First recipient of investment from the Institution of Mechanical Engineers’ new fund, Stephenson LP, is Lontra. The fund has been introduced to back companies developing cutting-edge UK technologies. The Midlands firm won the investment having impressed with the success story of its revolutionary Blade Compressor®.   Like George Stephenson’s miner’s lamp and the Rocket locomotive, the Blade Compressor® promises revolutionary benefits. Heavy industry depends upon compressors to deliver power to manufacturing lines, drive furnaces and convey materials. Collectively such compressors account for ten per cent of the world’s industrial electricity consumption. For 60 years, improvements in efficiency have been measured in single percentage figures, the Blade Compressor™ as the first clean-sheet design in 80 years, offers a 20% reduction in energy consumption.