Lister Petter is a British company that manufactures

internal combustion engine An internal combustion engine (ICE or IC engine) is a heat engine in which the combustion of a fuel occurs with an oxidizer (usually air) in a combustion chamber that is an integral part of the working fluid flow circuit. In an internal co ...

s for industry, a subsidiary of Teignmouth, England based

Sleeman and Hawken Sleeman may refer to: *Sleeman (surname) *Sleeman Breweries, a brewing company based in Guelph, Ontario *Sleeman, Ontario Sleeman is an unincorporated community located in Rainy River District in Northwestern Ontario, Canada. The town site is l ...

History

The company was formed in 1986, after owner

Hawker Siddeley Hawker Siddeley was a group of British manufacturing companies engaged in aircraft production. Hawker Siddeley combined the legacies of several British aircraft manufacturers, emerging through a series of mergers and acquisitions as one of on ...

Group Plc merged Dursley, Gloucestershire based

R A Lister and Company R A Lister & Company was founded in Dursley, Gloucestershire, England, in 1867 by Sir Robert Ashton Lister (1845–1929), to produce agricultural machinery. History 1867–1906: Foundation and growth The founder of R A Lister and Company w ...

(acquired in 1965), with Yeovil, Somerset based Petters Limited (acquired in 1957). In 1992, Hawker Siddeley Group Plc was acquired by

BTR plc BTR plc was a British multinational industrial conglomerate company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It was founded in 1924, grew strongly by acquisition under Sir Owen Green's leadership, and merged with Siebe plc in 1999 to form BTR ...

for £1.5bn. In 1999 BTR merged with Siebe to form BTR Siebe plc, which was renamed

Invensys Invensys Ltd. was a multinational engineering and information technology company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It was formed in 1999 through the merger of BTR plc and Siebe plc. It had offices in more than 50 countries and its produc ...

plc. In preparation, BTR sold any subsidiary operations, including Lister-Petter in 1996 to

Schroders Schroders plc is a British multinational asset management company, founded in 1804. The company employs over 5,000 people worldwide in 32 locations around Europe, America, Asia, Africa and the Middle East. Headquartered in the City of London, it ...

Venture Capital Venture capital (often abbreviated as VC) is a form of private equity financing that is provided by venture capital firms or funds to start-up company, startups, early-stage, and emerging companies that have been deemed to have high growth poten ...

. In 2000, with Schroders looking to exit, the firm was bought through a £13.5M

management buyout A management buyout (MBO) is a form of acquisition in which a company's existing managers acquire a large part, or all, of the company, whether from a parent company or individual. Management-, and/or leveraged buyout became noted phenomena of ...

, enabled through selling the original Lister factory site to the South West Regional Development Agency. By this time, the core engine products were in demise, and the company employed around 250 people on a turnover of £35M. Cost-cutting measures included closing the award-winning

foundry A foundry is a factory that produces metal castings. Metals are cast into shapes by melting them into a liquid, pouring the metal into a mold, and removing the mold material after the metal has solidified as it cools. The most common metals ...

in 2001: it had been one of the most advanced in Europe when it opened in 1937. In 2003, the company fell into its first administration.

Products

Both companies produced a range of small

diesel engine The diesel engine, named after Rudolf Diesel, is an internal combustion engine in which ignition of the fuel is caused by the elevated temperature of the air in the cylinder due to mechanical compression; thus, the diesel engine is a so-ca ...

s, ranging from single-cylinder water-cooled engines of 2.7

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(the 'Zeta' series) up to the 'Delta' engine. One higher-power engine of up to , the 'Omega' is also produced under licence. The engine designs range from more recent design high-speed

turbodiesel The term turbo-diesel, also written as turbodiesel and turbo diesel, refers to any diesel engine equipped with a turbocharger. As with other engine types, turbocharging a diesel engine can significantly increase its efficiency and power output, ...

s (such as the 'Gamma' or 'Omega' engines) to traditional single-cylinder medium-speed types such as the 'A-Series' and 'Phi' types.

Applications

Lister Petter engines are generally used in stationary industrial applications such as pumping and electricity generation. The company produces a range of complete generator sets, units equipped for

welding Welding is a fabrication process that joins materials, usually metals or thermoplastics, by using high heat to melt the parts together and allowing them to cool, causing fusion. Welding is distinct from lower temperature techniques such as br ...

and in-house pumping sets, as well as supplying engines to other equipment manufacturers. L-P engines are widely exported, especially for use in

irrigation Irrigation (also referred to as watering) is the practice of applying controlled amounts of water to land to help grow crops, landscape plants, and lawns. Irrigation has been a key aspect of agriculture for over 5,000 years and has been dev ...

projects. The company also maintains a long tradition (of both its founder companies) in supplying engines for marine applications both as prime mover engines for small vessels and as auxiliary power units in larger ones.

Gas-fuelled engines

Lister Petter's main product, the 'Alpha' series of sub-2-litre engines, is also available in spark ignition forms for running on natural gas or

propane Propane () is a three-carbon alkane with the molecular formula . It is a gas at standard temperature and pressure, but compressible to a transportable liquid. A by-product of natural gas processing and petroleum refining, it is commonly used as ...

. L-P also manufactures and sells

biodiesel Biodiesel is a form of diesel fuel derived from plants or animals and consisting of long-chain fatty acid esters. It is typically made by chemically reacting lipids such as animal fat ( tallow), soybean oil, or some other vegetable oil ...

plants, allowing customers to produce their own fuel for diesel engines.

History

* 1867 R A Lister company founded by Robert Ashton Lister. * 1893 James B Petter & Sons founded. * 1895 First oil engines made by Petters. * 1910 Petters Ltd founded. * 1929 First diesel engines produced by R A Lister in Dursley. * 1960s/1970s peak employment of over 5,000 * 1986 R A Lister and Petters Ltd merged to form Lister Petter Ltd. * 2004/2005 Lister Petter sees unprecedented growth and re-investment in its core products * 2013 Goes into administration * 2014 moves operations to former

RAF Aston Down Aston Down is in Gloucestershire, South West England, east of Minchinhampton, southeast of Stroud and west of Cirencester. The nearest settlement is the large village of Chalford, 1 mile (1.6 km) to the northwest. The airfield was us ...

site, saves 80 jobs Lister and Petter engines were workhorses of the British Commonwealth; many of these engines are still in use today in dump trucks, generators and water pumps. They generally, but not exclusively, leave the factory in a Mid Brunswick Green colouring.

Locations

The company's headquarters and manufacturing facility until 2013 were in Dursley, Gloucestershire, formerly the headquarters of

. After the company fell into administration in late 2013, the assets were bought by

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of Birmingham. The headquarters had already moved to Hardwicke, and the operations were then moved to the former

. The company also manufactured diesel engines at their factory at Wroughton, near Swindon,

Wiltshire Wiltshire (; abbreviated Wilts) is a historic and ceremonial county in South West England with an area of . It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset to the southwest, Somerset to the west, Hampshire to the southeast, Gloucestershir ...

until its closure in 1992. The factory, which been purchased from the Admiralty in 1946 and had originally produced marine gun mountings during World War 2, was still known locally as Marine Mountings. Lister Petter have agents in France, the United States, China and India, which market their products and carry out final assembly of larger items such as generating sets from imported parts.

References

External links

{{Commons, R A Lister and Company
Lister Petter website
Manufacturing companies established in 1986 Companies based in Gloucestershire Engine manufacturers of the United Kingdom Electrical generation engine manufacturers Diesel engine manufacturers 1986 establishments in England Petter