In this volume: Thomas Aveling, a farmer interested in engineering, started an agricultural machinery repair shop in 1850 in Rochester, Kent. He experimented with traction engine and agricultural machinery design throughout the 1850s, and set up an iron foundry and engineering firm, also in Rochester. Aveling also had workshops at Strood, Kent, on which at a later date the famous Invicta Works was built. The emblem of Kent is the ‘rampant horse’ and every engine from the factory bore the emblem together with the word ’Invicta’ the Latin for ’unconquered’. In 1862 Richard Porter brought capital and his name to the firm, which from then on became Aveling & Porter Ltd.