1820s About 1827 the company supplied three steam engines to
André Koechlin & Cie in France, one for the
Mulhouse cotton mill for which
Sharp, Roberts and Co. supplied most of the equipment, one for
coal mines at
Ronchamp, and one for the Bourcart factory.
Hick attended at least two of these installations in person during 1827. A 1:10
scale model of a double
jib crane designed by Benjamin Hick is displayed at the
Musee des Arts et Metiers.
1830s From 1836 steam locomotives became their main business. Up to 1840 they produced 56, 28 of which went abroad. Of note is a for the
South Carolina Railroad to the design of
Horatio Allen. This had drivers, with a swivelling front bogie, and reputed to have worked for 35 years. A deal of sub-contract work came from
Edward Bury and Company.
1840s From 1841, the company began a batch of engines for the
broad gauge Great Western Railway. The largest order came in 1847 for 28 engines for the
London and South Western Railway.
1850s Possibly the most remarkable were some
4-2-4 engines for the
Bristol and Exeter Railway built in 1853/4 with unflanged driving wheels, and two ball-and-socket swivelled bogies. They weighed 42 tons and achieved speeds of , the fastest engines of the time. The quality of the company's products brought in repeat orders. Many of the engines were still in service twenty years later. From 1857 the engines were to
Alexander Allan's design and were similar to the
Old Crewe type. These were sold to the
Lancaster and Carlisle Railway and the
Eastern Counties Railway. The last to be built were four
broad gauge engines for the
Bristol and Exeter Railway and two
saddle tanks for the
Carmarthen and Cardigan Railway. ==Closure==