| Background information | In 1770 Henry Platt, a blacksmith was building carding machinery at Dobcross. Henry junior his grandson was born in 1793, and in 1815 he moved to Upper mill, and found a similar business to his grandfather's. He moved five years later to Oldham and re-established the business at Huddersfield Rd.In 1822 Henry Platt and Elijah Hibbert formed Hibbert & Platt, and transferred the business to Hartford works, they became Hibbert Platt & Sons when Henry's sons, Joseph and John joined the firm.Henry Platt died in 1842 and Elijah Hibbert died in 1854, his portion of the shares being acquired by the Platt family, thus changing the name to Platt Bros & Co. Twelve years later they became a limited liability company.John Platt, the politician, died in Paris of typhoid in 1872 while on business; Platt Bros. at that time employed 7,000 men.By 1929 the works covered 65 acres and employed 12,000 people in the assembly plant, spindle works, foundry, saw mills, offices, and coal mines. Textile machinery of all types was being manufactured, from cotton gins to axminster carpet looms.In 1931 a controlling interest in Textile Machinery Makers Ltd., was acquired, and the name was changed to Platt Bros. (Holdings) Ltd., which now directed and managed Platt Bros., Howard & Bullough Ltd., Dobson & Barlow Ltd., Asa Lees & Co. Ltd., John Hetherington & Sons Ltd., Taylor Wordsworth & Co. Ltd., and Joseph Hibbert & Co. Ltd. In 1946, Sir Kenneth Preston, who had been Chairman of J. Stone Ltd., was appointed Chairman of Platt Bros (Holdings) Ltd., and at the same time Platt Bros (sales) was created to control production and marketing. In 1970 Platt International Ltd., was formed from the companies which constituted the textile division of Stone-Platt industries. The latest of the major changes came in 1973 when Platt International acquired the Saco-Lowell corporation. Saco-Lowell, an American company, had its beginnings in 1811, when the Saco Iron works was opened at Saco, Maine. Two years later, F.C. Lowell opened a company in Boston which manufactured textile machinery.The two companies merged in 1912 to become Saco-Lowell, and grew in prosperity until 1960 when the Maremont Corporation acquired a majority share; then came the Platt International take-over, the company being re-named Platt-Saco-Lowell in 1975. |