Gimson and Company were founded in 1840 by Josiah and Benjamin Gimson on Welford Road in Leicester. The company were listed as Engineers, Ironfounders, Boiler Makers & General Machinists. They later moved to Vulcan Works, Vulcan Road, Humberstone Road,

Leicester Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands. The city l ...

Expansion

Between 1876 and 1878 a new works, Vulcan Foundry, was developed beside the

Midland Railway The Midland Railway (MR) was a railway company in the United Kingdom from 1844. The Midland was one of the largest railway companies in Britain in the early 20th century, and the largest employer in Derby, where it had its headquarters. It am ...

mainline. The site covered three and a half acres, the

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 ...

shop was 180 ft by 62 ft. It had a workforce of 350 men and all lifting was done with steam hoists and travelling

cranes Crane or cranes may refer to: Common meanings * Crane (bird), a large, long-necked bird * Crane (machine), industrial machinery for lifting ** Crane (rail), a crane suited for use on railroads People and fictional characters * Crane (surname), ...

Products

Stationary steam engine Stationary steam engines are fixed steam engines used for pumping or driving mills and factories, and for power generation. They are distinct from locomotive engines used on railways, traction engines for heavy steam haulage on roads, steam cars ...

s, passenger and goods lifts, boot and shoe machinery,

agricultural machinery Agricultural machinery relates to the mechanical structures and devices used in farming or other agriculture. There are many types of such equipment, from hand tools and power tools to tractors and the countless kinds of farm implements that the ...

Preserved steam engines

Woolf compound rotative beam pumping engines; * Four of 1885 at

Claymills Pumping Station Claymills Pumping Station is a restored Victorian sewage pumping station on the north side of Burton upon Trent, Staffordshire, England. It was designed by James Mansergh and used to pump sewage to the sewage farm at Egginton. The main pum ...

, Burton on Trent.Claymills.org
Claymills Pumping Station trust site * Four of 1891 at Abbey Pumping Station, Leicester Single-cylinder condensing rotative beam pumping engines of 1879; * One at

Snibston Discovery Park Snibston is an area and former civil parish east of Ravenstone, now in the parish of Ravenstone with Snibstone, in the North West Leicestershire district, in the county of Leicestershire, England. Originally rural, part of Snibston was transfor ...

, Coalville, Leics * One at

Forncett Industrial Steam Museum Forncett is a civil parish in the English county of Norfolk. It covers an area of and had a population of 1,000 in 381 households at the 2001 census, increasing to 1,126 at the 2011 census. For the purposes of local government, it falls within ...

, Forncett St. Mary, Norfolk Horizontal single cylinder; * 12"×24" of 1895 Snibston Discovery Museum * Engine of 1899 at

Hall & Woodhouse Hall and Woodhouse is a British regional brewery founded in 1777 by Charles Hall in Blandford Forum, Dorset, England. The company operates over 250 public houses in the south of England, and brews under the name Badger Brewery. History The br ...

., Brewery, Blandford St. Mary, Dorset. Wall-mounted vertical single cylinder lift engine; * One at Abbey Pumping Station, Leicester

References

{{reflist
GracesGuide.co.uk

LE.ac.uk

InternalFire.com

Leicester Foundries 1845-1914 pp.63-68
Retrieved 27 April 2014. Steam engine manufacturers Manufacturing companies based in Leicester Foundries in the United Kingdom Industrial buildings in England