Editing Yiewsley (section)

====Diversification of industry from the mid-1800s====
By the middle of the 19th Century brick production and flour milling were Yiewsley's main industries; However new industry was beginning to develop. The Victoria oil mills near Colham Wharf was established before 1855.<ref name="VCH Volume 4 p75-82" /> In 1865 it was owned by Walter Graham & Co and was producing linseed cake.<ref>{{cite news |title=Bucks Herald-Uxbridge Advertiser-Windsor and Eton Journal |date=4 Nov 1865}}</ref> A chemical works owned by Alfred White and Sons in 1890 was established by 1864 in the south of the Parish.<ref name="VCH Volume 4 p75-82" /> The Hillingdon Varnish works, situated to the west of Iron Bridge Road had been established by 1868.<ref name="VCH Volume 4 p75-82" />  In June 1890 it was owned by Messrs Wilkinson, Heyward and Clark.<ref>{{cite news |title=Uxbridge and West Drayton Gazette |date=7 Jun 1890}}</ref> In 1874 W. Gillespie & Co were manufacturing engines and boilers at the Foundry and Engineering Works<ref>{{cite news |title=W. Gillespie & Co |publisher=Buckinghamshire Advertiser (Late Broadwater's) Uxbridge and Middlesex Journal, and Herts, Berks, Beds and Oxon Gazette |date=15 August 1874 |page=1}}</ref> and in 1875 Horizontal Condensing Engines were being made by Edwin Philip Bastin & Company at the Alliance Engine Works.<ref>{{cite web |title=E.P. Bastin and Company |url=https://www.gracesguide.co.uk/E._P._Bastin_and_Co |website=gracesguide.co.uk |access-date=18 June 2020}}</ref> In 1880 Edward Stewart & Co operated the West Drayton cement works<ref>{{cite news |title=Uxbridge and West Drayton Gazette |date=6 Mar 1880}}</ref> and in 1890 the Electrical Engineering Corporation was making electrical equipment and Dynamos.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Grace Guides |title=Electrical Engineering Corporation |url=https://www.gracesguide.co.uk/Electrical_Engineering_Corporation |website=gracesguide.co.uk |access-date=18 June 2020}}</ref> An Indian rubber mill had been established by 1894 on Trout Road, in 1900 it was owned J.E Hopkinson & Co.<ref>{{cite web |title=J.E. Hopkinson & Company |url=https://www.gracesguide.co.uk/J._E._Hopkinson_and_Co |website=gracesguide.co.uk |access-date=18 June 2020}}</ref> In 1898 the Padcroft Saw Mills were being operated by John A. Holland.<ref>{{cite news |title=Middlesex and Buckinghamshire Advertiser |date=29 Jan 1898}}</ref> By 1900 the Rotary Photographic Company was established opposite Lower Colham Mill<ref name="Images West Drayton and Yiewsley">{{cite book |last1=Skinner |first1=James |title=Images of England West Drayton and Yiewsley |date=2003 |publisher=The History Press, Brimscombe Port |isbn=9780752428413}}</ref> and in 1903 the Power Plant Co was established producing Helical Gears and couplings. In the First World War they supplied steam turbines for the Royal Navy.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Grace Guides |title=The Power Plant Company |url=https://www.gracesguide.co.uk/Power_Plant_Co |website=gracesguide.co.uk |access-date=18 June 2020}}</ref><ref name="Yiewsley during WW1">{{cite book |last1=Britton |first1=Tanya |title=Yiewsley, West Drayton and Harmondsworth during World War One 1914-1918 |date=2013 |publisher=lulu.com |isbn=978-0-9571807-8-9}}</ref> In 1913 the Steam Fittings Company Limited in Horton Road was producing ‘Steam traps’ to be used in Navy vessels.<ref name="Yiewsley during WW1" /> The company changed its name to the Drayton Regulator and Instrument Company in 1926.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Grace Guides |title=The Steam Fittings Company |url=https://www.gracesguide.co.uk/Steam_Fittings_Co |website=gracesguide.co.uk |access-date=18 June 2020}}</ref> Also by 1913 printing works had been established on Tavistock Road and Horton Bridge Road. In 1916 C.J. Culliford & Co operated the Lithographic Printing Works.<ref>{{cite news |title=Uxbridge and West Drayton Gazette |date=7 Jul 1916}}</ref> Also in 1916 the Onslow Cotton Mill was established on Trout Road.<ref name="Yiewsley during WW1" /> In late 1917 The West Drayton Glass Works was founded on Horton Road.<ref name="Yiewsley during WW1" /> In 1918 Frederick Bird & Co of the West Drayton Engineering Works also on Horton Road had been manufacturing engineering products to the Army and Navy as part of the war effort.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Grice Guides |title=Bird, Frederick & Co |url=https://www.gracesguide.co.uk/1918_Directory_of_Manufacturers_in_Engineering_and_Allied_Trades:_Company_B |website=gracesguide.co.uk |access-date=18 June 2020}}</ref><ref name="Yiewsley during WW1" /> Government contracts were also given to Squire & Son to produce glycerine and Messrs Sabey for the supply of gravel.<ref name="Yiewsley during WW1" /> In 1919 The Anglo-Swiss Screw Company was established on Trout Road,<ref>{{cite web |last1=Grace Guides |title=Anglo-Swiss Screw Company |url=https://www.gracesguide.co.uk/Anglo-Swiss_Screw_Co |website=gracesguide.co.uk |access-date=18 June 2020}}</ref> the same year as the S.C. Johnson & Son wax company opened their factory on the site of Colham Wharf.<ref name="Images West Drayton and Yiewsley" />

