Accoson
Alfred Cossor of Clerkenwell
Alfred Cossor and Son
Alfred Cossor and Sons
A. C. Cossor and Son (Surgical) trading as Accoson of Harlow
1859 Alfred Charles Cossor established his business to manufacture scientific glassware in Clerkenwell following a period of apprenticeship as a glass blower. He gained a reputation for his skills and for the quality of the glassware he produced.
1875 Alfred's eldest son, also called Alfred Charles Cossor, joined the business.
1885 The younger son Frank Cossor joined the company. Presumably became Alfred Cossor and Sons after this.
1902 The company produced the first British made Braun tube (cathode ray tube)
1904 Experimental valves were produced by Cossor for Ambrose Fleming.
1904 the first sphygmomanometer was manufactured by the company, using their glass blowing skills to produce the glass manometer.
1908 Cossor's elder son, Alfred Charles, left the family business to found A. C. Cossor, which went on to manufacture wirelesses, televisions and X-ray tubes.
1909 Dissolution of the partnership between Alfred Charles Cossor, the elder, and Frank Cossor, carrying on business as Meteorological Instrument Makers, at 12, Clerkenwell Green, London, E.C., under the style or firm of "A. C. COSSOR AND SON". All debts due to and owing by the said late firm were to be received and paid by the said Frank Cossor.[1]
1909 The Physical Society's Exhibition of Scientific Apparatus: 'The very simple patent speed-indicator of Mr. W. It. Cooper, exhibited by Messrs. A. Cossor, Limited, of 54, Farringdon-road, E.C., is a plain jointless glass tube, provided with two curved branches below, and thus resembling an anchor. The lower portion of the tube is filled with mercury ; the oil above serves as indicator. The tube is mounted on a vertical spindle, which is connected directly to the flexible drive. The indicator is calibrated up to 300 revolutions per minute, but can be used, with the aid of a gearing, for ten times that speed ; it can also be fitted with lution-counter for recording the total number of revolutions made. The new rotary high-vacuum pump of Messrs. Cossor consists of two pumps, both driven by the same electric motor. An oil-pump creates a low vacuum ; a pulley on its shaft and a cord drive the high-vacuum pump, which is of the Gaede type (described by us a few years ago), consisting of a cast-steel body enclosing a steel drum, which revolves in mercury. Vacua of 0.00001 and even 0.000001 millimetre are said to be produced.'[2]
1917 the company moved to its present location in Vale Road, London N4, under the guidance of Frank Cossor
1921 Frank Cossor was joined by his son Frank Gordon Cossor, and the company expanded its products to include all types of thermometers, hydrometers and syringes.
1926 A. C. Cossor and Son, thermometer manufacturers[3]
1929 A fire seriously damaged the factory[4]
1933 A. C. Cossor and Son (Thermometers) Ltd[5]
1938 A. C. Cossor and Son (Thermometers) Ltd, Accoson Works, Finchley[6]
Sphygmomanometers became the main product of the company.
1954 Frank Gordon's wife, Mabel, gave the Accoson Works, Finchley, address when registering "Ridgeway House," at Cuffley, Herts.[7]
1966 Adrian Cossor joined the company in 1966, the fourth generation to do so.
2018 Accoson was acquired by the HCE Medical Group and relocated to a new premises in Irvine, Scotland. This allowed Accoson to work closely with GM Instruments.
See Also
Sources of Information
- [1] Accoson Web site