User:Dmstephens/Climax Rock Drills

Climax Rock Drills new article content ... Richard Stephens and his son William Charles Stephens formed a company to manufacture Rock Drills on 1st Oct 1878. Richard Stephens was apprenticed as an engineer to the Charleston Foundry and initially started to repair rock drills from other manufacturers. None of them was designed for the hard granite found in Cornwall and Richard started to modify the design when repairing them. He soon noticed that new drills from the manufactures incorporated his modifications so, having been rebuffed by the manufacturer when he offered to make and design drills for him, decided to make and manufacture his own.

Richard, the fourth of nine sons, was born in 1835 to Thomas Stephens, a coastguard in Porthpean, and his wife Mary. Seven of the nine sons survived and Thomas wisely apprenticed all of them to the Charleston foundry, each following a different trade. An engine fitter, Richard spent his early years working at St Agnes, as manager of the fettling department at Joseph Evans Foundry. He had married Jane Crabb, from St Austell, in December 1861 and in October 1862 William was born. The first of 13 children, only he and four sisters survived to adulthood.

Later, Richard moved his family to Pendarves Street in Camborne and was employed at the Carn Brea Railway works and then at Bartles, Tregonning & Duncan (later known as Bartles’ Foundry) where he was in charge of the fitting and turning shops, and where William was apprenticed under his father’s tuition.

Throughout his early employment Richard harboured ambitions to run his own business. Recognising an opportunity, initially to repair all makes of rock drills then being used in Cornish mines, none of which were then being manufactured in Cornwall, he set up R. Stephens & Son. He leased the derelict Count House of the North Crofty mine in Pool from Lord Robartes, making many improvements so that it served not only as the “Rock Drill Hospital” but also as a comfortable dwelling for his expanding family.

Their first employee was Joseph Blight, an apprentice, who later became engineer at South Crofty and East Pool mines. The workforce increased to include Harry Whitehead, who was employed for 53 years, (finally as head foreman), John Warren, Tom Letcher, George Green, John Penberthy, Alfred Tremelling and George Blight, all of whom served the company for between 40 and 55 years.

Many drills passed through the “Rock Drill Hospital” as they were not designed to cope with the hard Cornish rock and thus needed constant repair. Richard and William often incorporated their own improvements and were astonished to find that new machines from the manufacturer also incorporated these. Richard approached one owner and offered to make rock drills for him. When he refused, Richard declared that he would manufacture drills himself, to his own designs. So, in 1879, the “Climax Rock Drill” was born, with R. Stephens & Son becoming the first company in Cornwall to both design and manufacture rock drills.

James McCulloch, a contractor using Eclipse drills in Cornish mines, was a frequent visitor to the works. It so happened that Richard and William had visited a Mr Richards in a cottage at Wheal Agar and seen his design and model for a rock drill but had concluded that their own design was superior, so had no interest in it. James McCulloch, though, did express an interest, so Richard and William took him to Mr Richards’ cottage to see this model, which was shown to James McCulloch with pride.

Within a few days, McCulloch had joined Messrs. James and John Holman in partnership to manufacture Mr Richards’ machine, which they called the “Cornish Rock Drill”. The partnership was short-lived however, lasting only two or three years.

Just after his acrimonious split from the Holman Brothers, James McCulloch visited Richard and William, expressing regret at having to leave the drill with the Holmans. Richard felt that improvements could be made to that drill. McCulloch pressed Richard, who made some suggestions and soon afterwards, McCulloch introduced his new drill called the “Rio Tinto”, in which he had incorporated Richard’s modifications.

The rivalry between Richard Stephens of Climax, the Holman brothers and James McCulloch continued for many years and is best expressed in the many drilling competitions and challenges that took place between 1880 and 1900, and also in the correspondence, often acrimonious, in the Mining Journal. Richard and William used Carn Marth Quarry extensively for testing their drills. (Figure 3 Carn Marth Quarry)

The first competition in which the Climax drill was entered was held in 1882 at Camborne, but many more such competitions were held throughout the 1880s, culminating in the Exhibition at Crystal Palace, Sydenham in 1890. There, R. Stephens & Son won the Gold Diploma and Medal, and at the Kimberley Exhibition in South Africa, held in 1892, they again won both gold medals offered for rock drills.

In advertisements in the Mining Journal of 1890, Climax drills claimed the highest awards in the last three competitions in Cornwall.The speed, strength and reliability of the Climax drill soon became renowned beyond Cornwall. The first foreignorder, placed by Mr Thomas Bewick, mining engineer for Nine Reefs Mine, was for 18 rock drills. At about this time, Capt. John Gilbert, manager of the Mysore Mine in India was sent to Cornwall to enquire into the merits of the various drills available at that time from all manufacturers. After several weeks deliberation he placed orders for their first drills with R. Stephens & Son.

