Cosby Smallpeice
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Cosby Donald Philipps Smallpeice (23 March 1896 – 1977)[1] was an English engineer involved in design of precision and production lathes, and pneumatic tools and hoists. He created the company Martonair, and on its flotation in 1966 he founded The Smallpeice Trust to provide opportunities for engineering students. Much of the history of Cosby Smallpeice is covered in a publication by The Smallpeice Trust titled "A Smallpeice of History",[2] which documents the history of the founder, the trust, and its ongoing training programmes.[3]
Born the son of William and Cicely Smallpeice on 23 March 1896 in London he grew up in Felsted where he attended Felsted School. At the outbreak of War in 1914 he enlisted in the Royal Army Service Corps and attained the rank of captain by the time he was severely gassed in 1917. In the year he spent recovering he taught himself technical drawing and in 1919 entered the profession as C Smallpeice, General Engineer,[4] having rented a corrugated iron shed in Sawbridgeworth with a 14-year-old lad as assistant.[2]
While in Sawbridgeworth, Cosby married Josephine Collins, the daughter of a local doctor.[2] In the 1920s Cosby was frustrated by poor quality lathes available and resolved to produce his own design for a cheap but effective production lathe with pneumatically actuated headstock and tailstock and its own electric drive. In 1929 he was trading as Smallpeice Ltd, and moved the company to Foleshill Rd, Coventry where he shared premises with Cromwell Engineering. The collaboration allowed the production in 1929 of the Smallpeice Multicut production lathe. There was also a precision lathe marketed under the Cromwell name, and Smallpeice continued in the development of pneumatic aids to production, and apart from premises in Mile Lane in Coventry he had a drawing office in the village of Marton.[2]