E R & F Turner Ltd, are a company that was based in Ipswich, Suffolk. Turner's early activities centred round steam engines and agricultural machinery of all kinds.
History[]
The business was founded in 1837 by Mr Walton Turner and two partners under the name of Bond, Turner & Hurwood. Mr Walton Turner died in 1847 and his son, Edward Rush Turner took over his father's interest, renaming the firm Edward Turner, Rush & Co. He was joined later by his brother, Frederick Turner, and when the other partners dropped out the firm's name changed again to E R & F Turner. It became a limited company in 1897. The site of the original works was in Foundry Lane off College Street. The Greyfriars Works were opened in 1884. In 1937 a new works was opened in Foxall Road and the other sites closed.
The business built its first steam engine by 1842 which was used to power machinery in the works. Its own design of portable steam engine was produced in 1849 followed by the introduction of its traction engine in 1865. The latter was made in three sizes, 5, 8, and 10 NHP, priced at £280, £340, and £370 pounds respectively. Available as an optional extra was a ploughing attachment which consisted of a winding drum mounted beneath the boiler. By 1882 the Company had evolved a vertical steam engine called the Gippeswyk (an early name for Ipswich) available in sizes from 2 to 8 NHP, the smallest having a cylinder of 4½" bore x 7½" stroke. By setting it on its side it became a horizontal engine available in sizes from 2 to 16 NHP, the largest having a 13" bore x 15" stroke. By the turn of the century the Gippeswyk engine was superseded by the John Bull series. A large tandem horizontal compound engine made by the Company had 9" and 15" bores x 16" stroke. After 1912 no further engines were made and the Company concentrated on the flour milling side of their business. In a 1921 advertisement, the company lists its products as flour milling machinery, maize milling and flaking machinery, wheat and maize cleaning machinery, fodder preparing machinery, grinding mills, chilled iron rolls, etc.
Still active in Ipswich to this day, the Company has been a major supplier of flaking mills to the breakfast cereal industry since the 1920s.
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More information about the Company's history and current activities can be found on their website at [ERF Turner.Co.UK web site