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  1. #61
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    Quote Originally Posted by L.S.Barker1970 View Post
    Thanks John, I was hoping you would jump in on this one as we have spoken about J.S.Richardson before.
    I can say that with out a doubt that the firm is no relation to D. Richardson who made those nice big cast iron blowers that you and I like so much.

    Melbourne Matty.
    Matty - thanks for the clarification on the two separate companies.
    Dawn also made similar blowers to D Richardson...I picked up one a while back that I've yet to re-commission. I saw an entry for them in an old Scruttons catalogue in a second hand bookshop...not sure what year.

    It's great to see so many people contributing to this thread !!!

    John

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  3. #62
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    Dec 2010
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    Melbourne, Australia.
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    Quote Originally Posted by jcge View Post
    Matty - thanks for the clarification on the two separate companies.
    Dawn also made similar blowers to D Richardson...I picked up one a while back that I've yet to re-commission. I saw an entry for them in an old Scruttons catalogue in a second hand bookshop...not sure what year.

    It's great to see so many people contributing to this thread !!!

    John
    Hi John, I do recall the Dawn blowers as I also have one in the very corner of my work shop, haven't seen it for a while as its buried under a heap of stuff.
    Its only a little one with a 2 hp motor, set up for my docking saw, didn't get around piping it in.


    Melbourne Matty.

  4. #63
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    Jan 2016
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    Metung
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    64
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    Quote Originally Posted by auscab View Post
    Of course how could I not think of Sparrow It looks like R&EH Sparrow ?Rob
    Not sure if you're interested but as you appear to be looking into a history of woodworking machinery manufacturers in Victoria? Australia? you may be interested to know a bit more about R & EH Sparrow. They were Reuben and Edward Henry Sparrow. Edward Henry was my great grandfather. I have copies of a couple of flyers that they distributed to advertise to pieces of their machinery. If you're interested I can provide images of these. I have one of their manufacturers plates as well, which appears to be in better condition than the image that was posted. I have noted that there are a few pieces of their equipment still around and in use, some advertised on Gumtree.Hope this is of some interest.

  5. #64
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    Dec 2010
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    Hi Ausannie
    That is just amazing !!
    I have so many questions and would love to hear more !
    Yes, a look at some sales brochures would be a thrill !!
    Thank you so much for posting.

    Melbourne Matty.

  6. #65
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    May 2007
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    Sth Gippsland Vic
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    Quote Originally Posted by Ausannie View Post
    Not sure if you're interested but as you appear to be looking into a history of woodworking machinery manufacturers in Victoria? Australia? you may be interested to know a bit more about R & EH Sparrow. They were Reuben and Edward Henry Sparrow. Edward Henry was my great grandfather. I have copies of a couple of flyers that they distributed to advertise to pieces of their machinery. If you're interested I can provide images of these. I have one of their manufacturers plates as well, which appears to be in better condition than the image that was posted. I have noted that there are a few pieces of their equipment still around and in use, some advertised on Gumtree. Hope this is of some interest.


    That's Great Ausannie , Like Matty says , we'd love to see more and see any info you have .

    I have a sparrow piece that was a sanding wheel that I turned into a lathe . when I bought it we did a bit of research and looked up the address on google earth to see the old factory which still has the walls but is now a house.

    I did a thread on the rebuild here, Making a Faceplate Lathe

    We have noticed plenty of what appears to be early and later Sparrow machinery turning up , the base on my sander / lathe appears to have been used for a number of different machines . Ive seen the same base in a Sparrow spindle moulder ,and a table saw , the saw looked original , Im not sure the moulder was ? We keep spotting Buzzers and over head drum sanders as well . We saw a ripper of and old early looking drum sander with Brass bearing oilers, on a block in Montrose a while back.

    Regards Rob

  7. #66
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    Dec 2010
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    Melbourne, Australia.
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    Quote Originally Posted by Ausannie View Post
    I have noted that there are a few pieces of their equipment still around and in use, some advertised on Gumtree.Hope this is of some interest.
    Rob (Auscab), myself and Peter (lightwood) spotted this big sparrow drum sander a while back, R & EH Sparrow was rumored to of merged with firm of L.S.Barker in the late 1950's early 1960's ?






    Melbourne Matty.

  8. #67
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    We used to have one of those sanders, it was running on V-belts instead of flat belts to a 10hp motor. No star-delta switch either, the lights would always dim when we turned it on. I remember one of my first jobs as an apprentice was to locate and top up the grease nipples...all 31 of them Changing the paper was a 2-3 hour ordeal and a killer on the hands (wearing gloves made it nearly impossible, the boss or I would put up with raw hands for a day after), so it only got done when it blew up

    We ran 120 on the front and 180 on the back, the finish was good enough to polish.

