Based in the South East of England, Blaker is one of the longest-established businesses in the Horsham District, West Sussex. Blaker Engineering Co. Ltd. was founded in 1886 by Alexander Blaker and was initially based in Islington, London. Blaker specialised in automobile engineering and was instrumental in developing the innovative Hallé Spring Wheel which received an acclaimed gold medal at the Liège Universal Exhibition in 1905.
In the 1930s, the company bought a blacksmith’s shop, close to Horsham and launched a new axle and chassis repair business. Blaker Specialist Welding Repairs Ltd. grew steadily and during the Second World War, the skills of its engineers were in great demand. War-time work included fixing components for Hurricane and Spitfire plane engines, as well as tank transporters and reconnaissance vehicles for Canadian Army units stationed nearby.
By the 1950s, Blaker employed about 30 people and was the ‘go-to’ company for machinery and vehicle repairs (including lorries, agricultural and earth-moving machinery), with its vans carrying out mobile repairs across the South East of England. However, in more recent times the demand for repairs plateaued as mass produced components provided a more cost effective option for customers. Blaker needed to diversify and established a sister company called ‘BlakerTech’ to develop and manufacture products for the metal and waste recycling industry.
For over a decade, Blaker has repaired machinery and equipment for the recycling industry, giving them a first-hand insight into what works, what’s weak and what can be improved.
Existing recovery methods, such as sorting by hand, wet separation and x-ray fluorescence can be problematic. They can be uneconomical, unreliable in harsh and dusty environments, complicated to operate and hazardous to health and the environment.
Realising high volumes of non-ferrous metals from dry recyclables represents a significant amount of money for metal recycling and processing plants and also saves the rising costs associated with waste disposal. Blaker saw a need for straightforward products that could simply, reliably and cost effectively achieve this objective using minimal resources.
BlakerTech manufactures two products - the SandFlo™ and the MagThro™
Both products and associated accessories are handmade in the UK at BlakerTech's facility in the South East of England. BlakerTech also provide full installation, training and support.