fate acquired successor nobel industries founded 1820s founder william and charles eley headquarters edmonton london united kingdom products firearms cartridges percussion caps smokeless powder website http www.eley.co.uk eley brothers were a manufacturer of firearms cartridges at the eley s cartridge factory located in edmonton and bordered by the river lee navigation and the great eastern railway at angel road . contents 1 history 2 as trade name 3 recent history 4 ammunition developed by eley brothers 5 literature 6 references 7 external links history edit it was founded by charles and william eley in london in the 1820s . the eley brothers purchased the patent rights to the wire cartridge in the spring or early summer of 1828 . the patent for wire cartridge was issued by the english patent office on 28 november 1827 to joshua jenour under patent no. 5570 . mr. jenour had been born in fleet street london in 1755 and had previously been the owner and manager of the daily advertiser a london newspaper . the wire cartridge consisted of a wire cage which held the shot together during the first stages of its flight . in 1828 charles and william eley established a factory in charlotte street london later moving to bond street london . initially charles eley had been the primary owner of the concern and the original wire cartridges had only the name of charles eley on them . the initial attempts to sell the eley wire cartridge went poorly and charles eley withdrew from the business . during the mid 1830s william eley reinvigorated the company and began sell the improved patent wire cartridges . in 1837 the company added percussion caps to their range and though william was killed in an explosion in 1841 his three sons helped carry on the business . his eldest son william thomas forged an alliance with samuel colt the two patenting a skin cartridge for use in the latter s revolvers . the growth of business accompanied by moves to the grays inn road in 1864 and by the development of the boxer cartridge designed by colonel boxer chief superintendent of the royal arsenal woolwich and adopted by the government in 1866 . in 1874 they went public to fuel expansion but lost momentum after 1881 when william thomas died . his brothers remained in control until 1901 but shareholders accused them of running it as a private company . nevertheless innovations included smokeless powder and in the 1890s 400 types of cartridges were produced . they had established a factory at tile kiln lane edmonton london by 1865 . in 1894 the company transferred production to enlarged premises at angel road which included a tramway to its wharf on the nearby river lee . twice the war office removed the company from their approved list of suppliers due to poor quality .303 british ammunition much of it returned from abroad as unusable . moreover poor facilities meant the company had to buy in components unlike their competitors . in 1900 an explosion killed two workmen the directors squabbled amongst themselves and in 1906 the mostly female workforce went on strike when their wages were cut . a leading ballistics expert f w jones was brought in to improve matters and in 1907 a 107 ft shot tower was built . the factory was ill adapted to mass production it produced 209 million .303 cartridges in world war i compared with 2 373 million at kynochs birmingham factory but its specialised skills made it ideal for innovation such as the preparations of munitions for aircraft . after the war eley s along with other firms became part of explosive trades ltd soon part of nobel industries . many belgians had been billeted in edmonton as refugees and many as elsewhere worked in the armaments industry . this led to natural links between the two countries and in the 1920s eley s went into partnership with fabrique nationale fn buying out the belgian firm of cartoucherie russo belge . however the need for ammunition had slumped and the angel road factory closed in 1921 all production being transferred to nobel s factory in waltham abbey . 1 as trade name edit the name eley persists as a brand name for gun cartridges and in recent years for corrosion proof coated lead shot to fill scuba divers shot belts . 2 recent history edit the shot tower was demolished in the late 20th century . the area today is known as the eley industrial estate . eley limited was brought by imi industries and operated within imi until 2014 when it was brought out by an investment company backed by lloyds tsb . eley limited is now located in sutton coldfield birmingham england . 3 ammunition developed by eley brothers edit .450 no 2 nitro express in 1903 . .360 no 2 nitro express in 1905 . .475 no. 2 nitro express after 1907 . literature edit an edmonton boy . terry webb . isbn 1 903981 00 x. 2000 published by biograph . page 68 one of the most famous factories on that estate was eleys which used to make shotgun cartridges . it had a massive great tower and hot lead was dropped from the top of the tower through the water and it turned into little lead balls . i never saw it but that s how they made lead shot ; they would drop from the height of this specially constructed tower in his sherlock holmes story the adventure of the speckled band arthur conan doyle has holmes tell dr. john h. watson that an eley s no. 2 is an excellent argument with gentlemen who can twist steel pokers into knots . 4 eley cartridges a history of the silversmiths and ammunition manufacturers by cw harding . isbn 1 904057 91 8 . published in 2006 by quiller press . eley cartridges traces the history of the eley name from its agricultural roots through its rise to the major role it played in the silver manufacturing trade of london and its production of ammunition both in london and birmingham . eley cartridges references edit godfrey a notes to old ordnance survey maps london sheet 4 edmonton se 1894 alan godfrey maps isbn 0 85054 969 8 retrieved 18 march 2008 eley web site eley group retrieved 11 june 2015 the adventure of the speckled band at wikisource retrieved 28 february 2011 external links edit eley home page shooting times article edmonton economic history from british history online . this is detailed and starts in 1086 guns review john pople crump eley brothers guns review march 1982 eley cartridges a history of the silversmiths and ammunition manufacturers coordinates 51 36 55 n 0 02 44 w 51.615365 n 0.045533 w 51.615365 ; 0.045533 retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title eley brothers & oldid 743916278 categories firearm manufacturers of the united kingdommanufacturing companies established in 1828hidden categories use dmy dates from april 2011coordinates not on wikidata navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store 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