This twentieth century firm—active between 1938 and 1992, and likely for longer—is best remembered for their dovetailing machines.
From the 1970 book, Encyclopedia of Furniture Making
Information Sources
- A 1938 issue of The Architect & Building News has a news snippet:
R. S. BROOKMAN LTD.—This firm are showing for the first time at the Building Exhibition. Their principal machines will be a versatile dovetailer, equally at home on mineral water boxes and high-grade cabinet work, and a mortiser, adaptable for single pieces or for fast repetitive work.
- Listed in a 1992 issue of Wood Technology as a maker of mortisers and dovetailers.
- Two Hundred years of History And Evolution Of Woodworking Machinery., by William Sims.
New manufactures of woodworking machinery during this period (1920 to 1930) included R.S. Brookman Limited, Leicestershire and Rye Machinery Limited of high Wycombe. The late Mr R.S. Brookman had a small engineering business for some years. In 1929 he designed and built a multi-spindle automatic dovetailer for Guilliet, Sons & Co which is shown in fig 14 below. Brookman eventually made this machine under his own name and the company has specialized in dovetailing machinery manufacture. Mr Brookman also used modern oil hydraulics in its early days to power feed his hydraulic mortiser.