In 1938, Alfred Ford & Co Ltd was registered with £1,000 capital as a manufacturer and dealer in cutlery, razors, and razor blades (Sheffield Daily Independent, 23 August 1938).

It was established to acquire the rights to Patents No. 6,100/33 and No. 488,543 relating to improvements in knife blades. The subscribers were two accountants: Wilfred Condor (1899-1984) and Cyril Walter Gardner (1901-1974). Condor was the governing director, but the identity of ‘Alfred Ford’ remains a mystery.  

In 1939, Alfred Ford & Co appeared in the Sheffield directory as a cutlery manufacturer at Mappin Street.  The name then disappeared.  Besides ‘FORDIC’, the trade mark ‘ZIPPAKUT’ was sometimes used on stainless table knives marked ‘Alfred Ford & Co’.