NCK (Newton Chambers Koehring), started as a subsidiary of Newton, Chambers & Company, a large engineering company based in Sheffield, England. They produced the range of agricultural equipment, skimmers, excavators, cranes and draglines that were renowned for high quality and long life, typically over 20 years. Many NCK machines continue to operate worldwide.[1]
History
The company started as iron founders in 1794 and expanded in Victorian times to include coal and iron mining. They diversified into equipment manufacture and in 1947 the company started producing the American brands of Koehring excavators under the Newton Chambers Koehring name,[2] and in 1958 they took over Ransomes & Rapier building excavators, drag-lines, port cranes and other construction equipment under the NCK-Rapier brand. With the decline in coal and the improvements in hydraulic machines, the company diversified into light fabrication.
The company was taken over in 1972 by the holding company Central and Sheerwood. NCK later was sold to Robert Maxwell's media group as part of a wider deal, but Maxwell was not interested in cranes and NCK became inactive. Cliffe Holdings then bought the company, later Staffordshire Public Works bought the company in 1997 after it fell again into receivership.