Minimax fire extinguisher body
- Made:
- Feltham
- maker:
- Minimax Limited
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Minimax fire extinguisher body, small flat-sided type, no fittings, empty. Chubb Museum red '61' sticker.
Minimax was founded in 1903, opening a factory in 1911 that produced 1000 extinguishers a month with worldwide orders – including an order from the Czar of Russia. The Siberian Railway was stocked with Minimax extinguishers.
The company was most famous for its conical extinguishers, which can be seen on the branding of this extinguisher. It is not clear why this example deviates slightly from the conical design, but it was operated in the same way: ‘drive in knob by hard blow against floor’.
The Minimax factory continued producing throughout both World Wars, producing 200 extinguishers a month in WW1. The company was taken over by the Pyrene company in 1955, who were then taken over by Chubb security in 1967. The Feltham factory remained famous for its art-deco design, with the gateway retained as public art when the building was demolished in the 1980s. A number of nearby roads are named in the company’s honour.
