William Henry Sutton, a British Immigrant, opened a tool room at Thompson’s Foundry at Castlemaine. He was recognised as one of the leading tool engineers in England before his departure to Australia.
Nearing the end of World War 1 in 1917 after been seconded back to the UK to help with the war effort, W. Henry Sutton at the age of 54, established the Sutton Tool & Gauge Manufacturing Co. at Plant Street Westgarth, Victoria.
The P&N brand was founded as Patience & Nicholson in 1921 in the suburbs south-east of Melbourne., providing cutting tools for the professional and serious DIYer in Australia.
It soon became evident to local manufacturers’ they could now buy domestically produced tools of equal or better quality than those from overseas. With the original factory ‘bursting at the seams’, Sutton Tool & Gauge moved to a 13,000 square foot factory in Northcote, Melbourne.
Sutton Tool & Gauge commenced the
manufacture of Thread Tooling, expanding it’s product portfolio.
Sutton Tool & Gauge first export was to
New Zealand, a consignment of reamers.
Both sons of W. Henry, Henry George Sutton and Leslie Sutton became managing directors of the business whilst William Henry at age 77 continued to take an active interest.
William Henry Sutton, born 1863 - died 1950, a highly regarded tool and gauge engineer prior to the founding business owner of Sutton Tool & Gauge. William was a pioneer of the Australian Engineering Industry.
The demand for high quality tools made by
Sutton’s continued, and to meet with
increasing sales the firm opened another 45,000 square foot factory in Thomastown.
A team of engineers were sent across the globe to investigate the best method of producing the finest drill in the world. They came back with the “Ground-from-Solid” process. All endmills, slot drills and taps up to ½” diameter were produced by this method. Sutton Tools purchased and installed specialised equipment and was
considered to have one of the most modern facilities in the world.
Sutton Tool & Gauge commenced manufacturing Jobber Drills in Thomastown.
Sutton Tool & Gauge acquired an adjoining factory in Thomastown. The third generation Suttons, Bill and Jim, consolidated and extended Sutton Tools’ position in the
market, through their absolute commitment to quality, innovation and persistence.