Edward Carbutt went into business as a mechanical engineer in Leeds. When he was 24 (circa 1862) he entered into partnership with the engineer Robinson Thwaites (1811–1884) in the Vulcan Iron Works at Bradford. Carbutt and Thwaites exhibited a 'Patent Double-Action Self-Acting Steam Hammer' in the 1862 London Exhibition. Carbutt and Thwaites petitioned for a further patent 'for the invention of improvements in hammers to be worked by steam or other fluid' in 1867.