W. Vinten
of Urbanora House, 89-91 Wardour Street, London, W1
1910 W. Vinten was founded.
1922 Advert as Specialist in Cinematography Apparatus. Model "C" Camera; Model "M" Tripod. Also Cut-off Attachments, Printers, Winders, Measures, Perforation Gauges, Developing Plant, general Studio Requisites; Repairs; Engraving; General Engineering. (Stand No. G.61f) [1]
1928 Company incorporated.
1930 W. VINTEN, LTD., have moved into their new factory which is claimed to be the first English factory built especially for manufacturing cinematograph apparatus.[2]
1939 See Aircraft Industry Suppliers
1954 Vinten, W., Ltd. Cinematograph engineers; manufacturers of aircraft, instrumentation, take-off and high-speed cameras and all other photographic equipment. Head Office and Works: 715, North Circular Road, London, N.W.2. 6373-5, 6386-8. T,A. and Cables: Vintacinni, London. Associated Company and Main Overseas Distributor: Cinematograph Export Ltd.[3]
1967 Queen's Award for Industry
1972 Floated on the London Stock Exchange[4], Supplied photographic equipment to a range of markets including defence (reconnaissance), camera mounts for television studios, specialist cameras such as for betting shops).
1973 The company changed its name to Vinten Group Limited.
Maker of aerial reconnaissance systems and other monitoring equipment.
1981 Acquired the Evershed Power Optics subsidiary of Brown Boveri Kent[5]
1982 Acquired Exotic Materials of USA; established Vinten Electro-Optics in UK; agreed to buy a competitor Television Products Co of Los Angeles[6]
1984 Company name changed to Vinten Group plc.
1995 As a consequence of the expansion of the Group through various acquisitions during the past ten years, the company was renamed Vitec Group plc.
Current activities include the design and manufacture of high quality equipment principally for photography, video, cinematography and live events professionals. Distribution of in-house and third party photographic accessories. Products include photographic and video camera tripods and heads. Lighting stands, grips and accessories. Lighting and scenery suspension equipment. Camera bags. Live entertainment and exhibition lighting suspension structures and staging systems. Third party products distributed include flash units, light meters and filters
See Also
Sources of Information
- ↑ 1922 British Industries Fair Advert ccxiii; and p81
- ↑ The Bioscope 19 February 1930
- ↑ 1954 The Aeroplane Directory of the Aviation and Allied Industries
- ↑ The Times, Dec 11, 1972
- ↑ The Times, Jul 21, 1981
- ↑ The Times, Jul 20, 1982