R. W. Munro
of Lambeth, Clerkenwell, Kings Cross,
of 103/109 Cornwall Street, South Tottenham, London, N17,
of Bounds Green,
of Barking, Redbridge, and now Harlow, manufacturer of instrumentation to measure, monitor and record the environment.
1864 Business established by Robert William Munro.
Following the Tay Rail Bridge Disaster in 1879, a public enquiry found there was a lack of understanding of wind speed and how to measure it. In response, W. H. Dines was called upon to find a solution to the problem. He invented the Dines Pressure Tube Anemometer, of which R. W. Munro became the sole manufacturer.
1880 the Bank of England commissioned R. W. Munro to devise a more efficient printing machine capable of producing and numbering bank notes at a rate of 3000 per hour. These were later used by the Post Office too.
1890 Mining engineer and geologist John Milne approached R. W. Munro to contemplate the design and production of a ultra-sensitive portable seismograph. This project was completed over a ten-year period and became a huge success. The Portable Seismograph was sold worldwide and could be found in places as far flung as Brazil, Australia and St Vincent in the Caribbean.
c.1900 The firm constructed a small machine for William Johnson Sollas of Oxford University, to the design of his friend and colleague, Jervis-Smith of Oxford, for polishing sections of fossils.[1]
1906 a Dines Pressure Tube Anemometer manufactured by R. W. Munro was lent to Captain Scott for use on his expedition to the Antarctic.
1907 R. W. Munro played a crucial role in the completion of Henry Babbage's Analytical Engine Mill. This represented an important step towards the invention of the modern computer in later years.
1917 Patent with Francis John Rooker on " A Method and Apparatus for Sub-dividing the Calibrated Divisions on a Dial or the like"
1929 Advert in British Industries Fair Catalogue as an Optical, Scientific and Photographic Exhibit. Manufacturers of Aircraft air Speed Indicators and Recorders. Turn Indicators, Anemometers, Wind Direction Indicators and Recorders, Gauges, Microtomes, Tube Scale Dividing Machines. (Scientific Section - Stand No. O.30) [2]
c1930s R. W. Munro Ltd., of Chine Road, Bounds Green, London, N11 2LY - makers of anemometers, anemographs, barometers and barographs.[3]
1932 Patent - Improvements in or relating to machinery for conveying, grading, sorting and sizing produce or articles such as coal, fruit, and such like.
1937 Aircraft instruments. [4]
1940 Patent - Improvements in or relating to pressure gauges for use in air speed indicating apparatus.
1954 Munro, R. W., Ltd. Flight-recording instruments, including air-speed indicators and calibrators. Head Office: Bounds Green, London, E.11.[5]
1956 R. W. Munro’s connection with computing was renewed when IBM asked the company to reconstruct a copy of Babbage’s Analytical Engine.
1979 R. W. Munro Ltd filed a patent on "Air speed sensing device", for use with hand gliders
1985 A new company, R. W. Munro Ltd of Christchurch, was incorporated (is this connected with the above?)
2009 A new company, Munro Instruments Ltd, based in Harlow, was incorporated, continuing the business making environmental instruments.
2025 See here for the Munro Instruments history webpage.
See Also
Sources of Information
- ↑ A Method for the Investigation of Fossils by Serial Sections by W. J. Sollas, D. Sc., LL. D., F.R.S.,Professor of Geology and Palaeontology in the University of Oxford, Received May 19, Read June 11, 1903.
- ↑ 1929 British Industries Fair Advert 124 and 121
- ↑ Typed donated document - 'Some Sources of Meteorological Instruments and Equipment' (date unknown but possibly circa 1930s.)
- ↑ 1937 The Aeroplane Directory of the Aviation and Allied Industries
- ↑ 1954 The Aeroplane Directory of the Aviation and Allied Industries