A description of the company taken from the Wolverhampton Exhibition Pictorial, which was produced as a companion to the 1902 Wolverhampton Art and Industrial Exhibition.

Electrical and Mechanical Wonders at Bushbury

"The old country must wake up!" That's it! And you have hardly shaken hands with Mr. J. I. Courtenay, deputy-chairman of the Electric Construction Works at Bushbury, with Mr. E. S. W. Moore, or Mr. W. Bulloch, the joint managers of the great concern, before you realise that the folks out there have been awake some time. There is no Rip Van Winkle business at Bushbury. This is our opinion after a look round, in company with a number of journalists from London, Liverpool, Manchester, Birmingham, and Wolverhampton. In point of fact, this was one of the most interesting of the many Press visits which have taken place since the inauguration of the Wolverhampton Art and Industrial Exhibition. It is a unique experience to walk through these great electrical and engineering works, where there are wonders innumerable to be seen, and where the force, whose power it passes the wit of man to accurately gauge at this stage of the world's history, is made to do such marvellous things. Wolverhampton is proud of the Bushbury Works, but Bushbury itself is, if possible, prouder still.

As we entered the offices, Mr. J. I. Courtenay extended the warmest of welcomes. Having already seen the very fine exhibit in the Machinery Hall which the Company has staged, we were prepared for other eye-openers, and were in no sense disappointed. As we have hinted, they have awakened at this centre of activity.
"We are sometimes asked," said Mr. Courtenay "whether the Electric Construction Company is in a position to turn out the large work now demanded. It was thought that ocular demonstration would be the most convincing proof of our ability to turn out the largest electrical plant required anywhere."
And so the demonstration began, than which nothing more convincing or instructive could be imagined. Let it be clearly understood, before anything further is said that the company does not lay itself out to manufacture electrical accessories such as meters and small switchwork. On the other hand, its forte is all kinds and sizes of electrical machinery. Further, the company is not engaged solely on continuous current machines or traction machinery, but manufactures the latest and most efficient machines for coping with the newest problems, both continuous and polyphase current, whether motors or generators. This can give but one impression, namely that the breadth of the company's experience is probably greater than that of any other British firm particularly in the design and manufacture of motor, continuous and polyphase generators, rotary converters, and transformers for heavy current or high voltage boosters, either for battery or live working, pressure mixers or reducers of the rotary or stationary type.
The Bushbury people can do anything and everything that goes towards the making of those wonderful machines which have such a. mighty power, and which are fast driving out the older methods of keeping the wheels of commercial machinery in motion.

This is the way to meet foreign competition, and it was in this direction that the Prince of Wales wished his warning words to be fruitful. It is peculiarly appropriate that, at a time when Wolverhampton is holding an Exhibition in which some of the finest electrical machinery ever placed before the public may be seen, Bushbury should be able to show to all comers how it is possible in this country to fight successfully against the severe competition of the United States of America and the Continent. The company has not only held its own, but has increased its output, and still maintains the high standard of its work. 


An armature for a tramway generator.

The Americans make a point of growing with the times. If there is not enough room to work conveniently, up go new shops. Bushbury has advanced in the same way, and there is land in the vicinity of the works to still further increase the building accommodation in the near future. Alertness, adaptability efficiency; these are the watchwords.

Through the great workshops, among hundreds of busy people and whirring machinery of the most ingenious character, the party passed. The air seems to be charged with electricity and your watch will probably suffer if you have forgotten to leave it with Mr. Moore or Mr. Bulloch. The processes through which a motor passes 'ere it is the compact and neat-looking thing you see when it is in position in a factory, a workshop, or a printing room, are many and varied and all of them interesting. Needless to state, the work is highly technical. and the greatest accuracy has to be ensured in each department.


Bushbury works in 1902.
The testing at Bushbury is very thorough and before a motor leaves the premises its power is known to a nicety. We saw the making of parts for the dynamos and so forth, looked on mammoth machines and pigmies, though they are all powerful in their way. The tool shop is a place where much can be seen that is interesting to the caller. Here the company makes its own tools, the special instruments with which to construct the machines that have made the works justly famous. Into whatever department the visitor passes, he is certain to come across the most interesting tools and plant. The electric cranes, the turning machines, the tools which are worked by means of e!ectrically compressed air are among the finest that could be seen in any modern hive of mechanical industry. Ever afterwards a motor possesses an added interest, for you have seen how intricate the thing is, how it is built up step by step by the most skilful of workmen, who follow to a hair's breadth the injunctions of the scientists who have perfected these wonderful machines. We saw the making of armatures, and of magnets, and transformers, and finally passed into the power room, where was a striking demonstration of the uses to which electrical machinery can be applied, and the old and the new methods being here contrasted by the company. The visit, brief though it was, suggested many thoughts, the chief pivot on which these revolved being that no one can tell exactly what further triumphs electricity will finally achieve.
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