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John Rabone & Sons of Hockley rulers tapes and tools

Re: raybones rulers and tapes and tools ;of hockley ;

Did Rabones leave Hockley in 1990? Is this where Bow Works was located? Found this tape measure among some old stuff of my brothers
 

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Re: raybones rulers and tapes and tools ;of hockley ;

They moved to Camden Street in 1984 then I think it was sold in 1989 to Stanley .. my photograph was taken at Camden Street around 1988
 
animal7uk said:
Re: raybones rulers and tapes and tools ;of hockley ;

My Uncle Alan Layton worked at Rabone Chesterman he was a tool setter/foreman from 1970 till they closed when they were bought out by Stanley Tools, they moved everything up to Sheffield and Alan Layton helped them with all the tools for a few weeks, he actually stayed up there hoping they would take him on but they just picked his brains for all his knowledge then said thanks and and goodbye
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My Aunt rememberers your Uncle Alan well
 
My future wife lived at 45 Whitmore St and at the back up the yard lived there family friends Winn & Harry Phelps.Many year later her mother got a job making the rulers and finished up Marrying Jim Day who was the Forman for many many years at Rabones before retiring in the 70s
 
An interesting catalogue of John Rabone & Sons, Whitmore street, they did measuring equipment, spirit levels etc. The catalogue is 83 pages. Their factory was quite big, I wonder what replaced it


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Hi all, my late brother Ron Jones worked at Rabones as an electrical fitter in the mid 50s he often spoke about his time there, he emigrated to Australia in the 60s,and would always remember with great affection some of the people he new and worked with at Rabones, as they say you can take the man out of Brum but you can never take Brum out of the man. RIP, Ron.
 
A few snippets of info from the internet:

1963 John Rabone and Sons, of Whitmore Street, Birmingham, merged with James Chesterman and Co, toolmakers of Sheffield, and the name was changed to Rabone Chesterman.

1970 they acquired another tool maker, Fry's (London).

1989, Stanley Tools, one of the Great White sharks of tool empires, purchased the assets of Rabone Chesterman from Bardsey PLC (now dissolved). Since then, the name has disappeared from their product lines.
 
I still have an old Rabone 2ft. Folding, boxwood rule. Superbly made.






This must be several decades old, but the original quality still shines through.


Steve.
 
Sorry to revive this old thread, my names Joe...Rabone, I'm currently looking for some old John Rabone & Sons Catalogs (Physical or digital) for something I'm trying to put together, but cant seem to find any anywhere, the odd one pops up on eBay but once in a blue moon, does anyone have anything they could share?
 
My wife had a year between Drama School (Birmingham school of speech training and dramatic art) and starting her nurse training and worked in the cost office there in Hockley. She's often said it was the best job she ever had in many ways, the staff were wonderful and the woman who ran the office took my young wife to be under her wing.

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My dad, Cyril Woodfield worked at Rabones, as did some of his brothers, including Ray, and Norman Woodfield. Dad worked in steel rules first, then the packing department - I have several photos of him packing 'Collico' Cases for British rail, and several of him with staff and at works do's. I worked once in the summer holidays for six weeks in an office. I can remember Works Christmas parties for the kids, and annual trips to Blackpool Illuminations in November, where my mum and dad moved in 1970, to run a guest house. Cyril also played in the works football team.
Should I try to to post these photos here?
 
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Thanks for jogging my memory. I know that when I get to sorting out my late Dad's tool box I will find two rulers just like those. However, I have already come across these two. The one on the right is feet and inches and the other is metric.
 

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My daughter and son-in-law have just spent Sunday turning out my garage for me and have come across an old spirit level made by John Rabone & Sons (Warranty corrected) in its old soft metal storage tube (cap missing). It's a lovely piece of work, if old and dirty and much better workmanship than anything made today:
 

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jmadone said:
Apparently very rare John Rabone engineer's slide rule made from Ivory with German Silver fittings coming up for auction soon.View attachment 169184
It has a guide price of £500 to £800. What? How much? :eek: :eek: :eek:
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Just joined the group and saw this... I'll be too late for the auction but it should have fetched a great deal. It is pre 1877. After that date the name changed to John Rabone & Sons (plural) because Harry and Arthur had joined their father John (jnr). Very interesting thread this.
 
JRabone said:
Sorry to revive this old thread, my names Joe...Rabone, I'm currently looking for some old John Rabone & Sons Catalogs (Physical or digital) for something I'm trying to put together, but cant seem to find any anywhere, the odd one pops up on eBay but once in a blue moon, does anyone have anything they could share?
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I have an 1892 catalogue... if I can help?
 

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casey said:
Re: raybones rulers and tapes and tools ;of hockley ;

Hello,
Yes my dad would have been there in the 40s he was at Raybones till the late 60s. His job was a precision Rule Maker. My nan, uncle, auntie, and sister-in-laws father were there as well. There surnames were Alexander, Tandy, Burns. There was a friend of the family called Bobby but don't know any surname.
My mom used to say if your dad could change his knowledge that he used to teach Raybone all he new into £s we would have been better of.
I remember when I was very young being down there at one time when the whole factory clocked of there were hundreds of people coming out. Nearly as bad as Snow Hill station when we used to go on holiday.
Casey
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Hello, casey. Just joined the thread... I have a photo with David Burns among the employees: "Current employees with 40 yrs or more service in 1984" (pp 18/19 from Douglas Hallam's superb book The First 200 years). Hope it's of interest.
 

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