New switchgear designs were beginning to appear. As early as 1906 the Company had made a totally enclosed mining pillar, having an oil circuit-breaker and compound-immersed busbars, and 1909 saw the introduction of its first drawout mining switch, which was called the 'S type' after the designer, H. R. Schultz. This was the direct forbear of really flameproof mining gear and, later, of the modern type of high-capacity drawout metalclad switchgear.

At this time the race between the ability of generating plant to deliver ever larger short-circuit currents and of switchgear to interrupt these currents had been temporarily lost. The American designs of circuit breaker were therefore considerably changed, and F. B. Holt produced the 'H type', which initially went up to 350 MVA at 33 kV. This first step beyond generating voltage enabled the Company to compete successfully in the continental markets where high voltage transmission was being introduced.

The increasing complexity of British main distribution systems emphasized the need for more rapid protective relays, and the Merz-Price differential protective system, either current or voltage balance, was accepted as the solution. The Company not only designed such equipment but also developed many variants, which were needed for unusual conditions. Induction relays were introduced to replace the less reliable solenoid types.

In meters the largest business lay overseas, where its development required a small and cheap a.c. meter, particularly for countries with import duties. The first design met with manufacturing difficulties and was accordingly modified by T. W. Ross. His new meter fitted with a cyclometer register was cheap, small, and exceedingly accurate, and it sold in large quantities abroad, at one time over 2000 a week

A.c. meters being firmly established, the Company turned its attention to the d.c. field, which provided the main market in this country. It was decided in 1909 to develop an ampere-hour meter of the commutator type, and North therefore made a slow-speed design with tungsten magnets and a thin aluminium disc, which carried flat coils of aluminium strip fed from a three-part commutator; later a change was made to silk-covered copper wire for the coils, which were mounted between two thin aluminium discs spun together at the edges.

Motor generator sets for main rolling mill drives were originally equipped with flywheels having a central bore for the shaft. As such wheels were inherently weak, W. E. Taylor, now head of the rolling mill section, put forward a solid design having central bosses for coupling to flanged shafts. The unpierced flywheel, which was stronger and had a higher factor of safety than the pierced type, was adopted by the Company as standard in 1914.