The main piece of machinery in the workshop at the time was an old steam engine - an upright donkey engine. The engine was coupled to a huge fan which provided the blast for the fires. It also turned a long shaft that was slung from the ceiling along the whole length of the workshop. Belts looped down from pulleys on the shaft to drive the grinding and polishing machines.
When this particular piece of machinery reached the end of it's useful life it was replaced with a 'state of the art' gas engine.Many firms in Great Britain made a lot of money out of the Boer War, Brown's being one of them.
By the end of the war they had made enough money to relocate.

They bought a field in Forge Lane, ironically, close to where Sideways forge once operated. Very soon a large, new factory stood on the site.It was agreed by the Brown family that the company should be run with a minimum of three directors and a maximum of five. Circa 1903, the five directors were, John, Fred, Leonard, Tom and Horace.

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