Thread: Scrutton planer/ jointer by Haigh

Cheers for the pics, beautiful machine!

My pleasure, bueller.
Dating is a bit interesting, first research has fenced it in between c.1880 and c1920 care of the following;
Graces Guide,
W. B. Haigh and Co
and
Vintage Machinery,
W.B.Haigh & Co., Ltd. - Related Photos and Images | VintageMachinery.org
Next stop, Trove, to work out if 'R.L. Scrutton' has a narrow usage in time.
cheers,
AndrewOC

Andrew,

Thank you for finding a home for this great machine, and thank you for sharing some photos.

For the purposes of dating the machine, w.b. Haigh & Co was founded in 1854 and changed their name to Haigh Ltd around 1912 when they grouped with Gruban & co ltd (here is an interesting wartime story, Lewis Ransome concerned about the national interest)

https://books.google.com.au/books?id...oldham&f=false

You have me going now, camoz!

Early foray into Trove reveals; "RL Scrutton & Co" early mention- 1884.
"RL Scrutton & Co. and WB Haigh" mentioned; July 1890.

And like you said c.1912 Haigh merger
and for Scrutton's, they have so much history the mind boggles!

So maybe a first draft date of c.1890 - c.1910 for the Haigh machine...

AndrewOC

Originally Posted by camoz

Andrew,

Thank you for finding a home for this great machine, and thank you for sharing some photos.

For the purposes of dating the machine, w.b. Haigh & Co was founded in 1854 and changed their name to Haigh Ltd around 1912 when they grouped with Gruban & co ltd (here is an interesting wartime story, Lewis Ransome concerned about the national interest)

Cam your on the right track, as you say W.B.Haigh & Co were Established 1854 and so were one of the very early English makers.
Yes, in 1912 interestingly they were joined up with J.Gruban who had come from Germany in 1895 to set up Kirchner's branch office in England.
the firm of Ernst Kirchner & Co. was founded in Leipzig Germany in 1878 and grew to be very successful in the production of wood working machinery.
From 1912 W.B.Haigh & Co became W.B.Haigh, Gruban & Co ltd, But in 1916 Gruban pulled out, and this is the bit that I would like to know more as apparently in 1912 W.B.Haigh were not running in profit until Gruban joined in and turned the firm around to profit, then just left ??
After world war I in 1919 the name became just Haigh's (Odham) Ltd.
A Receiver was appointed in 1925 due to financial difficulties and in 1927 amalgamated with another English firm of T & L Lees from Hollingwood to form Haigh & Lees, and were still in business up to 1939.
At some stage before Haigh's (odham) known as Haigh & Co Ltd. Lees origionally of Hollingwood after the amalgamation both firms were reputed to have moved to Haigh's branch works in Derker street Oldham.
As far as I knew in Australia Gibson Battle were Representatives for W.B.Haigh, I have seen a rather large Horizontal Mortising machine which came out of the Jas Smith factory in Balarat, marked Gibson and Battle sole agents for W.B.Haigh.
Gibson Battle was a major importer of agricultural, mining equipment and Machinery. It also established workshop in Alexandria and an iron foundry in Waterloo. The company was founded in Sydney in 1883 and expanded to Melbourne in 1912.
So the Scrutton connection really has my curiosity, especially since the Scrutton name is cast into the side as well.
Andrew, this machine is very early, the 1924 catalog I have does not show this machine so it is defiantly before the Gruban Merger.
I have some other Pic's of later W.B.Haigh Jointers that I will dig up and show when I get a chance.
Very interesting history with this firm, I have always had a soft spot for Haigh machines, thanks for showing all this Andrew.

Melbourne Matty.

Matty,


WOW!! You never fail to surprise me with your wealth of knowledge on all things old machinery, such a comprehensive summary of Haigh.

Originally Posted by L.S.Barker1970

From 1912 W.B.Haigh & Co became W.B.Haigh, Gruban & Co ltd, But in 1916 Gruban pulled out,


Melbourne Matty.

It would seem that Gruban had a lot more problems due to his ancestry, effecting his company and even his liberty. The outbreak of ww1 saw the company as one of the first companies to produce machine tools used to make munition. Seeing the opportunity Gruban attempted to raise £5000 (around £400,000 in today's money) to expand the business. Unfortunately for Gruban he was put in touch with Frederick Handel Booth, a noted Liberal Member of Parliament. Booth started out initially as an investor who made claims about having connections that would enable him to secure government contracts for the company, but he took advantage of raising anti-German sentiment, and Gruban's worries that he would find it difficult to find government work because of his nationality and thick German accent. Booth managed to eventually convince Gruban to transfer ownership of the company to Booth (it was later revealed that Booth had manipulated the situation which lead to Gruban being convinced he had little choice). As soon as this happened Booth treated Gruban with contempt and refusing to help support his wife and family now that Gruban had no income. Eventually Booth wrote to the Ministry of Munitions saying that Gruban had "taken leave of his senses", and the Ministry had Gruban interned.


Gruban was able to successful appeal his internment, and Gruban successfully sued Booth and was awarded £4,750.


https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gruban_v_Booth

Nice looking Buzzer . Very interesting reading as well !!

Interesting how some Machinery bases went through a period of having three sides instead of the four sided casting we normally see. Must of been a pattern makers easy way of doing it ?

Rob

Originally Posted by camoz

WOW!! You never fail to surprise me with your wealth of knowledge on all things old machinery, such a comprehensive summary of Haigh.

Cheers, Vann.

Thanks Cam and Vann for your kind comments !
Very interesting reading Cam, Its such a shame we can't always find such detailed history and notes on every woodworking machinery maker.
But funny enough every picture tell 1000 words, I dug up these later examples (Compared to Andrews) of W.B.Haigh jointers for everyone to look at ..










Melbourne Matty.

All very lovely machines, I do like to see stuff from Haighs, their machines dont seem to appear very often. i would like to see that nice planer at the Kauri museum hopefully one day too, looks quite a beast. There was another example of the Scrutton type of surfacer above on ebay last year, unfortunately i wasnt brave enough with the bidding and it passed me by regrettably.

Gold images, Gentlemen!
So probably a 4-1/2" dia x 4" pulley on the cutter head, to run the shaft at ~3000 - 4000 rpm.
Perhaps people can make out the 'boomerang' guard, and that it is very agricultural...
I like the guard in your 7th &8th photo Matty, would that be in keeping for the machine? Because we intend to demonstrate the machine, I like the idea of the spring loaded double arm guard, but it is very '1950s'.....

cheers,
AndrewOC

Originally Posted by AndrewOC

Gold images, Gentlemen!
So probably a 4-1/2" dia x 4" pulley on the cutter head, to run the shaft at ~3000 - 4000 rpm.
Perhaps people can make out the 'boomerang' guard, and that it is very agricultural...
I like the guard in your 7th &8th photo Matty, would that be in keeping for the machine? Because we intend to demonstrate the machine, I like the idea of the spring loaded double arm guard, but it is very '1950s'.....

cheers,
AndrewOC

Hi Andrew
Pulley wise if you have 900 rpm at the line shaft then you need a 1 to 4 ratio or close to have 3000 to 4000 rpm at the cutter head.
Those guards are fantastic to use, ive had one on all my jointers over the years.
Traditionally they were called a leg of mutton or lamb chop guard.

Melbourne Matty..

This jointer is for sale on Gumtree, thought I would post a pic here, it maybe from the 1910's, says in the advert Haigh Gruban & Co

W B Haigh & Co.JPG