BRADBURY ACCESSORIES
All material (except where otherwise indicated) copyright David G. Best 2002 - 2009
All Rights Reserved.
The Bradbury Company consistently used branding on it's products from 1874 onwards. The two main forms were the use of the Duke of Wellington Trade Mark and the Company's advertisements which often featured a large "B" as shown on the Accessory box below. The "B" theme was carried through into the key for all its machines and even on some of the attachments used for the Soeze.
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Illustration from a Bradbury Accessory Box
The design of this example dates to the period 1901 - c1904, the machine illustrated in the lower loop of the B is a Soeze. Although the basic design remained the same there were different examples of this accessory box. Earlier versions featured a Wellington sewing machine and the Lady in the top loop of the B changed according to the fashion of the day.
Bradbury like many sewing machine manufacturers extolled in its manuals the virtues of using its own products.
A Needle Packet for a Family No.1 machine, the needles cost 8d per dozen. Although dating to c1893 the packet has the early version of the Duke of Wellington Trade Mark. The needles in this case were made by Morris and Yeoman's but those of Joseph Perkins & Sons of Astwood Bank, Redditch were recommended in an earlier manual c1888.
Three different sized Bradbury oil bottles. Each has Bradbury & Co Ltd Oldham moulded in raised letters on one side.
The oil was guaranteed not to gum up the machine and was claimed to be very clear and without smell.
It was priced at 2d, 4d, 5d and 8d per bottle, these prices do not seem to have varied from the 1880's to the 1920's.
Although we tend to think of branding as a modern concept, Bradbury was using the idea in the early 1900's. These hemmers date to 1905 and were designed to attach to the Bradbury Soeze with the "B" acting as the fixing point. This idea is an extension of the use of the "B" as the toggle for the Bradbury key.
This item probably dates to post 1912. Whether it was purely promotional or had some practical use is not known.
This leaflet was undoubtedly produced for the Inventions Exhibition held in London in 1885.
Eleven Gold Medals are listed on the shields starting with Paris 1873 through to Huddersfield 1883.
For more information on the Company's awards click here
Eleven Gold Medals are listed on the shields starting with Paris 1873 through to Huddersfield 1883.
For more information on the Company's awards click here
Bradbury & Co. were exhibiting in the American section - Health Exhibition probably to promote the Ward treadle stand.
This leaflet is reproduced from the Evanion Collection of Ephemera by kind permission of the
British Library Board
A badge produced for the Bradbury Company by Whitehead & Hoag sometime after 1905
Whitehead & Hoag was formed in 1892 in Newark, New Jersey and quickly grew to be one of Americas largest producers of Button Badges. In 1896 it patented the process of covering a printed image with a layer of Celluloid and pressing it to a metal shell. These proved extremely popular and by the 1900's the company had 30 offices world wide including in Great Britain one at 19 Fleet Street which opened in 1905.
The front of the badge shows The Bradbury Company's Duke of Wellington Trade Mark and pressed into the back is a paper which refers to "SEWING MACHINES, CYCLES, BASSINETTES The Whitehead and Hoag Co" with British and American addresses as well as patent numbers and dates.
An unusual find - a pair of very intricate brass headstock emblems from a Bradbury bicycle sadly the one on the right is missing its image of the Duke of Wellington. The company produced cycles from 1897 onwards I would imagine that these are quite early.