Rheidol Foundry James Metcalfe (1847–1920) was apprenticed to
Sharp Stewart and worked for the company until 1867 before joining the
Manchester and Milford Railway at
Aberystwyth as locomotive foreman. Between 1875 and 1877 he took out three patents for an improved
exhaust steam injector for steam locomotives and developed it with the financial support of
David Davies "Llandinam" and Edward Hamer, the General Manager of the
Manchester & Milford Railway. The Patent Exhaust Steam Injector Company was established at the Rheidol Foundry, Aberystwyth in April 1878.
Davies and Metcalfe The company later moved to
Romiley in the
Metropolitan Borough of Stockport,
Greater Manchester and changed its name to Davies and Metcalfe. It produced a range of locomotive engineering products including
lubricators,
exhaust steam injectors,
vacuum brake ejectors etc. They later manufactured entire braking systems for locomotives and trains becoming one of the largest suppliers in the industry along with Westinghouse. Their products included brake tread units, drivers brake valves, distributors, air reservoirs, the 2A115 Series Air Compressor, electropneumatic valves, brake cylinders, and brake control units. ==Locomotives==