Readers’ Letters
Renold and Reynolds
In Tim Britton’s article ‘Less on the shelf’ (February 2019) about his Triumph rebuild, caption number seven, page 77, refers to the confusion between Renold (transmission engineers) and Reynolds (tube manufacturers).
This took me back to 1977 when I started work as a junior draughtsman for Renold Ltd at their research and development centre in Wythenshaw, Manchester. It was Hans Renold, the founder of the company, who patented the bushed roller chain in 1880. By running the rollers on bushes that are pressed into the inner plates of the chain, and having the pins of the outer links run through the bore of those bushes, wear is considerably reduced. Prior to this innovation the rollers turned directly on the pins. This design still holds today.
However, it was the ‘confusion’ statement that made me smile. I was with Renold Ltd for three-and-a-half years, mostly involved with the design of conveyor chain and large sprag clutches. About four years later, after working as a design draughtsman with the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority, I went to an interview for a
