Catnic is a

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

-based building and

construction Construction is a general term meaning the art and science to form objects, systems, or organizations,"Construction" def. 1.a. 1.b. and 1.c. ''Oxford English Dictionary'' Second Edition on CD-ROM (v. 4.0) Oxford University Press 2009 and com ...

products manufacturer which developed and

patent A patent is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited period of time in exchange for publishing an enabling disclosure of the invention."A p ...

ed a

steel Steel is an alloy made up of iron with added carbon to improve its strength and fracture resistance compared to other forms of iron. Many other elements may be present or added. Stainless steels that are corrosion- and oxidation-resistant ty ...

lintel A lintel or lintol is a type of beam (a horizontal structural element) that spans openings such as portals, doors, windows and fireplaces. It can be a decorative architectural element, or a combined ornamented structural item. In the case of w ...

History

Catnic was established in 1969 when Brian Robinson took his idea to entrepreneur

Alfred Gooding Alfred Gooding (died 29 January 2018) was a Welsh entrepreneur. Over a fifty-year period, he founded companies in the construction and electronics sectors. Gooding was born in Risca, South Wales, the son of a miner. In the 1950s he started Moder ...

. The company conceived, developed and pioneered the steel lintel designed for the house building industry, and soon won a major share of the UK market. The name 'Catnic' came from Brian's two children, ''Cat''herine and ''Nic''holas. In 1982, Catnic were involved in a landmark patent case,

Catnic Components Ltd v Hill & Smith Ltd ''Catnic Components Ltd. v. Hill & Smith Ltd.'' 982R.P.C. 183 is a leading House of Lords decision on the nature of a patent and in particular the methods of claim construction. Background Catnic Components had a patent for a steel lintel, u ...

, which brought about a decision from the

House of Lords The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the Bicameralism, upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by Life peer, appointment, Hereditary peer, heredity or Lords Spiritual, official function. Like the ...

Today

Having been sold to

Corus Group Corus may refer to: Places *Çörüş, Gazipaşa, a village in Antalya Province, Turkey Facilities and structures * Corus Quay, Toronto, Ontario, Canada; an office tower Fictional locations * Corus, a fictional world that is the setting for the ...

, Catnic have developed other steel-based building products, including Qwikpost. The Catnic range is sold throughout the UK by a network of builder's merchants, DIY outlets and garden centres. The market in

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

is serviced by Catnic GmbH, and in the rest of Europe, the Middle East and the Far East by a network of independent distributors.

External links

Company websiteowned the Indian company TATA Steel
Caerphilly County Borough Manufacturing companies of Wales Tata Steel Europe {{Wales-company-stub