    I do miss it, but certainly don't regret the swap to a 1350mm wide-belt; paper changes are done in about 30 seconds and stuff actually comes out flat

  9. #68
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    Hi Melbourne Matty,

    Have just moved house, so can't lay my hands on the flyers at the minute as they are still packed somewhere. Still working at getting my PC set up too (fairly certain I've scanned them), so will post these as soon as I can. I can tell you a bit about Reuben and more about Edward Henry. Have photos of Edward. Let me know what you'd like to know and I'll provide it if I have the info. My grandfather, Lyndsay Sparrow, continued in the business, then later designed woodworking machinery in another partnership (will look that up).
    Cheers,
    Ausannie

  10. #69
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    Dec 2010
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    Melbourne, Australia.
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    Quote Originally Posted by Ausannie View Post
    Hi Melbourne Matty,

    Have just moved house, so can't lay my hands on the flyers at the minute as they are still packed somewhere. Still working at getting my PC set up too (fairly certain I've scanned them), so will post these as soon as I can. I can tell you a bit about Reuben and more about Edward Henry. Have photos of Edward. Let me know what you'd like to know and I'll provide it if I have the info. My grandfather, Lyndsay Sparrow, continued in the business, then later designed woodworking machinery in another partnership (will look that up).
    Cheers,
    Ausannie
    Hi Ausannie,
    Where to start ?!?..

    I suppose firstly do you know of a start date of the firm, did the two brothers start of the business as general engineers ?
    How old were they both when they started, were they young men ?
    Do you know when the firm closed, wondering if Lyndasy had something to do with L.S.Barker in Heidleburg ?
    What was the range of machines produced by Sparrow ?..ie, sanders, Planers etc..

    Ausannie, I'll leave it at that, I just didn't want to bombard you with a heap of questions.
    Please, take your time, there's no pressure here, I'm just very grateful to talk to someone like yourself who has this wonderful knowledge !

    Melbourne Matty.

  11. #70
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    Newcastle NSW
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    Quote Originally Posted by Ausannie View Post
    Hi Melbourne Matty,

    Have just moved house, so can't lay my hands on the flyers at the minute as they are still packed somewhere. Still working at getting my PC set up too (fairly certain I've scanned them), so will post these as soon as I can. I can tell you a bit about Reuben and more about Edward Henry. Have photos of Edward. Let me know what you'd like to know and I'll provide it if I have the info. My grandfather, Lyndsay Sparrow, continued in the business, then later designed woodworking machinery in another partnership (will look that up).
    Cheers,
    Ausannie
    How exciting!!!

    I have been a bit slack for a few weeks at checking on this thread (family visiting and holidays), so it's a thrill to see someone with such a close connection to a business we are discussing has chimed in (this is exactly the type of connection I might have dreamed of when starting this thread)!!

    Thank you for taking the time to come here, and welcome to the forum.

    As Matty said, there is no pressure, but we certainly look forward to any information you may have.

    Cheers,

    Camo

  12. #71
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    Quote Originally Posted by Ausannie View Post
    Not sure if you're interested but as you appear to be looking into a history of woodworking machinery manufacturers in Victoria? Australia? you may be interested to know a bit more about R & EH Sparrow. They were Reuben and Edward Henry Sparrow. Edward Henry was my great grandfather. I have copies of a couple of flyers that they distributed to advertise to pieces of their machinery. If you're interested I can provide images of these. I have one of their manufacturers plates as well, which appears to be in better condition than the image that was posted. I have noted that there are a few pieces of their equipment still around and in use, some advertised on Gumtree.Hope this is of some interest.
    Hi all, I'm very pleased to find that the family business is of some interest to so many people. Reuben was born 25th November 1854 in Hobart, Tasmania & Edward Henry was born 15th Nov 1854 in Fitzroy. Their parents were Francis Sparrow, a native of Kilmanagh, Kilkenny, Ireland who arrived in Sydney in April 1844, and Peggy Caroline Lewin, a native of London, England, who arrived in Hobart, Tasmania with her parents sometime between the 1841 census for England and the 1843 census for Tasmania.

