The year 1996 marked the 200th anniversary of the Soho Foundry and the 100th year since it became the base of W & T Avery - now the headquarters of Avery Weigh-Tronix. In many ways the history of the Soho Foundry mirrors the development of industry itself, from its beginnings as a steam engine factory operated by Matthew Boulton and James Watt, to its present-day use for the design and development of the most advanced electronic weighing equipment in the world.

At the opening ceremony, Matthew Boulton invoked the gods of fire and water in the naming of the site and prayed that it would give birth to many arts and inventions for the benefit of mankind. The gods whose blessings he sought must have looked kindly on their wishes for the Soho Foundry because throughout its 200 plus year history, although the nature of its products have changed dramatically, it has remained a centre of manufacturing excellence and innovation.

The Origins of the Foundry
Although the Soho Foundry was officially opened January 30th 1796, the story behind its development begins many years before this. In 1762, the Birmingham industrialist Matthew Boulton decided to build the Soho Manufactory on a site about two miles from the present day Foundry. Here, in what was one of the most advanced factories of its kind at the time, Boulton and his partner John Fothergill manufactured a wide variety of products, including steel jewelry, buckles, buttons, silver plate articles etc. Throughout this time, although Boulton was prospering, one of his major problems was the need for more power than was available by harnessing the adjacent stream in order to drive the machinery at the factory. One of the solutions he had in mind was the use of steam power.

At about the same time, the Glasgow engineer James Watt was experimenting with his improvement in the efficiency of the steam engine and succeeded in developing a model that could drive rotating machinery. He also invented the centrifugal governor to control the supply of power to the engine. In 1768, on a return trip to London, he stopped off in Birmingham and met Boulton who asked him to send regular reports on the progress of the experimental engine. Some time later Watt's partner in London, Dr John Roebuck, got into financial trouble. Roebuck owned Boulton a large sum of money and the industrialist agreed to take a share in the engine patent as payment for the debt.

In 1775, Watt and Boulton entered into a 25-year partnership to build parts for, and to assemble Watt's engine at the Soho Manufactory. They charged a premium to customers who bought the engine, which amounted to one third of the saving in fuel made by their engine, compared with a common one. The engines created great interest, and enquiries and orders soon began to arrive at the Manufactory.

The New Soho Foundry
However, realising that when the original patent expired in 1800, the payment of premiums would vanish, the partners saw that they would have to make and sell complete engines on a large scale if they were to continue in business. The Manufactory was unsuitable and the tools were inadequate, so they decided to build entirely new premises dedicated solely to engine construction. In 1795, Watt and Boulton bought the land for a foundry and, in a very short time, the necessary buildings were constructed. On January 30th 1796, the Soho Foundry was officially opened.

Murdock's Gas Lighting
One of the most significant acts of the Company during the previous twenty-five years had been the appointment, in 1777 at Soho, of the Scottish engineer, William Murdock. In 1792, Murdock began experimenting with gas lighting. He eventually succeeded in lighting his house in Cornwall, where he had been sent to supervise the erection of Watt's steam engines in the tin mines.

The following year Murdock returned from Cornwall and, in 1802, he staged the first public appearance of gas lighting - the new lights were used to help in the illumination of the front of Soho Manufactory for the Peace of Amiens celebrations.

A row of cottages, now preserved buildings, stands in the main drive. and Murdock resided in the end one in 1817. It was also about this time that the firm of Boulton, Watt & Co - which now included the sons of the partners - took up the manufacture and supply of gas lighting apparatus.

Over the next few years, the two original partners continued to take an interest in the business until they retired from active participation. Boulton died in 1809, Watt in 1819 and Murdock in 1839 and all three are buried at Handsworth Church, just a mile away from the Soho Foundry. By 1848, the sons of the partners were also deceased, and the name of the business was changed to James Watt & Co. The Soho Manufactory business was discontinued and it was eventually demolished. Only the engineering business at the Foundry carried on.

Throughout this period, considerable marine engineering work was undertaken at the Soho Foundry and one notable event was the manufacture in 1857-8, of the screw engines of the SS Great Eastern. This steamship was of an enormous size for its day and its huge engines attracted great publicity at the time.

In 1860 a mint was also opened and began to undertake coining and medalling on a large scale.

