J. Parkinson opened a shop in Bradford, Yorkshire in 1865. In 1884 Parkinson was making vises among other products and discovered that a former customer was no longer buying his vises because they had hired someone else to make copies of Parkinson's original "Handy Vice" design. In response, Parkinson designed a new vise and patented it; the key feature, which was reportedly suggested by his son, was the use of a buttress thread rather than the usual square-cut thread. The vise, which was sold as "Parkinson's Perfect Vise", would ultimately receive patents in Britain, USA, Canada, France, Germany and Belgium. The vise was a great success.

In 1892 Parkinson's son officially became a partner in the business, which became J. Parkinson & Son. A year later the business relocated from Bradford to Shipley, and within a couple of years they acquired the "Prince of Wales" works in Shipley, renaming them to the Canal Ironworks.

By 1900 Parkinson & Son also manufactured milling machines and would soon add engine lathes, gear cutting machinery, and boring machinery. By 1910 they had acquired the rights to the Sunderland gear cutting machines, developed by Sam Sunderland of Keighley, who developed the idea of planing true involute gear teeth using a rack cutter.

In 1954, the company was acquired by Crofts (Engineers) Holdings Ltd.

Information Sources

• Page on J. Parkinson & Son in Grace’s Guide
• Page on Parkson milling machines on Tony Griffith's lathes.co.uk site.
• Page on Sunderland gear planers on Tony Griffith's lathes.co.uk site.
• February 1910 Machinery, page 461, article on "New Spur Gear Generating Machine", which was the Sunderland patent gear cutter manufactured by J. Parkinson & Son.