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Shelvoke and Drewry
Shelvoke and Drewry was a Letchworth, Hertfordshire, manufacturer of special purpose commercial vehicles. It was best known for its innovative waste collection vehicles that were the preferred choice of municipal authorities in the UK together with their gully emptiers, cesspool cleaning vehicles and street watering and washing vehicles.
Cable drum carriers were supplied to the General Post Office and vehicles and ground equipment built for the Royal Air Force.
Shelvoke and Drewry also manufactured fire engines, buses and fork-lift trucks.
The business began in 1921 as a partnership of Harry Shelvoke and James Drewry, both of whom had successful careers in commercial vehicle design and manufacture. At that time, municipal refuse vehicles were almost all horse-drawn, uneconomical and inconvenient and required the use of ladders. In their "S D Freighter", Shelvoke and Drewry offered a motorised, low-loading alternative which became almost universal.
Ownership was soon transferred from their partnership to Shelvoke and Drewry Limited, incorporated 10 October 1922. A stock market listing was achieved in 1937. The "Freighter", originally a multi-purpose flatbed truck notable for its tiny wheels and tiller-type steering, was adapted for refuse collection. Several vehicles were also converted into single-decker buses and used in Worthing, West Sussex, where they were known as the Worthing Tramocars.
Shelvoke and Drewry rapidly became an established innovator in the field of refuse collection vehicle design, producing vehicles such as the Fore and Aft Tipper, which used a pivoting body to redistribute the load, and the Revopak of the 1970s, which used a huge revolving fork to mutilate and compact refuse.[citation needed]
During the Second World War, like most British manufacturers, Shelvoke and Drewry's entire output was devoted to the war effort, producing aircraft parts, equipment for landing craft and tanks, and even a miniature submarine (the Welfreighter) at their Letchworth plant.[citation needed]
Profits were falling by 1964. In that year the reasons given by the chairman were the introduction of their new Defiant forklift trucks, the transfer of production to a new factory building, and a scarcity of labour and materials in the face of intense competition from the big motor manufacturers.
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Shelvoke and Drewry
Shelvoke and Drewry was a Letchworth, Hertfordshire, manufacturer of special purpose commercial vehicles. It was best known for its innovative waste collection vehicles that were the preferred choice of municipal authorities in the UK together with their gully emptiers, cesspool cleaning vehicles and street watering and washing vehicles.
Cable drum carriers were supplied to the General Post Office and vehicles and ground equipment built for the Royal Air Force.
Shelvoke and Drewry also manufactured fire engines, buses and fork-lift trucks.
The business began in 1921 as a partnership of Harry Shelvoke and James Drewry, both of whom had successful careers in commercial vehicle design and manufacture. At that time, municipal refuse vehicles were almost all horse-drawn, uneconomical and inconvenient and required the use of ladders. In their "S D Freighter", Shelvoke and Drewry offered a motorised, low-loading alternative which became almost universal.
Ownership was soon transferred from their partnership to Shelvoke and Drewry Limited, incorporated 10 October 1922. A stock market listing was achieved in 1937. The "Freighter", originally a multi-purpose flatbed truck notable for its tiny wheels and tiller-type steering, was adapted for refuse collection. Several vehicles were also converted into single-decker buses and used in Worthing, West Sussex, where they were known as the Worthing Tramocars.
Shelvoke and Drewry rapidly became an established innovator in the field of refuse collection vehicle design, producing vehicles such as the Fore and Aft Tipper, which used a pivoting body to redistribute the load, and the Revopak of the 1970s, which used a huge revolving fork to mutilate and compact refuse.[citation needed]
During the Second World War, like most British manufacturers, Shelvoke and Drewry's entire output was devoted to the war effort, producing aircraft parts, equipment for landing craft and tanks, and even a miniature submarine (the Welfreighter) at their Letchworth plant.[citation needed]
Profits were falling by 1964. In that year the reasons given by the chairman were the introduction of their new Defiant forklift trucks, the transfer of production to a new factory building, and a scarcity of labour and materials in the face of intense competition from the big motor manufacturers.