames, so revolutionising production. Chassis frames were made from around 10 gauge steel and until that time had been pressed hot. Although several similar presses were in use in the U.S.A. nothing on this scale had been attempted here. Walter’s design used a similar hydraulic system to the one that he developed in 1907 for the blanking press. The press, costing a mere £2,000 was installed at Rubery Owen’s Darlaston factory in August 1913 and became an immediate success. It worked so well that it continued in operation until 1970, and can be seen today at the Black Country Living Museum.

Some earlier Wilkins and Mitchell’s machines including a mechanical shear were still in use at Rubery Owen’s factory until 1960, clearly demonstrating the reliability of the company’s products.

It ran until 1970 and cold pressed lorry chassis by raising steel blanks that were pressed into the correct shape.

The press at the Black Country Living Museum, Dudley.

A Trip to America

The success of the huge press and the close relationship between Walter Wilkins and Alfred Owen led to them to go on a fact finding tour of the U.S.A. to explore the latest developments in machine tools. Walter had always been impressed with American engineering and their seven week tour would provide them with plentiful opportunities to examine the latest machines.

It nearly ended in disaster because they booked their passage on a brand new luxury ship, RMS Titanic, but luckily last minute business commitments forced them to delay their departure. Had they not done so, the history of manufacturing in Darlaston would have been very different, with the possible loss of two of the town’s most important manufacturers.

Thanks to the delay they sailed on RMS Lusitania and after arriving safely visited many of the leading American machine tool manufacturers. They also inspected some of the factories belonging to the largest vehicle manufacturers including Ford, General Motors, and Studebaker. As a result of their successful tour Alfred Owen conceived the idea of producing vehicle chassis and other motor components for British vehicle manufacturers at highly competitive prices. Similarly Wilkins and Mitchell would go on to build competitively priced, state of the art machines for the same manufacturers.

The War Years

For the first two years or so of the war, the manufacture of special purpose machine tools and presses continued much as before, except that production had to be greatly increased to keep-up with the demands of the munitions industry.

At the beginning of the war Wilkins and Mitchell employed between 60 and 70 people who worked flat out to supply the needs of their customers. Unfortunately the constant pressure to keep up with the demand for the company’s products became too much for Tom Mitchell who broke down under the strain and retired to Blackpool.

Walter Wilkins also came under a lot of pressure. Apart from the day-to-day running of the company, he became involved in other work. He was asked to go to the War Office in London to assist in vital war work. As a result he became a consulting design engineer, assisting Dr. Frank Lanchester in the design of a compact transmission for tanks that would allow more room inside for the crew. As a result he built an experimental tank at the Birmingham Carriage Company.

He also carried out consultancy work for other companies, which resulted in him dashing all over the country. In 1916 his work load increased even more when Wilkins and Mitchell designed and built their largest press to-date. Walter was so hard pressed that he even had 3 or 4 draughtsmen working in his dining room at home, in order to complete the job on time. The hydraulically operated press was delivered to Rubery Owen in June.

By 1916 Wilkins and Mitchell were also producing other war work including drag lines for artillery, fuse caps, and gear trains for tanks. The company also machined cradles for 18lb. field guns and for naval 12lb. anti-aircraft guns, for Wolsley Motors, at the time a subsidiary of Vickers-Armstrong. Walter revolutionised the production by making it far more efficient. At Vickers-Armstrong one man took 120 hours to machine a single gun cradle. Walter reduced this time to just 12 hours by using three men to operate machines and jigs of his own design. This meant that 10 of the much needed gun cradles could be machined in the time that it previously took to do just one.

Wilkins and Mitchell also began to produce the ‘Lightening’ car jack, which Walter had previously designed in about 1912. He originally set his brother George up in business to manufacture the jacks in a small factory at Moxley in partnership with John Richards. During the war production was transferred to Phoenix Works.

After the War

The company, like many others had greatly prospered thanks to the plentiful supply of wartime Government contracts. Walter Wilkins realised that the contracts would abruptly end when hostilities ceased, and that large quantities of cheap machine tools would be put-up for sale when they were no longer required for war work. Something had to be found to tide the company over until things returned to normal.

A 300 ton double sided power press.

As a result he arranged to build mechanical stokers for Vickers-Spearing, a subsidiary of Vickers-Armstrong who had a good relationship with Wilkins and Mitchell thanks to their work on the gun cradles.

The mechanical stokers consisted of wide endless belts that slowly revolved and transported coal from a hopper to the furnace at one end, then carried out the burnt ash at the other.

The contract nicely filled-in the gap at the end of the Government orders, and provided a smooth transition from war to peacetime work.

There was an 18 month backlog of orders to get through. At the same time new orders were arriving, mainly for specialised drilling machines for Railway wagon and carriage companies.

Many of the orders were for sole-bar drilling machines, some of which were 50ft. machines. Other orders were for hydraulic presses, used in the production of heavy lorry chassis.

New Products

Walter Wilkins was as prolific as ever. He had a small experimental workshop at home in which to develop new products, and even designed and made a special drawing board for use in bed, so that if an idea occurred to him during the night he could instantly put it on paper.

