2020 marks 100 years since the Vickery brand was created. The Vickery brand was created by Vickery’s Limited (now a part of Kadant U.K. Limited). The company was started by the late Fredrick William Vickery, a gifted inventor and engineer. Vickery’s was dedicated to research and development and over the years was granted 139 patents for innovative designs related to machinery in the paper production process and other industries.

In the company’s inaugural year, F. W. Vickery applied for a patent for a doctor incorporating the innovative feature of a fully flexible and free-floating blade. The first doctor with this feature was installed at Empire Paper Mills in November 1920 and proven an instant success.

Vickery’s went on in the following decade to continue developing doctoring technologies that are still in use 100 years later. Most notably in 1931, the company launched the first composite doctor blade. This innovation set the scene for paper machines across the world, some of which are still using that exact same composite material.

Kadant U.K. Limited continues the development and innovation today that established Vickery’s Limited as a market leader.