Competitor' products

In Britain during the second half of the 18th century there was an upsurge in a variety of innovations- in agriculture, transport, trade and finance. It is difficult to find a parallel at any other time or place. The quickened pace of development is attested by the catalogue of new patents, the lenghthening list of Acts of Enclosure, the expanding figures of output and exports, and the course of prices, which, after remaining roughly steady for two generations, now began to increase at a reate that ws to coninue well into the next century. In this ferment of invention James Smyth was not the only village craftsman to turn his hand to improving agricultural machinery.

1. Garretts of Leiston
2. Hornsby's of Grantham
3. Reeves of Bratton, Wiltshire