Oates was in business by 1865 in Monmouth Street and advertised in the local directory.  Sardine Works targeted a niche market: can-opener knives.  An advertisement in 1876 shows him operating from No. 5 Court, Leicester Street, and living in Wadsley.  He sold a wide range of trade knives, but particularly ‘Every Description of Knives to Open Australian Meat Cans; Hook Knives, and Knives to Open Sardine Boxes’.  Appropriately, his trade mark was a picture of can-opener.   Oates was also listed as a Bowie knife manufacturer.  The business was not listed after 1883.  The death of William Oates, Brook Lane, Brookhill, on 13 December 1877 (aged 75) may explain that.  His unconsecrated grave was in the General Cemetery.