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Coordinates: 52°29′56″N 1°55′35″W / 52.49888°N 1.92630°W

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The Soho Manufactory (grid reference SP051890) was an early factory which pioneered mass production on the assembly line principle, in Soho, Birmingham, England, at the beginning of the Industrial Revolution. It operated from 1766–1848 and was demolished in 1853.^[1]

Beginnings

In 1756, Edward Ruston leased land on Handsworth Heath from the Lord of the Manor. He deepened Hockley Brook, and built a rolling mill powered by it.^[2]

In 1761 (or 1764^[2]) the "toy" manufacturer Matthew Boulton and his business partner John Fothergill leased the site including a cottage and the mill. The mill was replaced by a new factory, designed and built by the Wyatt family of Lichfield, and completed in 1766. The cottage was later demolished and Boulton's home (Soho House) was built on the site, also by the Wyatts.^[3]

Production

The Manufactory produced a wide range of goods from buttons, buckles and boxes to japanned ware (collectively called "toys"), and later luxury products such as silverware and ormolu (a type of gilded bronze).

Steam engines

In 1782, it became the first site with a Watt steam engine with the sun and planet gear.^[4] It was also home to the first steam-powered mint, whose presses were subsequently used at the first Birmingham Mint.

Later

In later years, the Manufactory was served by canal at Soho Wharf, at the end of the short Soho Branch of the Birmingham Canal Navigations' Soho Loop.

The manufactory was demolished in 1853 and the site subsequently used for housing.^[2]

Cultural references

In the 1990s the television archaeology programme Time Team excavated the foundations, in some of the local back gardens. (Series 4, Ep. 3, 1997)

The Manufactory is featured on the Bank of England £50 note along with Matthew Boulton, James Watt, and the Whitbread Engine.^[5]

References

A History of Birmingham, Chris Upton, 1993, ISBN 0-85033-870-0

^ "Preserving the History of Handsworth". Archived from the original on 26 November 2020. Retrieved 22 August 2014.
^ ^a ^b ^c Thomas T. Harman (1885), Showell's Dictionary of Birmingham: A history and guide, arranged alphabetically: containing thousands of dates and references to matters of interest connected with the past and present history of the town – its public buildings, chapels, churches and clubs – its Friendly Societies and Benevolent Associations, philanthropic and philosophical institutions – its colleges and schools, parks, gardens, theatres, and places of amusement – its men of worth and noteworthy men, manufactures and trades, population, rates, statistics of progress, &c., &c., Cornish Brothers, p. 287, Wikidata Q66438509
^ "Pubs of Winson Green in Birmingham". Midlands Pubs. Archived from the original on 15 November 2011. Retrieved 25 October 2011.
^ "INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION: A DOCUMENTARY HISTORY". Adam Matthew Publications. Archived from the original on 1 April 2018. Retrieved 21 March 2015.
^ "Steam engine heroes grace new £50 banknote". Channel 4. 30 September 2011. Archived from the original on 18 April 2023. Retrieved 13 March 2015.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Soho Manufactory.

Early photograph: Search for "Soho Manufactory early photograph" from Birmingham Images
Other engravings: Search for "Engraving soho staffordshire" at Birmingham Images
Elevated view: Search for "Button and Silver Plate Works" at Birmingham Images

52°29′56″N 1°55′35″W / 52.49888°N 1.92630°W / 52.49888; -1.92630

Steam engines

Operating cycle

Valves

Valves	Slide D slide Piston Drop Corliss Poppet Sleeve Bash
Valve gear	Gab Stephenson link Joy Walschaerts Allan Baker Corliss Lentz Caprotti Gresley conjugated Southern

Mechanisms

Boilers

Simple boilers	Haystack Wagon Egg-ended Box Flued Cornish Lancashire
Fire-tube boilers	Locomotive Scotch Launch
Water-tube boilers	Babcock & Wilcox Field-tube Sentinel Stirling Thimble tube Three-drum Yarrow
Boiler feed	Feedwater heater Feedwater pump Injector

Other

Savery Engine (1698)

Newcomen engine

Watt engine

Beam	Kinneil Engine (1768) Old Bess (1777) Chacewater Mine engine (1778) Smethwick Engine (1779) Resolution (1781)
Rotative beam	Soho Manufactory engine (1782) Bradley Works engine (1783) Whitbread Engine (1785) National Museum of Scotland engine (1786) Lap Engine (1788)