20th century
Building rail cranes for export to the colonies.
Electric dock cranes
Stothert and Pitt supplied their earliest electric powered crane to Southampton Dock Authority in 1892. Electric power provided several advantages: powerful motors could be placed in each crane and powered centrally, without requiring a separate prime mover (i.e. steam engine and boiler) in each crane. The crane mechanisms were also lighter, allowing them to be placed on raised carriages that could then straddle a railway freight line- the portal crane. Rather than requiring a bare strip of unused quayside between the railway line and the harbour wall to leave space for cranes, the railway could now be brought right to the dock edge. Cranes were also available immediately, without waiting for boilers to raise steam. Most importantly though (and an advantage over centrally powered hydraulic cranes), electric cranes were now mobile along the dock edge on their own rail lines. Rather than ships queueing for a single berth space alongside a fixed crane, cranes could be brought to each ship's hold hatches as needed. This made a single crane far more efficient, in terms of cargo handled per day. Soon such mobile electric cranes were near universal.
Five examples of electric cranes provided in 1951 have been preserved by Bristol Museum Service at Princes Wharf.
Level-luffing cranes
In 1912, Stothert & Pitt's design team, led by Claude Topliss, developed an improved design of level luffing gear, which greatly improved the speed and efficiency of cargo handling cranes fitted with it. .[2] This used an arrangement of compensating hoist cables to automatically keep the hook, and load, level as the jib was luffed up and down.
Bulk handling cranes
As cranes became more common in docks, and as ships became bigger, they also became more specialised. In 1927, Stothert & Pitt produced the first bulk-handling crane.[3] Rather than a simple hook that could handle a range of slung loads, this was a crane designed around the use of an integral grab. Working the grab requires extra cable or cables from the crane jib, so these are a whole specialised design. The first was to unload coal at a power station in London.
Another innovation was the kangaroo crane. Rather than slewing (rotating) the crane to reach the delivery hopper on-shore, a kangaroo crane has its own in-built hopper beneath the jib, that slews with it. Dumping the grab contents into the hopper now only requires the quicker luffing movement, without needing to slew.
World War I
In July 1915 the company took over the construction of the Pedrail Machine, an attempt to create an armoured fighting vehicle for use on the Western Front. The machine, designed by Colonel R. E. B. Crompton, a consultant to the Landship Committee, ran on a pair of pedrail tracks in tandem. It was intended to mount an armoured body on the chassis so that a party of troops could be carried across no-man's-land. After the Landship Committee decided against the machine, the War Office transferred construction to S&P, with a view to completing it as a mobile flame-thrower. The finished chassis was handed over to the Trench Warfare Department in August, but no further development took place.
World War II
During World War II the company built tanks and miniature submarines for the War Office and was a significant manufacturer of armaments. Stothert's also supplied the Royal Navy with cranes mounted on ships used for hoisting reconnaissance sea-planes from the water.[4]
The Challenger tank was a development of the Cromwell tank chassis, so as to take the more powerful 17 Pounder gun. Stothert & Pitt built this tank and designed various modifications.[5] Lengthening the chassis from five roadwheels to six presented no difficulty for such an engineering firm, but designing armoured fighting vehicles was new to them and their efforts were not wholly successful. The new turret for Challenger carried the gun and its higher recoil well enough, but only by being nearly twice the height of other turrets for this chassis – making the tank a much easier target. The A30 (Avenger) tank destroyer was a similar development of a 17pdr gun on the same lengthened chassis, but had an open-topped turret 2 feet lower than that of Challenger. During the development of Challenger, the prototype turret was first mounted on the even larger TOG 2.[5]
Post-war era
By 1974, Stothert & Pitt had built 30,000 single-drum pedestrian rollers.
Electric dock cranes
Stothert and Pitt supplied their earliest electric powered crane to Southampton Dock Authority in 1892. Electric power provided several advantages: powerful motors could be placed in each crane and powered centrally, without requiring a separate prime mover (i.e. steam engine and boiler) in each crane. The crane mechanisms were also lighter, allowing them to be placed on raised carriages that could then straddle a railway freight line- the portal crane. Rather than requiring a bare strip of unused quayside between the railway line and the harbour wall to leave space for cranes, the railway could now be brought right to the dock edge. Cranes were also available immediately, without waiting for boilers to raise steam. Most importantly though (and an advantage over centrally powered hydraulic cranes), electric cranes were now mobile along the dock edge on their own rail lines. Rather than ships queueing for a single berth space alongside a fixed crane, cranes could be brought to each ship's hold hatches as needed. This made a single crane far more efficient, in terms of cargo handled per day. Soon such mobile electric cranes were near universal.
