High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! Richard Hornsby & Sons was an engine and machinery manufacturer in Lincolnshire, England from 1828 until 1918. The company was a pioneer in the manufacture of the oil engine developed by Herbert Akroyd Stuart, and marketed under the Hornsby-Akroyd name. The company developed an early track system for vehicles, the patent for which was sold to Holt & Co. (predecessor to Caterpillar Inc.) in America. The company became a subsidiary of the neighbouring engineering firm of Rustons of Lincoln in 1918 to create Ruston & Hornsby.