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Doughty engineering is a family business that started in 1970 as a manufacturer of trailers,  ranging from small camping and boat trailers right up to 20 tonne commercial truck trailers.  In 1980 we started the design and manufacture of a range of attachments for rough terrain forklift trucks that are used in the farming and construction world.  Doughty soon became known as one of the UK’s leading manufacturers in this field making a range of high-quality products such as hydraulic silage grabs, towing hitches, crane jibs, muck forks and grain buckets.

By the mid-eighties it was clear that to survive the impending recession there was a need to diversify even further.  The Doughty of today could be regarded as a happy coincidence. When a local theatrical supply company asked us to quote for the manufacture of some bracketry for them little did we know that this would lead to a whole new world of products.  After making the first batch of 500 steel hook clamps for them this quickly led on to orders for boom arms, safety chains etc and the rest, as they say, is history!

The product range continued to develop and soon led on to the design of the extruded aluminium half couplers we call the Doughty Clamp.  This quickly became the industry standard half coupler and led on to many other innovative products.  The trigger and quick trigger clamps followed and this led on to the Twenty and Fifty clamps.  These were all designed by us and have been copied all around the world.  In 1994 we began to manufacture grip equipment for the TV and film world and this range has also continued to grow.

Our high quality products are appreciated and specified worldwide: export sales account for some 60% of our output, through our distributors in Europe, Latin America, Asia, Africa and Australasia and our own company in the USA.

Doughty… Where you saw it first.

In 2002 we stepped into the US market, opening an office and warehouse in California – a new adventure and another learning curve as we needed to design new products for this market. It was due to this that we developed the Atom range of couplers.

We are always happy to manufacture special bespoke items and these often lead to standard parts ending up in our range.  We listen hard to our customers and at every trade show we visit, we ask for feedback, for ideas, asking “What item would you like to see in your wish list toolkit?” No company can expect to be successful or to enjoy growth if they’re not willing to listen to their customers – their needs are at the forefront of everything we do and we take customer service very seriously.

Doughty remains a family business to this day and we are very proud to be a British manufacturer based in the beautiful New Forest in the market town of Ringwood, Hampshire.  Our offices are over a large factory that includes a modern CNC machine shop, a foundry and a paint shop.  Manufacturing in house allows us to constantly update our products and also to continually test rigorously for safety.  A lot of our products are also approved by the TUV and these carry their mark.

We sell in over 50 countries using a long-established dealer network of the best distributors in the professional lighting and sound sector and our products are used all over the world by almost every touring production and in every major entertainment event.

You can trust in Doughty Engineering, we won’t let you down!

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Our History