A.P.V. Hall Products Ltd

The material deposited contains corporate and administrative records, including minute books for various committees, correspondence books, articles of association and memoranda. Account books are also featured, as are apprenticeship indentures, wage books and private and technical diaries of Everard Hesketh. The deposit also contains sales and advertising material highlighting company products; house magazines and numerous photograph albums; technical papers on refrigeration and air conditioning; and specification manuals and operating instructions. The records also include volumes of press cuttings and company histories.

A previous deposit with the catalogue number U1570 was made in 1971 and material from the company is also at Dartford Reference Library.

A book entitled 'Halls of Dartford 1785-1985' by Harry Miller was published in 1985, from which information was obtained for this introduction. The book also features many photographs deposited by the Company.

Note - many technical papers and company histories are photocopied.

<p>See also U1570</p>

• <corpname>A.P.V Hall Products Ltd</corpname>
• <corpname>Hall-Thermotank Ltd</corpname>
• <corpname>J. and E. Hall Ltd</corpname>
• <corpname>Medway Safety Lift Company</corpname>
• <corpname>Liverpool Refrigeration Company</corpname>
• <corpname>Linde Canadian Refrigeration Company</corpname>
• <corpname>Vent-Axia Ltd</corpname>
• <corpname>Axia Fans Ltd</corpname>
• <corpname>Thermotank Ltd</corpname>
• <corpname>Thermotank Engineering Company Ltd</corpname>
• <corpname>Searle Manufacturing Company Ltd</corpname>

Deposited 21 July 1986 and 30 March 1987

The following business records relate to the companies J. and E. Hall Ltd., Hall-Thermotank Ltd., and A.P.V. Hall Products Ltd. Registered in England on 30th November 1900 under no.68014.

The original firm was founded by John Hall at the Dartford Ironworks in 1785, to provide services for the milling industry. The firm soon expanded its interests into machinery for paper making, gunpowder manufacture, corn mills, as well as the construction of beam engines, boilers, marine engines and cannon casting. The firm was also a pioneer in the canning of meat and foodstuffs with products supplied to the Royal Navy and the general public. The beam engines and boilers were supplied throughout the world.

Richard Trevithick was employed by the firm in his later years and experimented with high pressure steam boilers fifty years before their general use. The first trunk engine design was patented by John Hall, who died in 1836. His sons John and Edward continued the engineering business which was now named J. and E. Hall. The firm continued to make beam engines and boilers until the death of Edward Hall in 1875. The company was taken over by Messrs. Beckwith and Burke but in 1878 Everard Hesketh, who was regarded as the second founder of the firm, was employed and worked his way to the top. He took the business in a different direction, the expanding market of refrigeration. A cold air machine was developed in 1887 and used for the marine transportation of food stuffs. The company specialised in CO2 and ammonia refrigerating machines and further diversification came in 1906 with the manufacture of commercial motor vehicles, especially lorries. The policy in diversification continued when control of the Medway Safety Lift Company was gained, taking the company into lift and escalator manufacture.

J. and E. Hall continued to develop and refine refrigeration machinery and in 1937 the Liverpool Refrigeration Company was acquired, a company which also manufactured air conditions units. Shareholding and assets of the Linde Canadian Refrigeration Company were acquired in 1953 and in 1959 a merger with Thermotank created Hall-Thermotank Ltd., which meant J. and E. Hall products being manufactured alongside air conditioning equipment, fans, heat transfer products and ventilating fans. Stock control of Vent-Axia Ltd. (a ventilating unit manufacturer) was obtained in 1959 and Hall Thermotank Limited became a holding company controlling J. and E. Hall Ltd., Thermotank Ltd., Thermotank Engineering Company Ltd., Vent-Axia Ltd., and Axia Fans Ltd. Share capital of Searle Manufacturing Company Ltd. was gained in 1963 (a company making heat transfer products for refrigeration and air conditioning installations) and in 1969 Hall Thermotank International Limited was formed, embracing J. and E. Hall Ltd., Thermotank Ltd., and Searle Manufacturing Company Ltd., Hall-Thermotank became a leading European refrigeration and air conditioning manufacturer and contractor. A further merger came in 1976 when Hall-Thermotank Ltd., and A.P.V. Holdings Ltd., became A.P.V. Hall Products Ltd.