History of Morganite Electrical Carbon Limited - a world leader in carbon technology

Morganite Electrical Carbon

History
In 1855 William Vaughn Morgan acquired the merchant and druggist business of Halse & Sons in the City of London. Trading for a period under the name of Morgan & Rees, William’s five brothers joined forces with him (pictured above) and in 1856 obtained a technical licence from an American company for the manufacture of crucibles.

The purchase of a factory in Battersea, London followed (pictured). By 1857 the works were busy enough for the Patent Plumbago Crucible Company - as it was then known - to display a range of crucibles at the Crystal Palace exhibition.

The company’s reputation won it a Gold Medal at the Paris Exhibition in 1868 and international trade developed throughout Africa, South East Asia, the Americas and Europe. In the late 1870s the company changed its name to The Morgan Crucible Company and eventually became a public limited company in 1890.

By the turn of the century the company had expanded its base to include a widening range of refractory products.

Morgan cut its first electrical brush from graphite early in 1903. Because carbon gives a long life and will not weld, carbon brushes quickly replaced their copper predecessors and a new technology was born.

Morgan’s carbon brush business is known today as Morganite Electrical Carbon Limited. For many years the company was based at Battersea but by the early 1960s Morganite needed space to expand and a search of the UK was undertaken to find a suitable location.

After a long search, a greenfield site on the new Enterprise Zone development at Morriston in Swansea was identified.

The company moved into its new site in 1969, and it was formally opened by HRH the Duchess of Kent on October 12 in 1971.

Morganite Electrical Carbon Limited
Upper Fforest Way, Morriston, Swansea SA6 8PP
Tel: 01792 763000 - Fax: 01792 763167