Siebe Gorman and Company Limited
Siebe Gorman & Co. Ltd. was a British company that developed diving equipment and breathing equipment and worked on commercial diving and marine salvage projects. It has its orgins from 1819 when founded Augustus Siebe founded Siebe and Co. The company advertised itself as 'Submarine Engineers' and traded at 5 Denmark Street, Soho. By 1868 Siebe's second son, Henry Herepath Siebe, and his son-in-law William Augustus Gorman ran the business after Augustus's retirement, so in 1870 the company was renamed as Siebe and Gorman. Siebe & Gorman 1876 moved to larger premises at Westminster Bridge Road in Lambeth in 1876.
In 1904 after Gorman's death, the Vickers family reformed the company as a limited company Siebe, Gorman & Co. Ltd. Around this time, Robert Davis formed the research and experimental department, which solved many of the problems of breathing underwater, in poisonous atmospheres and at high altitude. Davis developed what became the standard diving dress and helmet used by the Royal Navy.
The factory premises grew to accommodate a machine shop, a fitter’s shop, a blacksmith’s shop, coppersmith’s shop, diving dress shop, hose shop and a rubber works. As well as diving products Siebe Gorman produced breathing apparatus for the Air Ministry. Much of the factory premises were destroyed during the war and a new purpose built factory was build, which was called Neptune Engineering and Instrument Works. The location, Davis Road, Chessington, Surrey.
The Company went on to develop underwater cameras and underwater television equipment breathing apparatus and submarine equipment. The company became a Public Company in 1952. In 1961, they take over Heinke who are the only other standard Diving equipment maker in the United Kingdom. In 1975, the Company move to Cwmbran.
The Siebe name continued until BTR and Siebe merged to become Invensys in 1999.