Rockingham Blowers

[Lucien Nunes]

Please can anyone point me in the direction of historical information on the Rockingham Engineering Co. of Thornton Heath and /or their blowers. I believe that they were in the organ blowing business fairly early on, however they seem to have lost out to Watkins & Watson and their contemporaries possibly due to the latter's more modern and technically superior design of blower. Does anyone have any background on P.W. Rockingham (who seems to have been an electrical engineer) or his eponymous company? So far all that has come to light are adverts from the 20's / 30's  and incidental references in a few books, such as Whitworth.

It was the latter reference that first aroused my interest in the marque, when I was perhaps 10 years old. At that time I was only familiar with the Discus and Duplex blowers. There was mention of 'the colossal Rockingham equipment at Liverpool (IIRC)' and as an enthusiast of big old electrical plant I imagined it would be quite something to see if it survived, given the size of the instrument.
TIA
Lucien

[diapason]

Very mininal information, but NPOR have this: http://www.npor.org.uk/cgi-bin/ESearch.cgi?Fn=Esearch&firm=2916

N

[Lucien Nunes]

Thanks for the link, I hadn't realised that blower makers were included on the NPOR. From those dates it seems they were not in the business very long after all. What I really need to track down is a copy of Elvin's 'Organ Blowing, its history and development' which I couldn't find anywhere last time I tried. Will have another search tonight, as it must surely mention Rockingham.

FWIW I have a Rockingham here in the workshop, hardly 'colossal' but 10 feet long in total nonetheless, for a 5hp 20" 3-stage job it's big and heavy by modern standards. A remarkably small fraction of its internal volume is given over to impellers, and none at all to diffusers!

Lucien

[diapason]

I'm glad the link was useful.  I've got a very vague recollection of playing an organ which had a Rockingham blower, but I can't remember where.  It would, almost certainly, have been in Somerset.

Good luck with your research.

Nigel

[revtonynewnham]

Hi

The article in Musical Opinion (mentioned in the DBOB entry) might have relevant info.  I know that Cambridge University Library have a full set or the magazine if you know anyone who has access, and I would guess that some other libraries, and probably the RCO also have copies.

The Elvin book (assuming you're in the UK) should be available through any library.

Every Blessing

Tony