Chesterfield Special Cylinders, has been a leader in the design, development and manufacture of high-pressure seamless steel gas cylinders for over 125 years. Its origins trace back to The Universal Weldless Steel Tube Company Limited, which was formed in London in 1897 and later acquired in 1906 by Chesterfield Tube Company Limited. A succession of corporate owners saw the business at the forefront of all major technical advances in seamless steel cylinders throughout the 20th century. In 2004 John Hayward (Chief Executive of Pressure Technologies plc 2007 – 2018), led a Management
Buy-Out (MBO) backed by South Yorkshire Investment Capital Fund and Yorkshire & Humber Equity Fund, and renamed the business Chesterfield Special Cylinders.
As part of the MBO plan, the business relocated from its historical Chesterfield home to a 100,000 square ft factory on 4.4 acres, adjacent to the M1 in Sheffield. The move was completed in 2005 at a cost of around £1.5 million. Chesterfield Special Cylinders was re-engineered on the new site with a more efficient plant layout, to increase productivity and greatly improve production capacity.
Pressure Technologies was then established in 2007 and listed on the London Stock Exchange’s grown market, AIM. Since then, the Group has growth by acquisition, expanding into specialist precision machining with acquisitions including Al-Met, Roota Engineering and Martract to form the Precision Machined Components Division.
