Editing Grantham (section)

===Industrial history===
====Richard Hornsby & Sons====
[[Richard Hornsby]] and Richard Seaman founded Seaman & Hornsby, Iron Founders and Millwrights, at Spittlegate in Grantham in 1810. The company was renamed [[Richard Hornsby & Sons]] when Seaman retired in 1828.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.gracesguide.co.uk/Seaman_and_Hornsby |title=Seaman and Hornsby |website=www.gracesguide.co.uk}}</ref> Products included ploughs and seed drills.

From 1840 until 1906 the company built steam engines. Thereafter production shifted to oil, petrol and gas engines. It employed 378 men in 1878 and 3,500 in 1914.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.gracesguide.co.uk/Richard_Hornsby_and_Sons |title=Richard Hornsby and Sons |website=gracesguide.co.uk}}</ref>

In 1905 Richard Hornsby & Sons invented a [[Tracked vehicle#Hornsby / Holt / Phoenix|caterpillar track]] for a machine using Hornsby's [[Hornsby-Akroyd oil engine|oil engines]]; these engines were developed by Yorkshireman [[Herbert Akroyd Stuart]], from which [[Hot bulb engine|compression-ignition]] principle the [[diesel engine]] evolved, being manufactured in Grantham from 8 July 1892.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://engines.rustyiron.com/hornsby/ |title=Richard Hornsby Vaporizing Oil Engine |publisher=Engines.rustyiron.com |date=7 December 1910 |access-date=30 July 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://archive.today/20081202142817/http://engines.rustyiron.com/hornsby/ |archive-date=2 December 2008}}</ref> Although such engines were not wholly compression-ignition derived, in 1892 a prototype high-pressure version was built at Hornsby's, developed by Thomas Henry Barton [[Order of the British Empire|OBE]] – later to found Nottingham's [[Barton Transport]] – whereby ignition was achieved solely through compression; it ran continuously for six hours as the first known diesel engine. In the town, Hornsby's built Elsham House, whose grounds became [[Grantham College]]) and the Shirley Croft. Its site in Houghton Road was bought from Lord Dysart.{{citation needed|date=May 2012}}
[[File:Oil Engine - geograph.org.uk - 2194963.jpg|thumb|right|Hornsby oil engine at the [[Museum of Lincolnshire Life]]]]
In 1910 Hornsby presented its chain-track vehicle to the British Army, which then bought four caterpillar tractors to tow artillery. At the demonstration, a British transport officer suggested putting armour plating and a gun on a Hornsby tractor, so creating some sort of self-propelled gun. David Roberts, managing director of Hornsby, did not pursue the idea, but later expressed regret at not having done so. Four years later, Hornsby sold the patent for its [[Continuous track|caterpillar track]] to the Holt Manufacturing Company of California, USA, for $8,000, having itself sold only one caterpillar tractor commercially.<ref>[https://patents.google.com/patent/US916601 "Patent number: 916601"]; [[United States Patent and Trademark Office|United States Patent Office]], 30 March 1909. Retrieved 11 July 2012.</ref> The Holt system was superior to Hornsby's, but the Hornsby transmission was what Holt really wanted. Thanks in part to this acquisition, Holt eventually became the successful [[Caterpillar Inc.]] Tractor Company. In 1918, Hornsby's amalgamated with Rustons as [[Ruston & Hornsby]]. In the 1920s the company had its own orchestra in the town; the site was a diesel engine plant. During the Second World War, the company made tanks such as the [[Matilda II|Matilda]] at the Grantham factory. Ruston and Hornsby left in 1963 and most of the factory was taken over by a subsidiary, Alfred Wiseman Gears, which itself left in 1968.{{citation needed|date=May 2012}}
[[File:Ruston crawler tractor working model.JPG|thumb|right|Scale model of Hornsby 1910 steam caterpillar tractor]]

====Barford's====
The agricultural engine and steamroller manufacturer [[Aveling and Porter]] of [[Rochester, Kent|Rochester]], Kent, merged with [[Barford & Perkins]] of [[Peterborough]] as [[Aveling-Barford]] Ltd in 1934, largely with financial help from Ruston & Hornsby, as both firms had entered into administration. The new company took a former site of Hornsbys, naming it the Invicta works, from the [[Invicta (motto)|motto]] on the coat of arms of [[Kent]], which translates as "unconquered"; all Aveling & Porter machinery was brought from Kent by rail.{{citation needed|date=May 2012}}

During the 1970s Barford's was the town's largest employer, with around 2,000 employees.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.gracesguide.co.uk/Aveling-Barford|title=Aveling-Barford – Graces Guide|website=www.gracesguide.co.uk}}</ref> It initially prospered, but declined with the sinking market for large [[Dump truck|dumper trucks]] and [[road roller]]s. In 1947, its agricultural division, [[Barfords of Belton]], developed the world's smallest tractor, the Barford Atom, weighing {{convert|177|lb|kg|abbr=off}}.{{citation needed|date=May 2012}}

Now Barford Construction Equipment, it makes [[dumper]]s for construction sites, being owned by Wordsworth Holdings [[Public limited company|PLC]], owned in turn by the entrepreneur Duncan Wordsworth until it went into administration in March 2010. A restructuring package resulted in ownership transferring to Bowdon Investment Group in May 2010. It is now known as Invictas Engineering.

A trailer company, Crane-Fruehauf, moved into part of the factory from its former home at [[Dereham]], when it went into receivership in early 2005.

====BMARC====
British Manufacture and Research Company (British Marc Ltd or [[BMARC]]), in Springfield Road, made munitions, notably the [[Hispano-Suiza HS.404|Hispano cannon]] for the [[Supermarine Spitfire|Spitfire]] and [[Hawker Hurricane|Hurricane]] from 1937 onwards. It was owned by the Swiss [[Oerlikon Contraves|Oerlikon]] from 1971 until 1988, becoming part of Astra Holdings plc. The firm was bought by [[British Aerospace]] in 1992, which then closed the site. It has now been developed as a housing estate. The site's former offices are now business units for the Springfield Business Centre. Grantham's [[register office]] moved there in 2007.{{citation needed|date=May 2012}}