Drill Chuck Manufacture at CVA

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Coombe Road drill chuck production facility

These photos show the CVA Drill Chuck Production facility at their factory in Coombe Road, taken in the early 1960’s.  The Drill Chuck production facility came about following the Second World War.  CVA Managing Director Eric Aron felt that there would be a surplus of machine tools, that would flood the market, and he looked to diversify into other markets.  The Coombe Road factory was used for many of these projects, including fractional horsepower motors, drill and lathe chucks and surprisingly domestic appliances.  Whilst they had little success with domestic irons and vacuum cleaners against the “big players” like Hoover, they were well positioned to manufacture drill chucks.

CVA understood the product

With their background in the manufacture of small hand tools for engineers during their early days at Portland Road, and the knowledge gained manufacturing small machine tools since 1926, CVA were in a good position to manufacture drill chucks.  They understood the product, and probably the market; many manufactures of machine tools and drilling machines, would concentrate on the machine itself, leaving “the simpler” items like drill chucks to sub-contractors.  Furthermore, apart from selling for inclusion with another manufacturers machine, they could be sold as spares, replacements and “add-ons” in their own right.  The fact that the standard had been set in 1864, when Stephen Morse invented the Morse taper, also worked to their advantage.  The Morse taper gave interchangeability with most manufacturer’s machine spindles, giving a broader market.

Complex precision parts

Probably the term “simpler” is incorrect, as the workings were in fact quite complex.  A precision internal spiral tapered thread and corresponding form on the 3 jaws, allowed the chuck to open and close, as the key turned the perimeter gear teeth.  Furthermore, the complex components were induction hardened, a specialist process, with few having the technology.  While these complex components could be manufactured on standard machines, to produce in high volume, and at a competitive price, required lateral thinking, and CVA soon came up with the solution!  CVA decided to design and build their own production line of machine tools, dedicated to the manufacture of drill chucks.

The more famous Jacobs drill chucks

The Coombe Road factory produced a range of different sizes of drill chucks, and many thousands of each type were manufactured throughout the 1950’s.  In fact CVA became so good at it that they also produced the more famous “Jacobs” drill chucks under a licensing agreement.  It was also due to ventures like this that enabled CVA to create a division dedicated to the production of special purpose machine tools, which were sold to automotive giants like Ford, Toyota, British Leyland and similar companies.

Sold to an Israeli company c. 1966

It was probably around 1966, when CVA became a wholly owned subsidiary of Kearney & Trecker, that production ceased.  Kearney & Trecker wanted to concentrate on new hi-tech NC machines, and so the Drill Chuck production line was sold to an Israeli company.  Engineers from the Coombe Road factory went out to Israel to install the production line and ensure a smooth transition of technology.

Comments about this page

  • Hi Jenny, I worked here in the late 50s, making the drill chucks, 12 hr night shifts, nice group of people to work with, we all had our own particular work to do and you just got on with it. I had a couple of years there and that was enough. I was beginning to feel like being a robot, start at 8pm and finish at 8am. It was an experience I won’t forget.

    By Pete Rose (22/02/2017)

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