He began to develop a rotary valve V8 petrol engine, but unfortunately never completed the work because of lack of time. He also designed a multi-head group drill, an early form of automated machine tool. A number of them were sold to the Hotchkiss Motor Company, the manufacturer of engines for Morris. Another of his inventions was the under-drive press.

In 1928 Walter’s eldest son, John, joined the company as an apprentice pattern maker, earning two pounds a week. Within a few years his three brothers Henry, Edward, and Philip would also join the family business. Walter became interested in the Rotarian movement, and along with a few friends founded the Rotary Centre in Wednesbury.

Around 1926 Walter turned his attention to washing machines, which he considered would be a good addition to Wilkins and Mitchell’s product range to ensure the future growth of the company. In the spring of 1930 he took his family on a tour of the U.S.A. and while there he visited several factories including a couple that made washing machines. When the family returned home the Wilkins boys attempted to perfect their prototype washing machine. They had initial problems with the drive, but once they had successfully tried a ‘V’ belt, they were on to a winner.

Courtesy of Mark Foster.

Courtesy of Mark Foster.

The new machine was launched at the Ideal Home Exhibition and the Preston Agricultural Show. By that time Walters’s sons Henry and Edward had joined the company and greatly assisted in selling the machines at exhibitions.

During the recession in the 1930s the washing machines helped the company to keep going. The demand for machine tools fell and so workers from that part of the business were temporarily used to tool-up for mass production of washing machines. At the height of the recession the company made a small loss, but still managed to keep going.

Luckily the recession only lasted a few years and things soon returned to normal. By the end of the decade Wilkins and Mitchell were starting to concentrate on the power press side of the business, products that are still well-known today.

The late 1970s and early 1980s were a difficult time for the company due to falling orders. Unfortunately in the early 1980s Wilkins and Mitchell found itself in receivership, but this was not to be the end of the story.

In 1982 the newly formed UK manufacturing group, Verson International run by American businessman Tim Kelleher acquired Wilkins and Mitchell from the receiver. The group’s main companies were Wilkins and Mitchell, and Bronx Engineering of Lye, who were acquired in 1986.

By the late 1980s group sales were approaching £40 million and a good future seemed ensured. In 1987 profits were £750,000, compared with £176,000 in 1986, and this steady growth continued for some time.

Tim Kelleher removed the barriers between the shop floor and the management team. He believed that the company’s main asset was the skilled workforce. Director’s dining rooms were closed, their privileges were removed, and all non-essential company cars were sold. A manager could loose his job if he didn’t know every employee by his or her first name.

A large power press.

Assembling a gearbox for the Cable Belt Company in the 1980s.

At Darlaston the group planned to build a new larger factory for Wilkins and Mitchell on a 15 acre site in Willenhall Road, formerly occupied by Wellman Cranes. The existing Richards Street works would house a new specialised fabrications company.

The new factory with a workforce of nearly 300, cost £6 million and was opened on 28th November, 1990 by John Major. The company’s Managing Director was George Paxton, who previously ran Verson AI in Inverness.

The company name changed to Verson Wilkins, and by the end of 1990 orders for power presses reached nearly £7 million. The orders included a huge 2,650 tonne trimming press for a forge in Lincoln, the largest power press built by the company at that time. Many of the orders that followed were for vehicle manufacturers, including Nissan at Tyne & Wear; A.C. Rochester who were part of General Motors; and a huge 3,000 tonne “try out” press for Toyota.

Unfortunately the fortunes of UK car manufacturers were on the wane and orders fell. By the middle of 1993 Verson International was £3.5 million in the red, not helped by a very significant loss at Verson Wilkins. As a result the group merged with Clearing UK and reduced its product range.

The Darlaston subsidiary now became known as Clearing International. In November, 1994 about 70 jobs were shed at Darlaston and the future looked very uncertain. Quite a stir was caused in the works in December of that year when the factory became the location for the American film crew who were shooting a film about the Iraqi super gun entitled “The Doomsday Gun”.

In 1995 about half the employees lost their jobs at the Darlaston works when the workforce was greatly reduced. At the time they were producing presses from 300 to 1,500 tonnes as standard, and up to 2,500 tonnes to special order. The company also refurbished their old products. By 1996 the deficit amounted to £5.8 million and the group decided to sell Darlaston based Clearing International. The Darlaston company then formed a partnership with Scarborough based Bootham Engineering but the downturn in the motor manufacturing industry continued and so the decision was taken to close the Darlaston factory.

Courtesy of Mark Foster.

Courtesy of Mark Foster.

The story doesn't quite end there. After the closure of the Darlaston works, Bootham Engineering moved its offices to Bloxwich. In 2003 the company was taken over by Muller Weingarten UK Limited, and in October 2005 the company moved to Quayside Drive in Walsall. In March 2008, Muller Weingarten UK Ltd and Schuler UK merged to form the new company Schuler Presses UK Limited. The company services and supports Wilkins and Mitchell presses.

The company got into difficulties during the recession in the late 1980s and went into liquidation in March 1989. A new company Servis UK was formed in November 1990 and purchased by Antonio Merloni  in 1991.

Manufacturing ceased at the works which became a spare parts centre, and dealt with repairs. The factory closed in October, 2008.

An advert from 1963.