In 1887, as a result of the excellent performance of their drills abroad, R. Stephens & Son were asked by Indian Railways to quote for a machine to be used in driving the double track Kojak railway tunnel through the Bolan Pass, in North West India. They had not previously made a 4-inch drill and the enquiry required a completely new specification and drawings. William lost no time and although the enquiry had come at the start of the festive season, he worked through the night of Christmas Eve, all of Christmas Day and Boxing Day to complete both design and quotation. Four days after receiving the enquiry, William, attired in dress coat and top hat, paid his first visit to London, where he had an interview at the India Office with Sir Alexander Rundle, chief of Indian Railways. Sir Alexander inspected the designs and quotations and then inspected William, asking his age. “Twenty-five, sir,” replied William. Sir Alexander reflected for a few moments and then said, laughingly, “You have had this enquiry for only four days, during which time Christmas has intervened, and yet you are here with the drawings and quotations. I like your cheek and your industry, and you shall have this order”!.

In May 1890, one advertisement lists 10 gold mines, mainly in India, where the Climax drill had found favour and illustrates the international nature of the trade that Richard and William had generated.

Whilst South Crofty, the last and greatest of the local mines, had always been a major customer, another advertisement circa 1890, together with a list of testimonials, indicates 14 overseas gold mines and 11 local mines as customers, using over 400 drills, manufactured by Stephens & Son. Local mines included Dolcoath, East Pool, Wheal Agar, Wheal Basset, Cook’s Kitchen, South Wheal Basset Frances, West Basset and Levant.

By 1891 both Richard and William had moved into houses in Roskear. Richard lived at ‘Havelock’ whilst William and his family lived at ‘Endsleigh House’ (now the Camborne Registrar’s office), an indication of how successful their business enterprise, of 13 years, had been.

A letterhead from 1892 shows the familiar Climax trademark and proudly proclaims the medals won in 1882-1884 from the Royal Cornwall Polytechnic Society as well as those from the Mining Institute of Cornwall from 1882-1888 and the Gold Medal and Diploma of Honour gained at the International mining Exhibition at the Crystal Palace in 1890.

Richard Stephens died at ‘Havelock’ on Sunday the 9th of January 1898. William Charles was away in Johannesburg, South Africa at the time. Richard was buried at All Saints, Tuckingmill on the 13th of January. He left his half share in the firm of R. Stephens & Son to his wife Jane and on her death to his four daughters, Janie, Nellie, Lucie and Blanche. William Charles, of course, retained his half share of the business.

William and his father had always been prolific in producing patents. Their first had been in 1883(4566) and was followed by further patents in 1885(2203), 1890(2053) and 1896(1673 & 1674). After his father’s death, William continued both to expand the business and be equally inventive, registering further patents in 1900(7679 & 12458), 1902(1244), 1903(7979) and 1904(9374 & 12626). The 1904 patent was for his Dust Allayer. This patent was significant as it was the first design to allay dust at source by using the compressed air that operated the drill to suck water up from a container and direct it onto the drill tip, thus allaying the dust as it was created. Previous dust allayers had simply been means of allaying dust in mines as a secondary operation. William’s patent predates the later patent filed by the Holman brothers in 1906(22191).

In 1906 William filed a patent (2141) for his cradle, to be followed by further patents in 1907(8634 & 21586) and 1908(7630 & 20404). This original cradle patent predates the Holman patents for cradles filed in 1907(9243 & 9244) and was the subject of much dispute in the Mining Journal, William contending that the Holmans had patented a device already in the public domain. William had introduced his ‘Little Vixen Drill’, for which he won a medal from the Royal Cornwall Polytechnic Society, in 1903. This was followed in 1907 by the ‘Imperial‘ drill and these two products formed the core of the business.

An ornate invoice from 1908 (Figure 13) declares that Climax was the winner of the Gold Medal offered by the Witwatersrandt Chamber of Mines for the best rock drill in The Kimberley Exhibition of 1892, and that it won the only Gold Medal and Diploma at the Rock Drill contest held at the same exhibition. The list of agents in South Africa, Mexico, Western Australia and Tasmania indicates how successful their export trade had become.

With the continued development of the business, William decided to form a limited company in order to increase the capital available for investment. He obtained permission to transfer the leases on the site to the new company also assigning many of his patents. So in 1913 “Climax Rock Drills & Engineering Works Ltd” was registered by William Charles Stephens.

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