Expanded Polystyrene UK

Expanded polystyrene is synonymous with packaging, packing, insulation and display. It would be very difficult, almost impossible to conduct our normal modern lifestyles without encountering an expanded polystyrene product. Our USA counterparts call it Styrofoam for the same reasons we often call any vacuum cleaner a Hoover, which incidentally arrives from the shop safe and sound because it was delivered and protected by expanded polystyrene.

Technically STYROFOAM brand is generally based on building and construction materials such as housewrap and insulated sheathing and some craft products. As much as the American people call expanded polystyrene, 'Styrofoam' there isn't any packaging material, picnic cooler or coffee cup made from it!

Expanded polystyrene goes back a hundred years, quite amazing for such a modern product. It was the Dow Chemical Company that invented the process of extruding polystyrene to achieve closed cell foam that resists moisture. It would have been an extremely exiting moment when the many properties of expanded polystyrene were discovered, especially back in the 1900's. The weight of expanded polystyrene proved to have incredible buoyancy, indeed it was practically unsinkable. So much so that in 1942 the United States Coast Guard adopted expanded polystyrene to build a six-man life raft, and that was only the beginning of its role during the Second World War.

In the UK we have an expanded polystyrene manufacturer with roots going back to 1837. Like most successful companies, evolution was the pure essence of Hyde & Co. Ernie Hyde manufactured jewellery. 1837 was the year that King William IV died and Queen Victoria became Queen of England. An innovator called Ray Eccleston became manager of Hyde & Co and when My Hyde retired in 1927, Ray Eccleston and another jeweller, Joseph Hart bought the company. Eccleston & Hart was born.

In 1962 Eccleston & Hart Ltd. produced under license the first Buchman expanded polystyrene (EPS) moulding machines. During this expansion the company needed larger premises and moved into Legge Lane in 1964. Moulding of expanded polystyrene was now carried out and the conversion (cutting) side of the business evolved.

In 1980 Mike Eccleston joined the company and the products diversified further with the production of electronic power supplies, specifically un-interruptible power supplies for computers and DC-AC inverters.

The company again needed to expand and moved into the present premises in Lichfield Rd., Aston in 1989.

The electronic side of the business evolved into designing and manufacturing hot wire cutting machines. One of the next innovations was the production of a CAD/CAM Expanded Polystyrene cutting machine with ability to use Windows type files and even vectorization of scanned images.

The latest innovation is the worlds first Multiple axis (6 axis), multiple wire CAD/CAM Expanded Polystyrene profiler with ability to produce different shapes on either side of the machine i.e. square to circles etc.