Above, a tap and a die made by this firm. The company dates back to the 1890's. According to one story I read online, when the British Association (BA) thread form was developed, Mr. Lehmann was approached by the committee to produce the very first BA taps and dies from 0 to 16 BA. To do so, he had to develop special machines to produce these special thread cutting tools. The firm operated initially out of Derwent Mills (now a World Heritage Site) and then out of their Hampshire Works on Forest Road, Ilford, Essex, in east London.
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| 1945 |
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| 1951 |
Apparently, their tap and die works was located in the new town of Newton-Aycliffe in the north-east of England. (According to its Wikipedia entry, "Aycliffe was a key element in World War II ammunitions manufacturing. The marshy land was ideal cover against the Luftwaffe as it was almost continually shrouded in fog and mist. Huge grass-covered munitions factories were built and serviced by the nearby railway lines. The factories were largely staffed by women (in their thousands); these ladies were dubbed the "Aycliffe Angels", who braved incredible dangers inside the factories."
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| 1951 aerial view of L.A.L. Factory on Aycliffe Industrial Estate, Newton Aycliffe. Source: Britain from Above |
They eventually produced taps under the "Blue Wizard" trademark. In Canada, this was first registered in 1960. The company was bought by Osborn-Musket Tools Ltd. (now Clarkson-Osborn) which still uses the Wizard trademark:
I found a set of 6BA LAL taps in my company`s workshop. I don`y know how old they are but they cut beautifully I used a NEW set of Presto one for comparison and they are rubbish; having to back off every half turn as they bound up giving that "springy" feel you get when cutting a thread just before a tap breaks.
ReplyDeleteMy dad Ronald Frederick McSweeney worked there in 1950. He is pictured on their April 1950 calender page
ReplyDeleteThanks! Send a picture and I'll post it! gerald@vanwyngaarden.ca
ReplyDeleteMy mother worked at the Forest Road plant in the 60’s acid etching the sizes on blue wizard taps, I still use her gifts 60 years later as a machinist in Canada
ReplyDeleteThanks for this info. Was sorting through my late dad's tools and found dies made by LAL, Presto and Easterbrooks. Nice to be able to locate history of these manufacturers.
ReplyDeleteI've just found out today that my Father started work at the Aycliffe factory as a flute miller after he left the Army in 1960. He says taps only were made there and not dies...but it could be his memory failing.
ReplyDeleteFascinating, thanks, I have just come across some LAL taps in garage, belonged to a late uncle who worked at Rolls Royce as a draughtsman way back, curiously they are mostly BSP thread, but he did a lot of DIY.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the info
Hi hoping you might be able to help. I've been clearing out my farther in laws garage/workshop and have come across a set of taps and dies but the label shows
ReplyDeleteLehmann Archer and co ltd. Notcsure if this is the same firm different era or a different firm. Struggling to find info on it.
I usually rely on Grace's Guides for questions like this, but find nothing?
ReplyDeleteNot sure this is relevant/interesting. Lehmann of LAL came from Dresden late 19th century to set up taps and dies co.
ReplyDeleteMum remembers my grandfather Lehmann going to board meetings during WW2 - company was apparently nationalised after
ReplyDeleteInteresting, my Great Grandfather was the the Lehmann who founded this company
DeleteThanks for the additional history. There seemes to have been a movement of skilled German machinist/ manufacturers to England about that time, founders of Triumph motorcycles, Velocette..,
ReplyDeleteI’m new to this site so apologies if this question has been asked before. I’m going through a bunch of tools I have had sine my apprenticeship in the 1970’s and on an old tap wrench the name says “The British Tap and Die Co” No 0 size. I have tried to find information on this company but to no avail.
ReplyDeleteAny ideas?
I used to work at Lehman Archer and Lane at Forest Road, Barkingside, Essex. I started as a Trainee in 1962 in the shank grinding department and went on to be a Setter. At this time they were starting to look at automating some of their grinding and thread rollong machines using hydraulics. I can confirm that they did make dies there as i worked on these in the linishing department.
ReplyDeleteThis was my Great Grandfathers company.
ReplyDeleteI have a part set of their 0-8 BA taps and dies still in the original box. It also has the original yellow label inside the lid of the box.
ReplyDeleteI have just found a set 554A from Lehmann Archer Lane, in original box, in my late father’s shed. Had to google search to find out what they were.
ReplyDelete