Archibald Kenrick and Sons was founded in 1791, originally manufacturing buckles and livery fittings from a 3344 sq m site close to the Birmingham canal. The business grew rapidly and acquired the bedstead castor business of Parry and Wythes of Birmingham in 1889.
In 1949, GF Shepherd – a retired engineer, living in Australia – agreed to license Kenrick to manufacture and sell his patented castor. The following year, William Kenrick was overseeing the production of the first set of Shepherd castors and pressure die casting replaced traditional sand die casting. By 1958, the company had manufactured its millionth set of Shepherd castors and castor sales accounted for 64% of total sales. Today Kenrick manufactures close to 1 million units per year.
Standing the test of time
Kenrick’s manufacturing heritage goes way back and, to this day, we still have a strong reputation for high product quality. Our castors are widely used in commercial and domestic environments throughout the UK and overseas on beds, sofas, chairs, trolleys and dozens more demanding applications. Our products are designed to perform and built to last. We often hear stories about castors which are still performing perfectly well many decades after they have been fitted.
In recent years however, we’ve become increasingly aware of a rise in the number of products which resemble the Shepherd castor but are not as durable and fit for purpose.
The importance of the quality of furniture components is vital. Inferior quality castors seriously compromise the performance of furniture. They can bend and break under a load and scratch and damage flooring. The only way that specifiers can be assured that there are no inconsistencies in quality is to choose genuine products that have passed stringent industry testing.
Kenrick’s range of furniture castors is one of the biggest collections of UK manufactured castors. They are designed for a long and trouble-free service life and have all been tested to British standards.
The trademarked range includes Kenrick’s Orbit castors and Shepherd castors. Both the Orbit and Shepherd castors have passed the rigorous testing under BS EN 12527 and BS EN 12528. The wheels comfortably stood up to a 5kg load being dropped on them 10 times from a 300mm height as well as a vertical static load of 80kg for 24 hours.
The die-cast zinc Shepherd castor provides up to a 300kg load per set of four and the Orbit range of 50mm diameter castors provides a 230kg load per set of four. They both come in a range of standard fixings and colours as well as bespoke RAL colours.
T 0121 553 2741
