Steele and Cowlishaw (Steel-Shaw) brochures, 1950s and 1960s

‍ ‍A collection of catalogues and brochures for post-war engineering firms came our way. These include two by Steele and Cowlishaw of Hanley in Staffordshire. This company retained its trading name until about 1973.

The brochure that caught my eye was for their Quickway ‘Paint Conditioner’, a brutal-looking device intended to clamp a tin of paint and give it a good shaking (1,400 agitations per minute, in fact). This apparently rejuvenated old stock and promised to save the time of laborious hand stirring. You’ve probably seen something similar in B&Q where they mix paints. The smaller model, Model A, took tins of up to a quart and cost £44 5s, whereas Model B could take up to gallon tins and set you back £61. (It seems these models were ‘on special’, as slightly reduced prices had been written over by typewriter.) I’d say the brochure was from the 50s, and you can imagine the Steel-Shaw rep knocking on the doors of small companies up and down the country, leaving these brochures with his calling card.

The other brochure is for monstrously-large grinding mills, intended to grind to dust just about any substance you can think of. This is done by putting that substance in a spinning chamber containing abrasive balls or pebbles, and spinning it for as long as it takes. Imagine the noise! The brochure promises a lifetime of use with low running costs and no dust. One man, in fact, could ‘easily superintend’ up to four mills, ‘reducing wages costs’. No prices are given, but we can expect these to be reassuringly expensive. The date of the brochure is uncertain – I’d say 1960s, and written across the bottom of every page it says ‘Nearly half a century’s experience in grinding’, which, bearing in mind they set up in 1924, would suggest at least the late 60s.

We are building up a collection of engineering brochures, so get in touch if you want to check our holdings for a specific manufacturer.