40th anniversary of the death of John Alexander Finlay

Northern Ireland has a legacy of great innovators, engineers and achievers.  It includes very famous people like Harry Ferguson.  To that list I would add County Tyrone man, John Alexander Finlay who is not as well known because of his tragic death at an early age, but in so many ways in a life of success he is deserving of better recognition.  John Finlay was without doubt an engineering genius and a pioneering innovator that achieved greatness while remaining humble.  While Harry Ferguson is recognised as the father of the modern tractor, John Finlay is rightfully recognised as the father of mobile hydraulic quarry screening and crushing equipment for his impact on the technology across the world. Hydraulics would link both innovators and while Harry Ferguson never achieved mass manufacturing success of his inventions in Northern Ireland, John Finlay did.

John Alexander Finlay was born on the 28th February, 1929.  He was from Tullyvannon, Ballygawley, County Tyrone and one of the world great innovators were quarrying equipment is concerned.

John Finlay had a background in quarrying, owning and operating several sand and gravel aggregate quarries.  But it was as an engineer that had a hands on approach designing and with innovative and revolutionary ideas used to improve the technology used in quarrying he began to make a global impact.  

In 1953 John Finlay after much research, testing and design, Patented and began manufacturing his first block-making machine.  Its success laid the foundations for his engineering empire that in 1958 resulted in him designing and launching the world’s first hydraulic screen and crushing equipment.  Other innovative technology he pioneered included aggregate washing plant systems.  He Patented his first centre-placed single-shaft screen box design, a technology that is now commonly used throughout the world.   This “Hydrascreen” technology combining hydraulics and mobile screening or as he named it “Hydrascreens” was a revolution as it was portable meaning it could be moved from one quarry to another, allowing extraction and grading/screening of even small deposits of aggregate.

John’s engineering talent would extend into other uses of hydraulics for example forklifts and as his empire expanded opening a number of factories.

That expansion would see the first purpose built factory to manufacture Finlay Hydrascreens located at Omagh, County Tyrone opened in 1976 and which celebrates its 50th anniversary this year.

Sadly on the 29th April, 1986, John Finlay would be killed in a road accident when his car collided with a lorry on the Omagh to Ballygawley road. He was only 57 years old.

I met John Finlay while a student at Omagh Technical College and on a factory visit to the Hydrascreen factory in Omagh, he was so down to earth, working on a piece of machinery you would have thought he was an employee and not the owner of a global empire of mobile quarry screening equipment.  He had a wealth of knowledge, and enjoyed nothing better than getting stuck in, getting his hands dirty and solving physical and technical problems.

The empire that John Alexander Finlay left behind on this day forty years ago is a legacy so worthy of celebration.  That legacy needs better recognition with a blue plaque in his honour and to tell his life story in a County Tyrone museum, hopefully at the unused St. Lucia Barracks in Omagh.

His life story of success is still relevant today as the technology he pioneered continues to create employment for so many.  Much of the manufacturing in County Tyrone feeds into the quarrying equipment manufacturing sector thanks to John Alexander Finlay, the father of mobile quarrying and hydraulic screening equipment.

Stevan Patterson, Castlederg, County Tyrone