The ‘Briton’ door closer was invented in 1907. As this 1982 commemorative example illustrates, its design has changed little in almost 100 years. The company that made this classic piece of equipment, Newman-Tonks, was a brassfoundry, one of the principal industries in Birmingham in the 19th century. It was formed by the merger in 1970 of two companies – William Newman & Sons, formed in Wolverhampton in 1750 (moved to Birmingham in the 1820s), and William Tonks & Sons which was established in Leeds in 1789. An American company, Ingersoll Rand, took over the business in 1995. |