    Francis Sparrow is listed as a labourer on the ship's passenger list, and tried his hand at a number of different occupations during his early years in Australia, being listed as dealer, butcher, & draper. He was a timber merchant in Hobart in 1854, and opened a general store in Melbourne after the family moved to Victoria in 1859. By 1867 he owned a sawmill & timber yard in A'Becket St. Melbourne. This was situated on the north side between Colgin Place & Stewart St. The Government Gazette records a fire at the timber yard in 1868 that was found to have been deliberately lit (don't know if they ever found the culprit), and there was also an explosion at the mill in October 1872 which caused the death of a young employee, due to a faulty "gauge glass" (what passed for a meter) on a boiler. The accident led to a recommendation to review how these types of equipment were constructed, and that inspections of machinery be introduced.

    I don't know exactly when R & EH Sparrow started, but it would have been around the turn of the last century as Reuben was a Pattern Maker and also a Draper of 110 Brunswick Street, North Fitzroy until 1898. He moved to Brighton and went into partnership with his brother Edward Henry Sparrow. However there is a listing in the Government Gazette of 3rd Feb 1873 for an application for "patents for inventions" by Francis and his son Reuben "both of Melbourne, chair manufacturers, for 'an improved method for and apparatus for providing an improved Motive Power'. Edward Henry was a qualified steam boiler operator when he married in 1898. Edward's hobby wasto build miniature working models of steam trains. He worked at Brooks Robinsons Timber Mills in Melbourne and later began a business in his back yard making engineering machinery. His wife Martha helped in the business by attending to the book work. It was after his marriage that he went into business with his brother Reuben.

    Edward's sons, Vic, Eric and Lyndsay went into the business also. Vic died, Eric left the business and Lyndsay carried it on (in partnership with one Rex Walker for many years). It then amalgamated with Barkers and moved to the corner of Waterdale Road and Northern Road, West Heidelberg where Lyndsay worked as a draftsman until his retirement at the age of 65. Lyndsay said that when he was young, his brother Vic and his father were very engrossed in the business and would talk about jobs at the factory in Fitzroy after tea and that sometimes they would make chalk sketches for new machines on the oilcloth tablecloth on the kitchen table at his home at 7 Kitchener Street, Ivanhoe, much to the disgust of wife (Martha Jane Henderson) "May" as she was known.

    That's about all I can tell you at present. I talked to my aunt (Lyndsay's daughter) the other day to see if she could tell me more. She remembered that the companies had amalgamated, but couldn't give me a date. My father and uncle, as well as other family members, had an R & EH Sparrow Craftmaster in their workshops for many years. I was very surprised to find that some of their equipment is still in use and being advertised on Gumtree!!

    I'm attaching copies of the leaflets that I have for you. If there's anything else you want to know, please ask & I'll try to find out for you.

    Cheers,
    Ausannie

  13. #72
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    Great info , thanks !

    Look at that , A nice Sparrow Buzzer on ebay now near Ballarat .


    There, is probably some of Reuben's handy work with the pattern making ?

    Rob
    Attached Images Attached Images

  14. #73
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    What a great story!!! I think we all have a duty (in varying degrees) to collate this information so it is there for anybody in the future to reflect on. They seemed to be "simple folk" who could see a need for home grown machines. That "can do" Aussie approach right at the early time of settlement.

    The stance of the Jointer above resembles closely my Barker/Macson one.
    Just do it!

    Kind regards Rod

  15. #74
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    Is there any story for Jeffwood Machines that were based in Brissy?
    It seems that me thinking mine was an auphne was definitely wrong because more and more seem to come to the surface.
    Just do it!

    Kind regards Rod

  16. #75
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    Newcastle NSW
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    Ausannie,

    Great information, thank you so much for taking the time to post this.

    Quote Originally Posted by Ausannie View Post
    If there's anything else you want to know, please ask & I'll try to find out for you.

    Cheers,
    Ausannie
    This may be a hard one to answer, but I am wondering if any of the family members may be able to shed some light onto any connection between Barker and McPherson's Pty Ltd. McPherson's were a supplier of lots of things, nuts and bolts, plumbing, to woodwork and metal work machines (they actually still exist and you will find them on your shampoo and toiletries to name a few items).

    McPherson's were definitely a distributor for Barker, but when you look through the catalogues, some Macson (Mcpherson's branded machines) are later labelled Barker/Macson, and then later still Barker.

    There is clearly a connection, but no exact detail what the connection was. Perhaps Sparrow were making for McPherson's, and then after the merger, Barker produced for McPherson's before McPherson's deciding to brand metalwork machines Macson and distribute Barker machines for woodworking.

    Like I said, perhaps a question that may not be able to be answered, but if it's possible to ask, I would really appreciate any insight that your family may have.

    Cheers,

    Camo

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