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 combus ...

s for industry, a subsidiary of

Teignmouth Teignmouth ( ) is a seaside town, fishing port and civil parish in the English county of Devon. It is situated on the north bank of the estuary mouth of the River Teign, about 12 miles south of Exeter. The town had a population of 14,749 at the ...

, England based Sleeman and Hawken.

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 onl ...

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 Yeovil ( ) is a town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the district of South Somerset, England. The population of Yeovil at the last census (2011) was 45,784. More recent estimates show a population of 48,564. It is close to Somer ...

based

Petters Limited Petters Limited (known as JB Petter & Sons of Yeovil until 1910), were a maker of stationary petrol and diesel engines from 1896 onwards.Petter, Percival. ''The Story of Petters Limited'' (Westbury: David Edgington, 1989) In 1915 Petter founded ...

(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 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 startups, early-stage, and emerging companies that have been deemed to have high growth potential or which ha ...

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

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-call ...

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

horsepower Horsepower (hp) is a unit of measurement of power, or the rate at which work is done, usually in reference to the output of engines or motors. There are many different standards and types of horsepower. Two common definitions used today are the ...

(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 (metal), 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, fusion. Welding is distinct from lower ...

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 Crop, crops, Landscape plant, landscape plants, and Lawn, lawns. Irrigation has been a key aspect of agriculture for over 5,00 ...

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 A spark-ignition engine (SI engine) is an internal combustion engine, generally a petrol engine, where the combustion process of the air-fuel mixture is ignited by a spark from a spark plug. This is in contrast to compression-ignition engines, ty ...

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 a ...

. 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 with ...

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

History

* 1867 R A Lister company founded by

Robert Ashton Lister Sir Robert Ashton Lister (4 February 1845 – 6 December 1929) was a British Liberal Member of Parliament and founder of R A Lister and Company in Dursley, Gloucestershire, in 1867. He was elected to the House of Commons of the United Kingdom ...

. * 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 used ...

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 Dursley is a market town and civil parish in southern Gloucestershire, England, almost equidistant from the cities of Bristol and Gloucester. It is under the northeast flank of Stinchcombe Hill, and about southeast of the River Severn. The t ...

, Gloucestershire, formerly the headquarters of

. After the company fell into administration in late 2013, the assets were bought by EGL Group 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 Wroughton is a large village and civil parish in northeast Wiltshire, England. It is part of the Borough of Swindon and lies along the A4361 between Swindon and Avebury; the road into Swindon crosses the M4 motorway between junctions 15 ...

, near

Swindon Swindon () is a town and unitary authority with Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough status in Wiltshire, England. As of the 2021 Census, the population of Swindon was 201,669, making it the largest town in the county. The Swindon un ...

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, Gloucestershire ...

until its closure in 1992. The factory, which been purchased from the

Admiralty Admiralty most often refers to: *Admiralty, Hong Kong *Admiralty (United Kingdom), military department in command of the Royal Navy from 1707 to 1964 *The rank of admiral *Admiralty law Admiralty can also refer to: Buildings * Admiralty, Traf ...

in 1946 and had originally produced marine gun mountings during

World War 2 World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, 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