Patent Shaft

Patent Shaft, formerly The Patent Shaft and Axletree Company, established in 1840, was a steel=making company that operated large steelworks situated in Wednesbury, then in Staffordshire (now West Midlands), England, in a region known as the Black Country due to its industrialisation.

The metalwork for Blackfriars Bridge in London was built by The Patent Shaft, following their takeover of Lloyds, Foster and Company.

[6] In 1900 they built prefabricated sections for two bridges, one of five spans and one of two, over the Tugela River in South Africa, at Colenso and Frere respectively.

[7] A decline in the manufacturing industry during the 1970s meant that even the largest factories were faced with threat of closure.

The construction of the Black Country Spine Road between Bilston and West Bromwich opened up several square miles of previously inaccessible land in 1995.

Patent Shaft & Axletree makers' plate, dated 1885, on the Ibigawa Bridge , Gifu prefecture, Japan
Stourport Bridge
The first of the prefabricated Tugela River spans, seen at the Wednesbury works, from The Engineer , 19 January 1900
Factory gates, Dudley Street, Wednesbury, seen in 2018