In 1848, John Angel and his son James came from Dorset, England, to erect a general iron works in Newfoundland for Charles Fox Bennett the colony's major intrepreneur. Bennett's Mill: as it was known, was erected on Water St. West, St. John's, and obtained its power from Mullins' River, which flows down through Victoria Park in that city.
Angel and his son managed Bennett's Mill for about seven years and then launched out on their own. They established a stove and nail plant and were soon able to absorb Bennett's Mill; for a time theirs was the only general foundry and machine shop in Newfoundland. Other enterprises were bought out and by 1885 the Angel interests comprised the original foundry, a rolling mill, a nail factory, and a machine and boiler shop on the waterfront. These mergers had just been completed when the founder died, to be succeeded by his son, James.
At this time in Newfoundland the schooner fleet numbered more than a thousand vessels, and the demand for ship's hardware and repair was enough to support a major industry. In 1884 this industry was concentrated on St. John's by the construction of a government drydock. Early in the 1890's the operation of the drydock was put into the hands of a group composed of Messrs Harvey, Angel and Brown, and the Angel Brown group, with their machine shop and boilermaking plant, and Harvey's coal plant, comprised an integrated facility of about 1200 men.
When the 1898 contract between the Reid interests and the government was made for the operation of the drydock, the Reid Newfoundland Company bought out the Harvey-Angel-Brown interests. The Angel group next acquired the plant of the Terra Nova Engine and Boiler Works on Water St. East and used its facilities to meet demands created by the increasing number of lumber mills and mining operations that were springing up. This concern was also purchased by the Reid Newfoundland Company in 1910.
In general, the year 1910 marked the beginning of a rapid decline in Newfoundland heavy industry. Modern inventions such as Marconi's wireless were making marine accidents less frequent, and communication with the mainland provided accessibility to parts and repairs that were less expensive than in Newfoundland. The merchant marine became smaller, and certain operations of the Angel companies ceased. Except for a brief period of munitions manufactured during the war, under the direction of F. W. Angel, BASc., O.B.E., the decline continued until 1930.
At this time the Newfoundland Consolidated Foundry Company and the St. John's Nail Manufacturing Company were amalgamated under the title of the United Nail and Foundry Company Limited, and steps were taken to put the plant on a competitive basis in the production of metalware and structural metal of all kinds. An electroplating plant, a sheet-metal plant, galvanizing equipment, a soil-pipe plant, a non-ferrous casting plant and a steel casting plant were built.
On the death of F. W. Angel in 1937, the management was assumed by his son, John B. Angel, B.Eng., P.Eng. In 1949 the UNF formed a new company to take over the interests of the Thompson and Sutherland Company foundry at North Sydney. The new firm was called the Angel Manufacturing and Supply Company Limited and is under the management of J. A. Angel, formerly the Assistant Manager of UNF.
There were four designs of woodstoves and space heaters, there was the Tortoise, the Eclipse Original, the Eclipse Improved, and the Otter 3. All with their dimentions, artists rendition, CA 1945.
Discreption # C2-25
** QUITE POSSIBLE THE ONLY ONE EXISTING**
