The history of Desmet Ballestra Rosedowns


THE 18th CENTURY – The Old Foundry

The history of Rosedowns start in the year 1777 when John Todd established a foundry on our site in HullProducts at that time included cannons (hence the name of our street) and parts for windmills which were the company’s first introduction into the world of Oilseed crushing.

As the Port of Hull grew it also became one of the world's largest centers for the crushing of oil bearing seeds and Rosedowns became a major supplier to this industry.


THE 19th CENTURY – Rose, Downs & Thompson

By 1820  the company had installed it’s first hydraulic press for expelling oil from Linseed.

In 1833 Mrs Christina Rose inherited ownership of the company. She employed a Mr James Downs, who was to become a partner in the company and in 1874 her grandson Mr. Campbell Thompson also became a partner and the company name became Rose, Downs and Thompson. The company was to trade under this name for over 100 years and became renowned throughout the world as a leading supplier of oil processing equipment.

The Downs family connection continued for over 140 years and Mr Leslie Downs, the grandson of Mr James Downs was the Managing Director when the company celebrated it’s 200th anniversary in 1977.

During it’s long and distinguished history the company has played a major role in many developments within the oilseed industry.

For example, improvements in the processing of seed led to the Anglo-American Press patented in 1874. An example is shown which could process up to 2 tons per hour. This became the prominent product until the advent of the Continuous Screw Press.

Another first came in 1898, when the company designed and produced the world’s first solvent extraction plant.


THE 20th CENTURY – From Rosedowns to Desmet Rosedowns

The first continuous screw press was designed in 1902. The screw press enabled continuous operation, rather than the batch processing method imposed by earlier equipment. This continuous operation meant that great savings were obtained in labour costs, as one operator could supervise several machines.

Additionally, the costly press cloths required in the hydraulic presses were completely eliminated. The continuous screw press rapidly became the oil extraction method of choice.Although early screw presses suffered from high wear, advances in hard wearing alloy steels enabled the screw press to replace hydraulic presses on all but a small number of heat sensitive applications.

At this time, the capacity of presses was low, 5 tons per day being a typical machine throughput. However, advances in technology and the advent of pre-pressing prior to solvent extraction have led to machines of far greater throughput and performance.

From the mid 20th Century the company was a part of various large corporate groups including the Power Gas Corporation, the Davy Ashmore Group and Simon Engineering.During these changes of ownership the names Rose and Downs always featured in the company name and Rosedowns became a brand name known worldwide as a mark of quality and reliability.

In late 1988, Rosedowns became part of the Belgium based De Smet Group. Founded in Antwerp just after the second World War, the group is a major supplier of solvent extraction and refining plant throughout the world.  Within the group Rosedowns concentrated on Oil Milling and Rendering equipment and in particular mechanical screw presses.During the 1990s the Sterling, Sovereign & Regent range of presses were developed and became extremely successful products.

A growing commitment was introduced to the Rendering Industry. Specific variants of the press range were developed for rendering and the parts business was grown by a new commitment to customer service.

THE 21th CENTURY – Desmet Ballestra Rosedowns

In 2004 the ownership of the De Smet group changed and soon afterwards the group joined with the Ballestra organisation to form the desmet ballestra Group. This change gave the group a greater presence in the growing Bio Diesel market, as well as strengthening it in the areas of soap and oil based chemicals.

Rosedowns continues to form a centre of excellence for mechanical extraction technology within the group. The development of the Sterling series of presses has set new standards for screw press design, performance and serviceability. The 800 Series has pushed the boundaries of press throughput to in excess of 800 Tonnes Per Day (TPD).

The  Rosedowns upgrade and conversion service has allowed the technology of the Sterling series  to be successfully used to improve the performance of existing installations.

Today De Smet Rosedowns remains at the forefront of the screw press industry, supplying new Rosedowns presses and replacement parts and upgrades for all makes and types of presses, combining our vast experience with advancing technologies to meet the present and future needs of today's and tomorrow's processors.