Cover image for Alexander Patent Racket Company
Agency:
Alexander Patent Racket Company
Agency Number:
Start Date:
01 Jan 1922
End Date:
31 Dec 1961
Description:
The Alexander Patent Racket Company was established in Newstead, in the north of Tasmania in the 1920s. The Company's aim was to produce superior tennis racquets. The design for the racquets was developed by Stephen B Hopwood and woodworking expert Alfred Alexander over four years. Hopwood and Alexander developed a design that utilised English or American ash in the frame, with four to five strips of wood and hide glued together and compressed under a nine tonne pressure. According to the patent for the design this was the first racquet with a frame made of strips of wood rather than one solid piece of wood. By 1926 a team of 13 employees were producing eight different types of racquet with the Company taking orders from all around Australia. From 1931, the company was also manufacturing a range of sporting equipment including badminton and squash racquets, cricket bats, golf clubs, hockey sticks and table tennis bats. The Company ceased operations in 1961 following greater automation of production by other manufacturers.
Information Sources:
Examiner 16/6/1826, p.8; Green, Christopher (Gus), 2011, What a racket, Launceston, Tas: Bokprint
Functions Performed:
Tasmanian businesses
Series Created By Agency:
LMSS2 Scrapbooks01 Jan 192731 Dec 1939