Description and History of Site:-
Copper tubes up to 24'' diameter were made here supplying industries such as shipbuilding, printing, textile machinery makers, aviation and car industries. Most of the copper boiler tubes of the steam locomotives built on nearby Jack lane, Hunslet were supplied from this factory.
At its height of production there were 5000 employees operating 24 hours around the clock. There were 20 acres of buildings on the 100 acre site.
On 30th January 1891 the Rothwell Times reported on a factory visit to this site by journalists, hosted by Stanley and Frank Elmore, sons of the company founder and works managers. The means of producing copper pipes, before the later cold drawn process was developed, was reported thus......''quarter ton blocks of raw copper direct from Chile are melted and the liquid metal poured into a stream of cold water. The explosive steam blows the copper into fragments. The now granulated copper was thrown into wooden water-tight tanks almost filled with a solution of Copper Sulphate. Below the surface of the liquid a long round bar of cast-iron revolves upon which the copper deposits itself and which becomes the core of the pipe. The deposit of the copper is caused by an electrical current passing through the equipment and by an electrolytic action forming a copper pipe upon the rotating cast-iron bar. A wooden burnisher carrying a piece of polished Agate traverses from one end to the other constantly which destroys the crystalline nature of the deposited copper and transforms it into a laminated or fibrous character. The thickness of the pipe wall is determined by how long the process is allowed to go on. A pipe with 1/8'' wall requires one week of constant rotation to produce. The whole machine is self acting and works 24 hours. When the required thickness is produced, the pipe is drawn off the cast-iron core by heating the pipe, the ends then trimmed and the pipe then ready for sale''.

The copper wire works along side these works takes copper pipes from here and cuts them into spirals, drawing the square tape obtained this way into wire of the required thickness.

In 1912 the works visit by the Iron and Steel Institute reported on the latest cold drawn production techniques........''these works are probably the largest in the world solely devoted to the manufacture of solid drawn copper and brass tubes; they are the most modern and up-to-date of their kind, and are driven throughout by electricity.
In the manufacture of copper tubes the copper is first refined in a special department and cast solid in cylindrical form, the billets being pierced in a specially powerful piercing plant, the tubes being then drawn down cold in the usual way.
The brass tubes are cast hollow in the usual fashion in various mixtures and sizes, and then drawn down cold into brass condenser tubes, boiler tubes, &c. Other specialities of the works are large diameter seamless copper drying cylinders, and the copper coating of rams, cylinders, &c.
The works have direct access to the main lines of the Midland, Great Northern, and Great Central Railways, and are also situated on the canal, where the Company have extensive wharves, thus being in direct communication by water with all the ports.The Company possess the surrounding estate of some one hundred acres on the outskirts of Leeds (outside the Leeds rating area), a unique site for iron and engineering works, and the near future will see this estate a centre of industrial activity''.

After c1926 and the introduction of a 1000 ton extrusion press, the speed by which copper pipes were made dramatically improved once again. In 1888 Elmore's Patent Copper Depositing Company was registered by William Elmore, Francis Edward Elmore (Frank) and Alexander Stanley Elmore (Stanley) of Middlesex. They had patented a method of depositing copper on mandrels which gave them a polished appearance.
They searched for a site to erect a works and decided upon a site at Stourton, Leeds in 1889. The attraction of the site was the availability of a plentiful supply of cheap coal to be used to fire their boilers producing steam to generate their own electricity, used in large amounts for their process. The site was also adjacent to the Aire and Calder Navigation for transportation of the large volumes of copper.
On March 15th 1890 another company was registered as Elmore's Wire Manufacturing Company. The two companies were built as adjacent sites with the same board of directors and management.
The two companies struggled financially, however in May 1899 the English Electro-Metallurgical Company was registered as the two companies were merged.
Two of the directors had interests in a successful French company and it was decided to reorganise the Leeds works on the same basis. The first step was to construct a new factory on site in 1900. In 1902 the company was called The Leeds Copper Works and was registered as such.
In 1907 following further financial instability and a decision to liquidate the company. George Norton, a Chartered Accountant, was brought in to administer the process. However his suggestions to change of operations at the works lead to improved finances and the restructured company continued and was registered as the Yorkshire Copper Works in October 1909.
The First World War was a period of expansion with female labour producing copper drive bands for artillery shells, condenser tubes for ship engines and pierced copper shells.
In 1924 the first attempt was made to make seamless tubes larger than 14'' diameter. Tubes of 15'', 20'' and 24'' diameter were produced. Taking six months to produce but these large diameter tubes became an important part of the works output.
The Yorkshire Copper Works became Licensees of a 1927 Patent for the use of Aluminium-Brass as an alloy, resistant to corrosion by sea water in ships engine condensers. The tubes were marketed as 'Yorcalbro' with the development being a milestone for the company.
Their first order for 'Yorcalbro' tubes for a ship was received in October 1928 for P&O Liner 'Malura'.
A year or two before this development the company installed its first 1000 tons capacity extrusion press for production of its alloy tubes, a second press followed in 1931.
The works expansion continued with the addition of the first Electrical Low Frequency Induction furnace in 1930.
The capillary fitting known as 'The Yorkshire Fitting' was first sold in 1934, an entirely new principle for joining copper pipe tubes.
In 1938 an additional new works opened in Barrhead, Scotland.
Also in 1938 with the Munich crisis and the unrest in Europe the decision to change over production to light alloy tubing for aircraft production was made. They made 85,000,000 feet of light alloy tube plus nearly 90,000,000 feet of copper brass alloy tubing for aircraft production.
1958 the companies Yorkshire Copper Works Ltd and Imperial Chemical Industries Ltd - Metals Division merged to form Yorkshire Imperial Metals Ltd, the combined manufacturing potential could now be maximised.
By 1977 the Leeds site consisted of;
Yorkshire Imperial Alloys (for heavy industrial applications),
Yorkshire Imperial Copper ( for small domestic and small industrial applications),
Yorkshire Imperial Fittings (predominantly brass fittings),
Yorkshire Imperial Plastics (plastic pipes, rainwater goods).
The Yorkshire Imperial Metals site finally closed in 1980.

Further Reading and References:-
https://newwoodlesford.xyz/gallery/light-industries/copper-works/
https://www.gracesguide.co.uk/Yorkshire_Copper_Works
https://www.towngate.plc.uk/refurb-complete-iconic-copperworks-site/
Thanks to David Rees a former employee of Yorkshire Imperial Metals for his contribution to this record.
https://gracesguide.co.uk/1912_Iron_and_Steel_Institute:_Visits_to_Works#THE_YORKSHIRE_COPPER_WORKS.2C_LIMITED

Help us improve this entry

The compilers welcome corrections or additional information on all sites.
Any information provided will be verified before appearing on the web site.

Email comments

Key Words :- copper pipe wire production

Address :- Haigh Park Road, Stourton, Leeds, West Yorkshire
Grid Ref :- SE 33459 30515
Co-ordinates :- Lat 53.769909 , Long -1.493850
Local Authority :- Leeds Council
Pre 1974 County :- Yorkshire - West Riding
Site Status :- Site extant - Protected status unknown
Site Condition :- Site refurbished to industrial / commercial use
Site Dates :- 1889 - 1980
Record Date :- 4 November 2019

Copyright :- cc-by-nc-sa 4.0 © Andrew Garford