Lamson cash ball system at the Up-To-Date Store

Lamson Engineering Company Ltd was the name between 1937 and 1976 of the British offshoot of the Lamson Cash Carrier Company (and its successors) of

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

Massachusetts. The Lamson companies were the best-known manufacturers of

cash carrier Cash carriers were used in shops and department stores to carry customers' payments from the sales assistant to the cashier and to carry the change and receipt back again. The benefits of a "centralised" cash system were that it could be more cl ...

systems for shops including cash ball, wire and

pneumatic tube Pneumatic tubes (or capsule pipelines, also known as pneumatic tube transport or PTT) are systems that propel cylindrical containers through networks of tubes by compressed air or by partial vacuum. They are used for transporting solid objects, a ...

systems and of pneumatic tube systems for other applications.

History

The Lamson Cash Carrier Company, was established in Lowell, Massachusetts and was founded by William Stickney Lamson and Meldon Stephen Giles in January 1882 to manufacture his invention of the Cash Ball system. In 1884, John Magrath Kelly, an Irish-American from

, became an agent for the Lamson Cash Carrier Company in London, and the British Company was founded. By 1888, the Lamson Store Service Company Ltd was established at 1 Charlotte Street, Bedford Square, London, WC. With capital of £85,000 (£ as of ) the company had rights to the ball system for Europe, Africa, Australia, New Zealand and the Middle East, with UK patent 18566. In 1889, the company was renamed the Lamson Paragon Supply Company through an amalgamation of the Paragon Check Book Co with the Lamson Store Service Company. Shortly afterwards, they started selling the Rapid Wire systems in Britain. In 1897, the Bostedo Package and Cash Carrier Company launched its products in Britain. It was bought out two years later when Lamson renamed it the Lamson Pneumatic Tube Company. Subsidiary companies were established in Australia in 1901 and New Zealand in 1905. In 1911, all manufacturing was consolidated at a single factory on Hythe Road,

Willesden Junction Willesden Junction is a railway station in Harlesden, north-west London, UK. It is served by both London Overground and London Underground services. History The station developed on three contiguous sites: the West Coast Main Line (WCML) st ...

, northwest London. On 20 January 1937, the Lamson Engineering Company Ltd was incorporated as a merger of the Lamson Store Service Co Ltd and Lamson Pneumatic Tube Co Ltd. In 1973, the firm was promoting its "Rallypost" system with PVC track and battery-operated carriers that could carry up to 6 kg. This was designed as an office document carrier. Lamsons bought a 51% stake in the Dart Cash Carrier Company in 1927 and became sole owner in 1948. Dart was based in Stoke on Trent, and Lamson relocated to new premises in Stoke in 1974.Guardian, 29 Nov. 1973, p.26 Lamson Engineering Company Ltd survived until 1976 when it was taken over by Dialed Despatches to become D. D. Lamson. Further acquisitions and sales moved the pneumatic tube business through

Crest Nicholson Crest Nicholson is a British housebuilding company based in Chertsey, Surrey. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index. History 1963-2000 The company was founded by Bryan Skinner in 1963 as Crest Hom ...

, Frederick Cooper, J. Bibby and Sons and now it is part of Quirepace.

References

{{Reflist Pneumatics Engineering companies of the United Kingdom Companies based in the London Borough of Brent Companies based in Staffordshire British companies established in 1937 Manufacturing companies established in 1937 Companies disestablished in 1976