Patent Tip and Horse Shoe Company (later Electric Construction Ltd), Wolverhampton
- Ref No: D-EXP/P/I45/76
- Date: 18 Aug 1982
- Artist: Clapp; David (fl. 1967 - 1994)
- Additional Information: Thomas Parker and Bedford Elwell are mentioned. The photograph shows part of a batch of generators to be exported to the Far East.
- Admin History: The Electric Construction Company Ltd, were registered on 20th July, 1893. Their works in Bushbury were erected in 1888 (when they were known then as the Electric Construction Corporation) on a 23 acre site, and were purposely built for electrical engineering construction. They included a separate iron foundry and its own railway siding. Some of their first products were the E.C.C. Standard Type Dynamo and Motor for generators and motor cars, the Multipolar Generator (one of which was supplied to the Manchester Corporation, and was at the time, the largest direct current machine in the world), direct current transformers and rotary converters, electric railway plant, various alternators and transformers, arc lamps and meters and other electrical components for motor cars. This included the company's most famous motor car - the Electric Dog Cart of 1896. After the Second World War (1939-1945), a separate factory was built in Shaw Road to house the manufacture of transformers, and later included a rectifying plant. Two associate companies - E.C.C. (Moulded Breakers) Ltd, and Federal Electric Ltd, were set up in a factory in Fordhouse Road, Wolverhampton, to manufacture a range of medium voltage switchgear for electrical distribution in industry, commercial buildings, hospitals, shops and flats. Production of these products began in 1959. These included fuse switches and moulded case air circuit breakers. By the 1960s, over 2000 people were employed by the E.C.C, producing medium and heavy electrical equipment including motors, generators, control gear, rectifiers and transformers, and components for the communications industries. At this time a third of all output was destined for direct export, and works in South Africa (E.C.C. South Africa, Proprietary Ltd.) and New Zealand (E.C.C. Transformers & Controls Ltd.) were set up. However, the late 1960s and 1970s brought about considerable financial hardship from cheaper foreign components. The E.C.C. were taken over by South Wales based Aberdare Holdings who manufactured modern truck and metal clad switchgear. They finally became part of the Hawker Siddeley Group, before closing in September, 1985.
- Extent: 1 item
- Level: Item
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- For more information contact: Wolverhampton Archives
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