100+ Years experience design & manufacturing of Flexible Drive
New factories were established for the manufacture of Baxtul Flexible Drive Hand Tools began and this was supplemented by sub contract work. This grew quickly to be the major part of the business as Flexible Drive and Tool became preferred suppliers to major companies such as Hoover, Black and Decker, Borg Warner and David Brown Tractors.
The 1960’s saw a relationship developed with German flexible drive Company and it was agreed to build a manufacturing facility based in Thetford in order to manufacture our own flexible core under license. Initially the flexible core was manufactured by the hand lay method and allowed the production of long straight lengths. This method proved to be very labour intensive and it was not possible to produce large quantities although the quality of the product was excellent and probably better than can be produced by today’s high speed core machines. By this time all flexible core production capacity was going in to the manufacture of Flexible Drive and Tools’ own range of Concrete Flexible Shafts Poker Vibrators.
The 1960’s were boom years for Flexible Drive and Tool and at its peak it had over 120 employees. The Company went public during this time and was eventually sold in 1966 to the Fram Group which had by this time already acquired Warsop Power Tools; a Company manufacturing equipment for the Mining and Construction Industries. To cope with an ever-growing demand for flexible drives and to improve capacity, high speed core machines were installed.
Recession in the 1980’s forced the closure of the Thetford manufacturing facility and operations were transferred to the Edenbridge site. In 1983 Flexible Drive and Tool became part of the Fairport Group and shortly after the turn of the century all operations were then transferred to the current site at Sheffield where flexible drives continue to be manufactured using high speed core machines.
The images below represent a cross section of the diverse range of Drives and Applications we have developed but also it demonstrates our pedigree as a Flexible Drive manufacturer. Flexible Drive and Tool continues to provide innovative solutions for wide variety of challenging technological applications.
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The Company story began in the late 1920s in London selling imported descaling units. The business grew rapidly and new premises were needed in South Kensington in the 1940s. Manufacture of Flexible Drive products started at this time and was combined with a collect and repair service for flexible shafts in the London area.
A division of Fairport
Construction Equipment LTD, Blagden Street, Sheffield, S2 5QS.