W & T Avery Take Over
In 1895, it was decided to sell the firm of James Watt & Co, the Soho Foundry, its machinery and stock-in-trade as a going concern to W & T Avery Limited of Birmingham. Gradually, the steam engine business was discontinued and the Soho Foundry began a new career in the manufacture of weighing machinery.

The 1890s were also a watershed in Avery history. A new Managing Director, a new company status and a new centralised works on the Soho site were to transform the firm before the turn of the century. On March 25 1891, W & T Avery had become a private limited company with a board of directors. Three years later, the firm became a public limited company with shares quoted on the London Stock Exchange.

The Hipkins Era
One of the most significant influences on both the firm and the site during next eighteen years was William Hipkins who was appointed as Avery's managing director in 1895. Hipkins helped to increase and widen the prestige of the Avery name and trademark and consolidated the firm's works at the Soho Foundry into what was described at the time as ""the finest weighing machine factory in the world"". During the Hipkins era, mechanisation at the factory was further developed and trade extended, especially in weighbridges.

When W & T Avery first bought the Soho Foundry, the total covered area amounted to 220,000 ft² (approximately 20,000 m²). Over the next ten years, light machine, weighbridge and japanning shops, a warehouse and general offices were built on the site. This was followed by a decade during which the automatic scale assembly shop and boilerhouse were constructed, together with the extension of the foundry and weighbridge shop until, by 1915 - three years after Hipkins' tragic death in the Titanic disaster of 1912 - the covered area of the site had grown to 343 000 ft² (32,000 m²) - it employed 3,000 people and even had its own electricity generating plant.

Inter-War Expansion
After the First World War, the Soho site continued to expand. A canteen, works hospital, hardening and electroplating shop were built until, by 1925, the site had a covered area of 497,000 ft2; (46,000 m²;). Light assembly and paint shops, and new offices were added over the next decade, followed by further workshops for steel fabrication, weighbridges and heavy machines.

New developments in weighing apparatus were continuously sought in order to meet customer demand and to comply with Weight & Measures legislation. This resulted in a vast range of products for specialised markets being manufactured at the Foundry, including:

• retail scales
• counting machines
• platform scales
• weighbridges
• testing machines
• automatic weighers for flour, coffee and coal.

Scales for letter/parcel weighing, for bathrooms, kitchens and the weighing of bullion, for apothecaries and even anglers were all on the order books. The advent of multiple chemist chains like Boots and an increase in interest in science and education also led to a demand for economical, accurate laboratory scales.

A variety of non-weighing products were also produced at the site and, in the 1920s, a petrol pump assembly shop was built. Other diversification included office furniture, toys, and motorcycle and pram seats. Soho even produced tea machinery from 1910 until 1935.

During the Second World War the company produced, as well as its normal products 25-pounder field guns, 17-pounder anti-tank guns, mine sinkers and shell fuses. The site was considerably damaged in 1940 and 1942 by parachute mines and incendiary bombs.

By 1945 the site covered a total of 25 acres with well over half a million square feet (46,000 m²;) of buildings.

The Electronics Age
The foundry that gave the Soho site its name produced its last casting in 1954 and closed the following year. The following decades began to see a radical revolution in weighing technology that has led to the continuous development of the site's facilities ever since: the birth of digital weighing. Avery continued to lead the way through the electronics era and introduced the UK's first load cell weighbridge and retail price computing scales, heralding the gradual demise of mechanical weighing equipment.

In 1979, W & T Avery became part of the GEC and, in 1993, GEC Avery acquired the Dutch-based company Berkel, the new name of Avery Weigh-Tronix consolidates the firm's position as one of the world's leading suppliers of retail and weighing equipment.

In June 2000, the Avery Weigh-Tronix company was sold to Weigh-Tronix, an American company founded in 1971 and based in Fairmont, Minnesota.  Weigh-Tronix already owned the West Midlands’ other historic weighing company, Salter.

The new group was formed in 2000 and the HQ transferred from the USA to the Soho Foundry site.  On 9 September 2003, the company changed its name to Avery Weigh-Tronix.

The document available to download below is one in a set of three museum books which date back to 1945 that were designed to provide a deeper knowledge of the Avery business, the Soho Foundry on which the business has been situated for over 200 years, and of the weighing industry in general.

To download and read the other books in the set, please click here.