Five examples of electric cranes provided in 1951 have been preserved by Bristol Museum Service at Princes Wharf.
Level-luffing cranes
In 1912, Stothert & Pitt's design team, led by Claude Topliss, developed an improved design of level luffing gear, which greatly improved the speed and efficiency of cargo handling cranes fitted with it. .[2] This used an arrangement of compensating hoist cables to automatically keep the hook, and load, level as the jib was luffed up and down.
Bulk handling cranes
As cranes became more common in docks, and as ships became bigger, they also became more specialised. In 1927, Stothert & Pitt produced the first bulk-handling crane.[3] Rather than a simple hook that could handle a range of slung loads, this was a crane designed around the use of an integral grab. Working the grab requires extra cable or cables from the crane jib, so these are a whole specialised design. The first was to unload coal at a power station in London.
Another innovation was the kangaroo crane. Rather than slewing (rotating) the crane to reach the delivery hopper on-shore, a kangaroo crane has its own in-built hopper beneath the jib, that slews with it. Dumping the grab contents into the hopper now only requires the quicker luffing movement, without needing to slew.
World War I
In July 1915 the company took over the construction of the Pedrail Machine, an attempt to create an armoured fighting vehicle for use on the Western Front. The machine, designed by Colonel R. E. B. Crompton, a consultant to the Landship Committee, ran on a pair of pedrail tracks in tandem. It was intended to mount an armoured body on the chassis so that a party of troops could be carried across no-man's-land. After the Landship Committee decided against the machine, the War Office transferred construction to S&P, with a view to completing it as a mobile flame-thrower. The finished chassis was handed over to the Trench Warfare Department in August, but no further development took place.
World War II
During World War II the company built tanks and miniature submarines for the War Office and was a significant manufacturer of armaments. Stothert's also supplied the Royal Navy with cranes mounted on ships used for hoisting reconnaissance sea-planes from the water.[4]
The Challenger tank was a development of the Cromwell tank chassis, so as to take the more powerful 17 Pounder gun. Stothert & Pitt built this tank and designed various modifications.[5] Lengthening the chassis from five roadwheels to six presented no difficulty for such an engineering firm, but designing armoured fighting vehicles was new to them and their efforts were not wholly successful. The new turret for Challenger carried the gun and its higher recoil well enough, but only by being nearly twice the height of other turrets for this chassis – making the tank a much easier target. The A30 (Avenger) tank destroyer was a similar development of a 17pdr gun on the same lengthened chassis, but had an open-topped turret 2 feet lower than that of Challenger. During the development of Challenger, the prototype turret was first mounted on the even larger TOG 2.[5]
Post-war era
By 1974, Stothert & Pitt had built 30,000 single-drum pedestrian rollers.
Current operations
The firm was sold to Robert Maxwell's Hollis Group in 1986. Following the collapse of Maxwell's empire a management buy out was undertaken in 1988. This failed and the company closed in 1989, with all works shutting down. Stothert & Pitt was purchased by NEI Ltd (Northern Engineering Industries) in 1989[6] and became part of the Clarke Chapman Group of Companies. Clarke Chapman was then subsequently sold to Rolls Royce. After several successful years Rolls Royce decided to concentrate on their core products and in 2000 Stothert & Pitt (Clarke Chapman) was sold to Langley Holdings.[7]
Stothert & Pitt moved from Bath to Bristol in summer 2008 to the Bradman Lake offices on Yelverton Road in Brislington, Bristol. Bradman Lake moved again in 2019 to Unity Road, Keynsham taking Stothert & Pitt with them.
Stothert & Pitt offer spares and aftermarket support for all its dockside and offshore cranes currently in operation.
Stothert & Pitt's former 40000 sqft Newark Works, now grade II listed,[8] was converted in 2022 into flexible working space for small businesses as part of the Bath Quays development.[9] Its larger site was developed from 2011 into the Bath Western Riverside residential scheme.[10] TCN UK currently owns Newark Works and provides modern meeting rooms and office spaces to entrepreneurs and businesses in Bath.[11] Newark Works now operates as a "creative hub" for local startups and technology companies.[11]
