Russell Hobbs
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Russell Hobbs is a British manufacturer of household appliances in Failsworth, Oldham, Greater Manchester.
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[edit] History
After working with REME in World War II and leaving in 1947 as a Major, Bill Russell (1920-2006) joined Morphy Richards and helped to design the pop-up toaster, the electric iron and the hairdryer. Peter Hobbs (1916 - 2008) also worked for the home appliance manufacturer, Morphy Richards, as manager of the South African division of the company. He had returned to the UK, and worked for another company, where he was trying to invent a coffee percolator, with reference to a German patent. In 1952, they invented the world's first automatic coffee percolator, the CP1, with Russell's ingenuity and started the Russell Hobbs company in Croydon. Russell was in charge of product development, and Hobbs was the sales director. Russell's de facto ultimate safety test for any new product was to pour half a pint of boiling gravy on it. The company was always in profit from day one.
[edit] Product range
The company also makes food processors, electric kettles, toasters, vacuum cleaners, irons, sandwich toasters, microwave ovens, juicers, smoothie makers, and electric hobs.
[edit] Innovations
- The automatic electric kettle K1, invented in October 1955, used a bi-metallic strip at the rear of the kettle which caused steam to be forced through an aperture in the lid of the strip and this knocked the switch, turning the kettle off.
- In 1960, the K2 kettle was introduced.
- They invented the first kettle with a microchip.
[edit] Ownership
In 1963, they needed to expand the company to increase production and needed more capital. They were forced to sell the company to Tube Investments (TI), a conglomerate of electrical appliance brands. Production was moved to Wombourne in Staffordshire, where it was shared with Creda and to Blythe Bridge, in a former aircraft factory now owned by Indesit. Russell became technical director of Creda, then managed Turnright. TI sold off their consumer brands, with the company going to Polly Peck, managed by Asil Nadir in the late 1980s. Polly Peck collapsed and Russell Hobbs was bought by Pifco based in Failsworth in 1991, then by Salton on June 4th 2001. Pifco, the British manufacturer of appliances such as teasmades became known as Salton Europe. The parent company, Salton Inc., is based in Lake Forest, Illinois and has a Canadian division in Ontario. In March 2002, Salton Europe closed down the Creda factory on the B4176 in Wombourne near Wolverhampton, moving production to China.
William Russell died in February 2006.
Peter Hobbs died on April 11 2008 aged 91.