[[File:RO034-16.jpg|right|thumb|250px|Romanian stamp showing the Romanian-born engineer [[George Constantinescu]]]]
In 1920 the [[Admiralty Engineering Laboratory]] was operational in the south of the Yiewsley Urban District, specializing in experimental work for the Royal Navy. During the war the Sonic laboratory had been established in the building to develop the engineering inventions of [[George Constantinescu|George (Gogu) Constantinescu]]. Constantinescu had begun the development the Constantinesco-Colley [[Synchronization gear|Fire Control Timing Gear]] (C.C. Gear)<ref name="C.C. Gear" /> for synchronizing machine gun fire through aircraft propellers at his laboratory at the Haddon Engineering Works in [[Alperton]].<ref name="The Sketch">{{cite journal |title=Crowns Coronets Covrtiers |journal=The Sketch |date=9 April 1919 |pages=40}}</ref> His system worked by using wave pulses which were generated and transmitted from a column of fluid (90% paraffin to 10% of B.B. Mobiloil or P.924 (anti-freezing) oil)<ref name="C.C. Gear">{{cite web |title=Hand Book of C.C. Gear |url=https://archive.org/details/1918ukhandbookofc.cinterruptergear |website=archive.org|date=March 1918 }}</ref> instead of a system of mechanical linkages which had been used in aircraft up until then. Once initial operational issues were overcome the C.C. Gear was not only more reliable than a mechanical linkage system, but also allowed a higher rate of fire and was readily adaptable to any type of engine and airframe. The first working C.C. gear was successfully air-tested on a [[Royal Aircraft Factory B.E.2|B.E.2c]] aircraft in August 1916 and was fitted to [[No. 55 Squadron RAF|No.55 Squadron's]] [[Airco DH.4|DH.4's]] before their arrival in France on 6 March 1917.<ref name="Harry Woodman" /> In the following days they were joined by [[Bristol F.2 Fighter|Bristol Fighters]] of [[No. 48 Squadron RAF|No 48 Squadron]] and [[Royal Aircraft Factory S.E.5|SE5's]] of [[No. 56 Squadron RAF|No 56 Squadron]].<ref name="Harry Woodman">{{cite book |last1=Woodman |first1=Harry |title=Early Aircraft Armament The Aeroplane and the Gun up to 1918 |date=1989 |publisher=Arms & Armour Press Ltd |isbn=0-85368-990-3 |page=196}}</ref> During the period March to December 1917 a total of 6,000 C.C. gears were issued.<ref name="Harry Woodman" />  From November 1917 the C.C. Gear was fitted to all new British-made aircraft with synchronized guns.<ref>{{cite web |author1=Aviation and Astronautics |title=George Constantinescu |url=https://inginerie.aero/index.php/en/2017/11/13/george-constantinescu/ |website=inginerie.aero |access-date=27 Nov 2024 |date=13 November 2017}}</ref> Between January and October 1918, 20,000 C.C. Gears were delivered and it is considered to have played a significant role in achieving final air superiority over the [[Luftstreitkrafte]].<ref name="Harry Woodman" /><ref>{{cite news |last1=Maitland |first1=Air Vice-Marshal Sir John |title=The Globe |date=27 Mar 1920}}</ref> On 25 March 1919 [[Mary of Teck|Queen Mary]] and [[Marie of Romania|Queen Marie of Romania]] visited the Sonic laboratory. Constantinescu was warmly congratulated by the two queens for his work.<ref>{{cite news |title=The Middlesex Advertiser and County Gazette |date=28 Mar 1919 |pages=5}}</ref>

