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- BEFORE & AFTER
In 1949, the British Electrical group took over all the Associated group's factories as a holding company, and British Electrical Engineering Co. Ltd., was reformed to carry on electrical manufacturing and development.
This is where I became involved. On returning from the war in the Far East in January 1948, I obtained employment at a small factory called the British Small Motors Ltd., which was a division of the British Electric Engine Co., in Leeds. We made small electric motors and switchboards. In 1950, the firm transferred production to Cardiff, Wales, so I transferred to J.&A. McLarens in Leeds, and this is where my involvement began with Fetters.
I completed my apprenticeship and joined McLaren's Service Division. In 1948, McLarens purchased the old "Lagonda" car factory in Staines, Middlesex, and commenced building small Petter engines there. In 1949, the whole Petter company was moved out of the British Electric factory at Loughborough to the Staines factory and renamed Fetters Ltd. The first managing director was Capt. Dick Petter, a son of one of the twins.
With the move to Staines, several new engines were put into production, the petrol engine A type and various models carried on into the late '60s, but their most productive engine, the AVA and AV 4-stroke diesel started in 1950 and was developed and increased in bore and hp and re-named the PH and PHW, and continued through the production life of the Staines factory.
In 1953, a celebration luncheon was held at Staines in honor of Sir Ernest Petter and Percy Petter, who were by then 80 years old. Also, other original directors from the Yoevil factory as well as Capt. Dick Petter were present.
Within two years of that event, both twins died, and in 1955, Capt. Dick Petter retired. Other members of the Petter family - there were 15 brothers and sisters - were involved in the firm at different times. Most notable among these extremely inventive engineering siblings were Guy, who invented the Sumbock Adding Machine, Harry and Hugh Petter.
In the late 1950s, the Staines plant was at its most productive. New engines were rolling off the line to meet high demand in building, civil engineering, marine and electrical applications, and two new engines were introduced. They were the PAZ1, probably the most successful diesel ever made for small cement mixers, and the AA1, advertised as the smallest lightweight diesel in the world and quickly copied by the Japanese.
The Petter-McLaren Service Division also was expert in taking over the service and supply of parts of other companies' engines. In addition to Fetters and McLarens engines, those made by Wishaw, Armstrong, Siddeley of Brockworth, Fowlers of Leeds and Cobona of Letchworth also were handled. Doing this work, the service division outgrew its space in Staines, and in 1959, it moved to the larger Armstrong Whitworth Factory at Hamble, near Southampton on the south coast.
This move took place as a consequence of a major takeover of the company in 1957 by the Hawker-Siddeley firm. Reorganized, the business was called the Hawker-Siddeley Brush Group.