Rank Audio Visual

Part of the Rank Organisation

1958 Rank acquired Wharfedale Ltd, who were manufacturers of high-fidelity loudspeakers, a natural development of the other audio equipment they dealt in. This became part of Rank Precision Industries.

1960 Rank Precision Industries's activities outside the scientific instruments side of the business were transferred to the Rank Audio Visual Division. The scientific instrument business of Rank Precision Industries Ltd was substantially expanded over the years on a world-wide basis, and the range of its products was increased.

The activities of the Audio Visual Division were all connected in one way or another with the communication of sight and sound, whether in the studio, cinema, theatre or home. Thus the range of goods and services supplied by the Division included seating, floor coverings, curtains and screens for cinemas and studios, projectors for films and slides, still and movie cameras, lighting for studios, cinemas and theatres, other studio equipment, hi-fi sound reproduction equipment, the hiring of films and amateur film processing. These goods and services were supplied to trade customers as well as to domestic users. In the case of the studio and cinema equipment businesses, Rank built them up and extended their range partly by internal expansion and partly through the acquisition of Andrew Smith Harkness Ltd in 1952 and Strand Electric Holdings Ltd in 1968.

The Bell & Howell photographic business had been acquired with Gaumont British in 1941, and to those marketing arrangements there were later added similar marketing arrangements for other makes of cameras.

The Division became the major distributor of leading Japanese products, including brands such as Pentax, Mamiya, Konica and Nikon.

1969 Acquired H. J. Leak and Co. Ltd which supplemented Wharfedale's range of products with two other main components of hi-fi equipment, namely, tuners and amplifiers.

The Top Rank Film Processing business had been established in the 1950s; Rank later acquired A. C. Vallance Ltd, a processing business based in the North of England.

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