Wellman Robey has an industrial boiler pedigree second to none, that can be traced back for nearly two hundred years. It draws its life blood from no less than ten previous industrial boilermakers, whose names are still incorporated within Wellman Robey
The company considers its main founder as Joseph Danks (born August 1807). Unable to read or write, he became a technologically advanced blacksmith, who manufactured industrial boilers and iron canal boats
Joseph and his wife had Elizabeth had six children ( three girls and three boys ). Each of his sons, Edwin, Henry and Thomas were registered as being boilermakers in the British Census of 1881, living in the 'Black Country', then part of South Staffordshire now called the West Midlands
It appears that Edwin had a dispute with his father and brothers during the mid 1850's, and was given £3000 by his father and told to go and farm sheep in Australia; upon his return, he started the company known as Edwin Danks of Oldbury in direct competition with his father and brothers.
It was on the 17 Acre site at Oldbury that Edwin first started boiler manufacture, this remains the home of Wellman Robey today, just 5 miles from Edwin's Brothers company, Danks of Netherton - Imagine the rivalry !
By the End of the 1800's Edwin Danks of Oldbury had been acquired by Babcock & Wilcox, who suppressed all the design data of the imperial water tube boiler, leaving Edwin Danks to continue making 'Lancashire' type boilers, still in direct competition with Danks of Netherton, the firm owned and still run by his two brothers...
The Middle 1900's saw thousands of Lancashire boilers converted by Danks of Oldbury to chain grate stokers, and it was the careful investment of profit that enabled the company to refurbish the Oldbury site in 1959, with it emerging as a very modern boiler shop.
From 1980 onwards, a series of careful formations, mergers, and consolidations have taken place, including the purchase of Danks of Netherton in 1984, enabling Wellman Robey, as it is known today, to retain its pedigree and remain at the forefront of engineering excellence.
Industrial Boiler Making has changed dramatically over the last 150 Years but like Thomas, Henry & Edwin Danks, Wellman Robey, are ideally positioned, holding records of many thousands of boilers operating in the UK and overseas, to provide a very fast response both to problems and planned preventative maintenance. With its fleet of industrial hire boilers, boiler repair and boiler spares divisions, its boiler service team are able to provide full support to both high tech boiler plants, and the not so new, where their expertise can bring plant up to the latest HSE requirements and ensure maximum efficiency and cost savings.
Some of the famous names incorporated into Wellman Robey include :
Edwin Danks of Oldbury
Danks of Netherton
Babcock & Wilcox
Robey of Lincoln
Allen Ygnis
B & E Boilers
Stone Boilers
Towler Fraser
FKI