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===1900 to 1966=== On 9 July 1900, the Dowlais Iron Company and [[Arthur Keen (businessman)|Arthur Keen]]'s ''[[Patent Nut and Bolt Company]]'' merged to form ''Guest, Keen & Co. Ltd''.<ref name="history">{{Cite web |title=GKN 250 Home β GKN PLC |url=http://www.gkn.com/aboutus/ourheritage/Pages/default.aspx |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402110952/http://www.gkn.com/aboutus/ourheritage/Pages/default.aspx |archive-date=2 April 2015 |access-date=15 March 2015 |website=gkn.com}}</ref> ''[[Nettlefolds Limited]]'', a leading manufacturer of fasteners, established in [[Smethwick]], [[West Midlands (county)|West Midlands]] in 1854, was acquired in 1902, leading to the change of name to ''Guest, Keen and Nettlefolds'' (GKN).<ref name="history" /><ref>[http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1950/1950%20-%202010.html "Guest, Keen and Nettlefolds."] ''Flight International'', 1950.</ref> In 1920 [[John Lysaght and Co.]] was acquired.<ref name="Mayer76">{{Cite book |last=Mayer |first=Colin |title=Firm Commitment: Why the corporation is failing us and how to restore trust in it |date=14 February 2013 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-165025-3 |page=76}}</ref> ====Guest Keen Baldwins==== Steel production remained at the core of the company, but under increasing profit margin pressure. In 1930, the company combined its steel production business with that of rival Baldwins to form ''Guest Keen Baldwins'', which now held:<ref>The Times, 5 April 1930.</ref> * Baldwins: Coke ovens at [[Margam]]; Blast-furnaces and steel melting shop at [[Margam]]; steel works and rolling mills at [[Port Talbot]]; blast-furnaces at [[Briton Ferry]]; lime stone quarry at [[Cornelly]] * GKN: Dowlais Iron and Steel Works; Cardiff Iron and Steel Works; coke ovens at [[Cwmbran]]; limestone and silica quarries In 1935, the company demolished the Cardiff works to construct a new production facility on the same site, funded by an issue of [[debenture]]s.<ref>The Times, 22 May 1935.</ref> Due to a resultant global shortage of pig iron, in 1937, the company fired-up the single remaining blast furnace at Dowlais.<ref>The Times, 16 March 1937.</ref> During the [[Second World War]], all of the sites were heavily bombed by [[Nazi Germany]]'s [[Luftwaffe]], and the required investment meant that all of these assets were nationalised as part of the Iron and Steel Act 1949, resultantly becoming part of the [[Iron and Steel Corporation of Great Britain]].<ref>Hansard, 19 February 1951.</ref> GKN were still highly reliant on the supply of good quality steel thus, in 1954, the business negotiated from the asset realisation company the repurchase of key assets from ISC, which were renamed ''Guest Keen Iron and Steel Co.'' In 1961, the company's name was changed again to ''GKN Steel Company''.<ref>The Times, 19 August 1960.</ref> ====Fasteners==== [[File:Thinktank Birmingham - object 1986S03948(1).jpg|thumb|upright|Display showing products of Guest Keen & Nettlefolds Ltd. in decorative form.]] These mergers heralded half a century in which ''GKN'' became a major manufacturer of [[screw]]s, [[nut (hardware)|nut]]s, [[Machine screw|bolts]] and other [[fastener]]s. The company reflected the [[vertical integration]] fashionable at the time embracing activities from coal and ore extraction, and iron and steel making to manufacturing finished goods.<ref>{{Cite web |title=GKN Fasteners |url=http://www.gracesguide.co.uk/GKN_Fasteners |access-date=7 April 2017 |publisher=Grace's Guide}}</ref> ====Crankshafts==== After the [[World War I|First World War]], it became apparent that Britain was likely to follow [[France]] and the United States in developing a large scale automotive industry.<ref name=Motor196905/> During 1919, GKN acquired another fastener manufacturer, F. W. Cotterill Ltd. Cotterill owned a subsidiary named J. W. Garrington, which specialised in forgings; the forgings produced at the Garrington [[Darlaston]] plant, later supplemented by a large plant at [[Bromsgrove]], enabled GKN to become a major supplier of [[crankshaft]]s, connecting rods, half-shafts and numerous smaller forged components to the UK auto-industry, which had a period of massive expansion during the [[interwar period]] and beyond.<ref name="Motor196905">{{Cite magazine |last=Turner |first=Philip |date=10 May 1969 |title=Making the most of it Or β are you driving a GKN? |magazine=Motor |pages=58β60}}</ref> ====Pressed steel wheels==== Another company, eventually acquired by GKN, was founded by another steel manufacturing entrepreneur, [[Joseph Sankey]]. After training as a mechanical engineer in the late 19th century, Sankey founding a company that became a major producer of [[tea tray]]s. A pioneering motorist, Sankey became friends with figures such as [[Herbert Austin]], and was also a supplier of sheet steel components to the nascent British car industry.<ref name=Motor196905/> Because the wooden wheels on early cars had a tendency to disintegrate after hitting roadside kerbs,<ref name=Motor196905/> Sankey developed a pioneering pressed-steel wheel.<ref name=Motor196905/> Production started in 1908, with customers including [[Austin Motor Company]] and, later, [[Lord Nuffield|William Morris]].<ref name=Motor196905/> In addition to Sankey's original factory at [[Bilston]], a new plant was established near [[Wellington, Shropshire]], which was devoted to wheel production and known as GKN Sankey.<ref name=Motor196905/> Meanwhile, by 1914, GKN's customers for sheet-steel vehicle bodies had also come to include Austin, along with [[Daimler Company|Daimler]], [[Humber Limited|Humber]], [[Rover Company|Rover]], [[Star Motor Company|Star]] and [[Argyll (car)|Argyll]].<ref name=Motor196905/> After [[John Lysaght]] acquired Joseph Sankey and Sons Ltd, GKN purchased both companies, in 1920.<ref name=Motor196905/> By the 1960s, GKN was manufacturing many other kinds of automotive components, including chassis for the [[Triumph Herald]] and its derivatives.<ref name=Motor196905/> The company also developed the [[FV432|GKN FV432]] armoured personnel carrier.<ref name=Motor196905/> By 1969, the highly-automated [[GKN Wheels]] Wellington plant was producing over 5Β½ million wheels per year, with a maximum rate of approximately 30,000 units per day.<ref name=Motor196905/> ====Nationalisation of steel==== The postwar government nationalised the steel industry under [[Iron and Steel Corporation of Great Britain]]. The act of parliament of 1949 took effect in February 1951.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Records of the Iron and Steel Corporation of Great Britain, the Iron and Steel Board, and related bodies |url=http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C27 |access-date=7 April 2017 |publisher=National Archives}}</ref> In 1951, a new subsidiary Blade Research & Development (BRD) was formed at [[Aldridge]], [[Staffordshire]], to produce aero-engine turbine blades. Following a fall in demand for turbine blades in the late 1950s, the BRD factory switched to producing constant-velocity joints and driveshafts for vehicles.<ref>{{Cite news |date=6 August 2002 |title=Lord Brookes |work=The Telegraph |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/1403650/Lord-Brookes.html |access-date=15 March 2015}}</ref> In 1953, Britain's steel industry was de-nationalised by a new government; this policy only lasted for 14 years before being reversed.<ref>{{Cite news |date=30 March 2016 |title=Steel in the UK: a timeline of decline |work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/business/2016/mar/30/steel-in-the-uk-a-timeline-of-decline |access-date=7 April 2017}}</ref>
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