Daniel Adamson - Business

Business

In 1851 he established a small iron works in Newton, Cheshire, expanding it a year later by building a new foundry called the Newton Moor Iron Works on Muslin Street (now Talbot Road), between Hyde and Dukinfield. He specialised in engine and boiler making, initially following designs created by Hackworth, making and exporting the renowned "Manchester Boilers". Adamson was able to experiment with the new found wealth from the worldwide export of these boilers and due to his remarkable capability in engineering was able to design the collapsible valve known as the Adamson Flange Seal. He was also one of the pioneers of explosive forming used in the foundry process.

In 1872 he designed and built the Daniel Adamson and Co factory, a new premises in Dukinfield next to Dewsnap Farm (off Dewsnap Lane), with its entrance on Johnsonbrook Road. This new works was approximately 1,000 yards (910 m) from the old foundry but the site was large and had enough spare land around it for any planned expansion.

He improved the design and manufacturing process (pioneering the use of steel and taking out 19 patents in the process) over the 36 years he was involved with boiler and other foundry manufacturing. When he died in 1890 the business employed some 600 people.

Adamson's other business interests included a mill building company in Hyde ('The Newton Moor Spinning Company'), the Yorkshire Steel and Iron Works at Penistone, the Northern Lincolnshire Iron Company at Frodingham, and large share-holdings in iron works in Cumberland and south Wales.