Mellor Brothers

Joseph Mellor set himself up in business in Morphett Street as a carpenter and wheelwright, and was soon employing around five men and advertising manufacture of drays, wheelbarrows, harrows and other simple farming implements.

At the Grand General Show, held in conjunction with the Royal Visit of 1867, Mellor won a good number of prizes.

1855–1862 In 1863 he purchased a block of land south of the railway line at Kapunda and opened a factory 140 by 30 feet (43 m × 9 m) at the corner of Carrington and Cambria streets, with around 15 men under the supervision of his son James F. Mellor,[5] which in 1864 produced 110 reaping machines.

The partnership between T. F., J. F., and B. F. Mellor was dissolved 5 January 1878,[8] but the business continued to operate under James' and Benjamin's joint ownership.

In 1888 arrangements were made for McCalman, Garde, & Co. of North Melbourne to manufacture Mellor patent ploughs and scarifiers under licence.

J. F. and B. F. Mellor founded a factory at Braybrook Junction, close to Melbourne, cheap coal, bluestone quarries and railway facilities, and near the site of a successful demonstration of their stump-jump plough.

The Kapunda, Jamestown and Quorn assets were transferred to the new company in July 1891, and new depots established at Terowie and Hawker later that same year.

In 1894, in the face of continuing losses and mounting bad debts, the company compulsorily acquired shares held by James and Benjamin Mellor, wrote down the asset value of goodwill and patent rights and filed for voluntary liquidation.

James Fox Mellor returned to the factory at 178 Franklin Street and continued to manufacture replacement parts for the old company's products,[15] and to develop improved designs.

Thomas Fox Mellor (1836 – 24 December 1898) was born in Rastrick, Yorkshire and came to South Australia with his parents as a four-year-old child.

Unlike his brothers he had no inclination to things mechanical, and after assisting his father with management duties, severed his connection with the business and settled down to work as a land and estate agent, becoming a member of the Adelaide Stock Exchange.

[11] After the Mellor Bros. expansion, conversion to a co-operative and collapse, he re-established a similar business under the old name, which ran successfully until a few years before his death.

Benjamin Fox Mellor (1843 – 5 March 1916) was born in Adelaide, and from a young age showed an interest in farming, and applied that knowledge to design and construction of reaping and winnowing machines and other agricultural implements.

[23] John Fox Mellor (22 February 1845 – 4 May 1913) was born in Adelaide and learned the trade of an ironmoulder, but left the business for farming.