Rothwell, Hick and Rothwell was an engineering company in

Bolton Bolton ( , locally ) is a town in Greater Manchester in England. In the foothills of the West Pennine Moors, Bolton is between Manchester, Blackburn, Wigan, Bury, Greater Manchester, Bury and Salford. It is surrounded by several towns and vill ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. Set up in 1822, the partners became interested in the production of steam locomotives after the Rainhill Trials. The company's first engine was ''Union'', a vertical boiler, with horizontal cylinders for the Bolton and Leigh Railway of which Hick and Rothwell were promoters and original shareholders, followed by three more locomotives the following year for American railways.

Rothwell and Company

In 1832, Benjamin Hick left to set up his own business, B. Hick and Sons, to be replaced by Benjamin Cubitt, (younger brother of William Cubitt) from Fenton, Murray and Jackson. The firm then became Rothwell and Company. A further order for America was fulfilled in 1833, then for a couple of years the firm was occupied with

pump A pump is a device that moves fluids (liquids or gases), or sometimes Slurry, slurries, by mechanical action, typically converted from electrical energy into hydraulic or pneumatic energy. Mechanical pumps serve in a wide range of application ...

s and

stationary engines A stationary engine is an engine whose framework does not move. They are used to drive immobile equipment, such as pumps, electric generator, generators, mill (grinding), mills or factory machinery, or cable car (railway), cable cars. The term u ...

Locomotives, steam engines and cranes

1820s

About 1827 the company supplied three steam engines to André Koechlin & Cie in France, one for the

Mulhouse Mulhouse (; ; Alsatian language, Alsatian: ''Mìlhüsa'' ; , meaning "Mill (grinding), mill house") is a France, French city of the European Collectivity of Alsace (Haut-Rhin department, in the Grand Est region of France). It is near the Fran ...

cotton mill A cotton mill is a building that houses spinning or weaving machinery for the production of yarn or cloth from cotton, an important product during the Industrial Revolution in the development of the factory system. Although some were driven ...

for which Sharp, Roberts and Co. supplied most of the equipment, one for

coal mine Coal mining is the process of resource extraction, extracting coal from the ground or from a mine. Coal is valued for its Energy value of coal, energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to Electricity generation, generate electr ...

s at Ronchamp, and one for the Bourcart factory. Hick attended at least two of these installations in person during 1827. A 1:10

scale model A scale model is a physical model that is geometrically similar to an object (known as the ''prototype''). Scale models are generally smaller than large prototypes such as vehicles, buildings, or people; but may be larger than small protot ...

of a double jib crane designed by Benjamin Hick is displayed at the Musee des Arts et Metiers.

1830s

From 1836 steam locomotives became their main business. Up to 1840 they produced 56, 28 of which went abroad. Of note is a for the South Carolina Railroad to the design of

Horatio Allen Horatio Allen (May 10, 1802 – December 31, 1889) was an American civil engineer and inventor, and President of Erie Railroad in the year 1843–1844. Biography Born in Schenectady, New York, he graduated from Columbia University in 1823, a ...

. This had drivers, with a swivelling front bogie, and reputed to have worked for 35 years. A deal of sub-contract work came from Edward Bury and Company.

1840s

From 1841, the company began a batch of engines for the

broad gauge A broad-gauge railway is a railway with a track gauge (the distance between the rails) broader than the used by standard-gauge railways. Broad gauge of , more known as Russian gauge, is the dominant track gauge in former Soviet Union countries ...

Great Western Railway The Great Western Railway (GWR) was a History of rail transport in Great Britain, British railway company that linked London with the southwest, west and West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, ...

. The largest order came in 1847 for 28 engines for the London and South Western Railway.

1850s

Possibly the most remarkable were some 4-2-4 engines for the Bristol and Exeter Railway built in 1853/4 with unflanged driving wheels, and two ball-and-socket swivelled bogies. They weighed 42 tons and achieved speeds of , the fastest engines of the time. The quality of the company's products brought in repeat orders. Many of the engines were still in service twenty years later. From 1857 the engines were to Alexander Allan's design and were similar to the ''Old Crewe'' type. These were sold to the Lancaster and Carlisle Railway and the Eastern Counties Railway. The last to be built were four

engines for the Bristol and Exeter Railway and two saddle tanks for the Carmarthen and Cardigan Railway.

Closure

In the face of reduced business and increasing competition, the company closed in 1864. Part of the works was taken over by the Bolton Iron and Steel Company, which was later absorbed by Henry Bessemer and Company in 1906.

References

* Lowe, J.W., (1989) ''British Steam Locomotive Builders,'' Guild Publishing * {{cite book , last=Marshall , first=John , chapter=John and William Hargreaves, Benjamin and John Hick , title= A Biographical Dictionary of Railway Engineers , year=1978 , pages=104, 112–3

External links

Internet Archive
Rothwell, Hick and Rothwell Low Pressure engine, p.741-743 Locomotive manufacturers of the United Kingdom Manufacturing companies established in 1822 1864 disestablishments in the United Kingdom History of Bolton Companies disestablished in the 1860s Companies based in Bolton 1822 establishments in England British companies established in 1822