Asa Lees
Textile machine manufacturer
title: "Asa Lees" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["industrial-revolution", "companies-based-in-oldham", "spinning", "english-inventors", "textile-manufacturers-of-england", "engineering-companies-of-england", "textile-machinery-manufacturers"] description: "Textile machine manufacturer" topic_path: "science/biology" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asa_Lees" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::summary Textile machine manufacturer ::
::data[format=table title="Infobox company"]
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| name | Asa Lees & Co. Ltd |
| type | Limited Company |
| successor | Textile Machinery Makers Ltd |
| foundation | 1790/1872 |
| founder | Samuel Lees |
| location_city | Oldham |
| location_country | UK |
| industry | Textile machinery |
| products | Preparation and spinning machinery, gassing and beaming. |
| :: |
| name = Asa Lees & Co. Ltd | logo = | type = Limited Company | genre = | fate = | predecessor = | successor = Textile Machinery Makers Ltd | foundation = 1790/1872 | founder = Samuel Lees | defunct = | location_city = Oldham | location_country = UK | location = | locations = | area_served = | key_people = | industry = Textile machinery | products = Preparation and spinning machinery, gassing and beaming. | production = | services = | revenue = | operating_income = | net_income = | aum = | assets = | equity = | owner = | num_employees = | parent = | divisions = | subsid = | homepage = | footnotes = | intl = Asa Lees was a firm of textile machine manufacturers in Oldham, Lancashire. Their headquarters was the Soho Iron Works, Greenacres. It was second only in size to Platt Brothers.
Early history
Samuel Lees founded a roller making works in the 1790s, it was called the Soho Works. His second son Asa Lees (1816–62) inherited the premises. He expanded the business, exporting fustian power looms to St Petersburg. He abandoned looms to concentrate on manufacturing preparation and spinning machinery. The Soho Cotton mills was converted to a Mule carriage works. Asa Lees became a limited company in 1868, four years after Platts and the shares were quoted on the Oldham share market until the 1890s. It never published its accounts, though its dividends were consistently higher than Platts, and remained profitable in 1928 when Platts made a loss. They were conservative in their trading, dealing only with reliable firms. They did not push for exports. They experienced rapid expansion in the 1880s under the management of Robert Taylor (1823–1912) and production peaked in 1906 when they were employing 3000 men.
Later history
In the recession of the 1930s, Platt Brothers, Howard and Bullough, Brooks and Doxey, Asa Lees, Dobson and Barlow, Joseph Hibbert, John Hetherington and Tweedales and Smalley merged to become Textile Machinery Makers Ltd., but the individual units continued to trade under their own names until the 1970, when they were rationalised into one company called Platt UK Ltd. In 1991 the company name changed to Platt Saco Lowell.
The premises
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Soho Iron Works - Greenacres SD 939053
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James Bullough improved his own loom by inventing various components, including the 'self-acting temple' that kept the woven cloth at its correct width, the weft fork (patented 1841 but disputed by Osbaldeston) and a loose reed that allowed the lathe to back away on encountering a shuttle trapped in the warp. Bullough also invented a simple but effective warning device which rang a bell every time the warp thread broke on his loom. He worked with William Kenworthy at Brookhouse Mills, with whom he applied his inventions to develop an improved power loom that later became known as the "Lancashire Loom."
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James Bullough in partnership with John Howard at Globe Works invented the slasher, which founded the company's success.
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John Bullough with James Whittaker and John Walmsley, a machine, patented in 1852, that sized two warps and wound them on two beams at the same time.
Philanthropy
In accordance with the traditions of the times, Bulloughs attempted to improve the lives of its workers with acts of philanthropy. It gave James Bullough Park to the town of Accrington in 1913, and the Globe Tennis club grounds in 1926.
References
References
- Gurr, Duncan. (1998). "The Cotton Mills of Oldham". Oldham Education & Leisure.
- "Platt maker of quality textile machinery and parts".
- "Howard and Bullough, Cotton Machinery Manufacturers".
- Ashmore, Owen. (1982). "The industrial archaeology of North-west England". Manchester University Press.
- "Manchester Engineers & Inventors". Manchester UK A Virtual Encyclopaedia of Greater Manchester in the Third Millennium.
- Aspin, Chris. "The Bullough Family". Stanley C Graham.
- "History of Bullough Park".
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