Vickers Instruments
of York
1915 Vickers Ltd acquired control of T. Cooke and Sons, a scientific instrument manufacturing business. They had long had an interest in the military side of Cooke products such as rangefinders, gunsights and surveying equipment, adapted to military needs.
1922 Cooke’s continued to expand in York and amalgamated with the long established instrument-making firm of Troughton and Simms of London (1824-1922).
1924 The new firm became Cooke, Troughton and Simms and became a wholly owned subsidiary of Vickers.
1939 Another factory was built on a larger site in Haxby Road
WWII Of the 3,300 people employed by the firm, 1,400 were women.
Post-WWII. After the war, microscopes, survey equipment and engineers' measuring instruments became the main products.
1959 Acquisition of the C. Baker Ltd microscope factory
1963 A new company, Vickers Instruments Ltd, was formed to integrate the Cooke, Baker and Casella (Electronics) activities. This company continued as a profitable business for many years, mainly selling microscopes, surveying instruments and micro measurement apparatus.
1965 the name changed to Vickers Ltd, Vickers Instruments
Throughout the 1960s and 1970s Vickers Instruments continued to develop a large range of surveying equipment and microscopes for which they won British design awards.
1968 the microscope side of the Croydon Works (previously C. Baker Microscopes) was transferred to York. Later Laser Range Finders were developed for Vickers tanks and Fibercheck was introduced for the optical glass fibre industry.
1982 the name was changed to Vickers PLC, Vickers Instruments.
Early 1980s: concentrated on the semi-conductor market; this led to the acquisition of Semco Instruments Co Ltd of Ottawa, Canada.
1980s The firm’s traditional skills in optics and mechanics were enhanced by electronic and software expertise and Quaestor, a new instrument for high precision measurement of microchips, was produced as well as other high precision measuring apparatus and on the defence side, laser range finders for Vickers’ tanks.
1987 Quaestor won the Queen's Award for Technology and the Queen's Award for Export.
1988 Vickers Group sold Vickers Instruments (York) to Bio-Rad Laboratories Inc. USA, becoming Bio-Rad Micromeasurements of York. The ordnance side of the business was acquired by British Aerospace, thus keeping it in British hands.
See Also
Sources of Information
- [1] Archive