In the 1920s Trout road developed as a centre for companies involved in oils and chemical production. In 1921 K.B Mavlankar was producing Essential Oils at the British Aromatic Chemical Works on Trout Road.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Grace Guides |title=K.B. Mavlankar |url=https://www.gracesguide.co.uk/K._B._Mavlankar |website=gracesguide.co.uk |access-date=18 June 2020}}</ref> From 1928 the Kenilworth Chemical Manufacturing Company and the English Metal Powder Company operated factories in Trout Road. Their factory was transferred after 1935 to the Middlesex Oil and Chemical Works Ltd, manufacturing oils, petroleum jellies, and resins. The Kenilworth Chemical and English Metal Powder companies then moved to an adjoining site in Trout Road. From the 1930s a number of smaller companies engaged in manufacturing chemicals, plastics, and engineering components were established on and around Trout Road, this would develop to being more than forty companies in the area.<ref name="VCH Volume 4 p75-82" />

Two firms began production of motor vehicles in Yiewsley after the Second World War. Road Machines of Horton Parade employed 250 people manufacturing a range of contractors' plant including weight batching equipment, dumpers and Mono-Rail transporters.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Grace Guides |title=Road Machines |url=https://www.gracesguide.co.uk/Road_Machines |website=gracesguide.co.uk |access-date=18 June 2020}}</ref> An adaption of their modular-track [[monorail]] system was used at [[Pinewood Studios]] in the 1967 James Bond film ''You Only Live Twice''.<ref>{{cite web |title=Road Machines monorail in You only Live Twice |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bW4B94kMEFo |website=www.youtube.com}}</ref> In 1952 James Whitson & Co. moved from [[Sipson]] and began manufacturing coaches and fire engines in Yiewsley High Street.<ref>{{cite web |title=Commercial Motor Archive |url=https://archive.commercialmotor.com/article/28th-march-1952/53/whitson-expands-400000-orders-n-contracts-worth-40 |website=archive.commercialmotor.com |page=53}}</ref> At its peak the company employed 350 people.<ref name="VCH Volume 4 p75-82" /> They would later manufacture glass-fibre components for commercial vehicles.<ref>{{cite web |title=Whitson |url=https://en.wheelsage.org/whitson |website=wheelsage.org}}</ref>  

It would seem to be a curiosity why most of the early companies in Yiewsley chose to have West Drayton as their business address, as they were neither in West Drayton nor in the Parish of West Drayton. West Drayton remained a largely rural village until into the 20th Century and then developed into a mostly residential area. A possible answer to this is that railway station had been called West Drayton station since its opening in 1838 and only changed to West Drayton and Yiewsley in 1895. With the Railways becoming the principal form of transportation in the latter half of the 19th century, it would appear businesses believed it was commercially advantageous to adopt West Drayton as their address.