H. M.
Hobson Limited,
Accuracy Works Limited,
Lucas Aerospace
page 2
| At the beginning of the war the Royal Aircraft
Establishment was developing a fuel injection system and Hobsons got
the contract to make units based on this principle. |
|
The entrance to the Stafford Road premises. |
Hobsons then
developed and redesigned this unit as the Hobson-R.A.E. injection
carburetter (as it was then called).
In time this replaced the
master control system. And in time fuel injection practically
replaced traditional carburettors in all forms of engine. |
|
After the war the Bridgwater premises were closed and sold off. The staff
there were offered jobs in Wolverhampton. It seems whole company, apart from
the Oldham works and perhaps from its registered offices, was now in
Wolverhampton.
In 1946 the company reverted to the name H. M. Hobson Ltd..
In 1949 the Hobson Sports Club ground was opened and declared by the
company to be "one of the finest grounds in Wolverhampton".
In 1951 work started on large extensions to the Stafford Road site with
new factory buildings and a new office block. These extensions were opened
1952. At this point all the remaining operations at the Oldham
premises (which was an old cotton mill) were moved to Wolverhampton.
|
An aerial view of the factory from 1951.
The extensions were built by a local building firm, Henry
Willcock & Company Limited. |
| The office block in Stafford
Road shown in an illustration from 1953. The building
seems to be the one opened in 1952. |
 |
|
The office block today, with the
windows and lintels modernised but the doorway still redolent of the
1930s. (With the intervention of the war, architectural design
did not change much from the 1930s to the early 1950s). |
| The new factory extension, shown
in a heavily retouched photo from 1953. The impressive looking
pillars are in fact drainpipes. |
 |
 |
The same building today.
The trick with the drainpipe design is still effective today. |
| By the time of the publication of the Wolverhampton Official
Handbook for 1953 the company could report its activities as
follows: "This firm is principally engaged in the design and
manufacture of injection and float-type carburettors for aircraft
engines. Other main products include ignition controls, engine
(cockpit) controls, flap synchronising controls, hydraulic flying
controls, hydraulic screwjack actuators, irreversible hydraulic
jacks, and various gas turbine engine accessories". |
 |
Left: an advert from 1953.
Right: the testing bench. |
 |
| 1953 was the firm's 50th anniversary and the company history
published to mark the occasion shows some scenes of the interior of
the works at that time: |
|
Casting.
|
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 |
The drawing office was on the top
floor of the 1952 building. The gentleman three from the right in the
second row from the front is Victor H. Johnson (who has kindly supplied some
of the information in this article). |
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