William Spooner started his company after detecting a niche for the production and sale of industrial drying equipment. His intent was to increase the speed and efficiency of industrial drying. He achieved this by applying the principles of
forced convection to industrial drying and textile applications. The Spooner Dryer and Engineering Company started in a one-room building in
Shipley, West Yorkshire, in 1932 when Spooner was fifty years old. He employed two men, as well as a 16-year-old-school leaver as his secretary – Arthur B Rooks – who later became a
director of the company. Initially, the company emphasized improving the
textile industry's drying processes; later it became involved with the paper trade. After three years the company outgrew its premises in
Shipley and Spooner bought part of a small mill in
Yeadon and relocated his company there. The beginning of
World War II delayed the company's expansion but after the war the expansion continued. Spooner was a funder of local causes, and in 1962 established his charitable trust: W.W. Spooner Charitable Trust. Spooner and his wife Mercie were collectors of British drawings and watercolours. Their collection was bequeathed jointly to the
Courtauld Institute of Art upon his death, and was published in the book
The Spooner Collection of British Watercolours in 2006. == References ==