Grace's Guide To British Industrial History

Registered UK Charity (No. 115342)

Grace's Guide is the leading source of historical information on industry and manufacturing in Britain. This web publication contains 162,237 pages of information and 244,492 images on early companies, their products and the people who designed and built them.

Grace's Guide is the leading source of historical information on industry and manufacturing in Britain. This web publication contains 147,919 pages of information and 233,587 images on early companies, their products and the people who designed and built them.

Difference between revisions of "Elliott Automation"

From Graces Guide
(32 intermediate revisions by 3 users not shown)
Line 1: Line 1:
'''Elliott Brothers (London) Ltd''' was an early computer company of the 1950s–60s in the United Kingdom, tracing its descent from a firm of instrument makers founded in London around 1804. The research laboratories were based at Borehamwood, originally set up in 1946. The first Elliott 152 computer appeared in 1950.
[[Image:Imv208-p005.jpg ‎|thumb|1959. Track Recording Coach. ]]


The well-known computer scientist, Sir Tony Hoare was an employee there from August 1960 for eight years and wrote an ALGOL 60 compiler for the Elliott 803. He also worked on an operating system Elliott 503 Mark II for the computer, although this was less successful and abandoned along with "over thirty man-years of programming effort." (c.f. The Emperor's Old Clothes)
'''Elliott Automation Group''', of Lewisham, London, the holding company for a collection of companies involved in process control and automation including a company active in the development of computers in the 1950s–60s in the United Kingdom.


John Lansdown pioneered the use of computers as an aid to planning; making perspective drawings on an Elliott 803 computer in 1963, modeling a building's lifts and services, plotting the annual fall of daylight across its site, as well as authoring his own computer aided design applications.
Originated as a firm of instrument makers [[Elliott Brothers]] founded in London around 1800.  


'''Elliott Automation''' (as it had become) merged with [[English Electric]] and was then taken over by International Computers and Tabulators ([[ICT]]); this marriage was forced by the British Government, who believed that the U.K. required a strong national computer company, shortly afterwards in 1968. The combined company was called International Computers Ltd. ([[ICL]]). Sometime later, [[ICL]] was acquired by [[GEC]].
1950 [[Elliott Automation]] formed as private company.


==Sources of Information==
1957 [[Elliott Automation]] issued shares to the shareholders of Elliott Brothers and [[Associated Automation]] to effect a merger of the 2 companies, forming 'the largest automation and instrumentation company in Europe'. Elliott Brothers continued to exist as a subsidiary company of [[Elliott Automation]] Group.<ref>The Times, 8 October 1957</ref>. [[Leon Bagrit]] became deputy chairman and managing director.
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elliott_Automation] Wikipedia
 
1958 Acquired [[Rotameter Manufacturing Co]]<ref>The Times, Apr 25, 1958</ref>. Sold [[Associated Insulation Products]] to [[AEI]]<ref>The Times, May 03, 1958</ref>
 
1960 Elliott Automation acquired [[Isotope Developments|Isotope Developments (Beenham)]], a subsidiary of [[Isotope Developments]] in order to avoid duplication by both companies in the nucleonic instruments field. Isotope Developments changed its name to Nucleonic Investments Ltd<ref>The Times, Jan 14, 1960</ref>
 
1960 [[Bendix Aviation Corporation|Bendix Corporation]] sold its remaining shareholding in [[Elliott Automation]].
 
1961 Manufacturers of automation systems; "Bendix" aviation instrumentation and specialised process control equipment; electrical recorders and switchboard instruments, industrial weighing equipment; "Fisher" fluid control equipment; valves and regulators, "Swartwout" electronic control systems, "Swift" weighing machines and "Swallow" food preparing machinery.  8,500 employees.
 
1961 [[Elliott Automation]] purchased [[Firth Cleveland Instruments]]; the business would continue from the same site under the name '''Elliott (Treforest).'''
 
1962 Acquired [[Londex]], maker of specialized electrical control equipment<ref>The Times, Aug 02, 1962</ref>
 
1963 [[Elliott Automation]] acquired [[Perl Controls]]<ref>The Times, May 28, 1964</ref> and [[Baldwin Instrument Co]] of Dartford; Baldwin had 2 areas of operation: nucleonic instrumentation and fluid power equipment, both complementary to Elliott's existing activities - i.e. [[Elliott Nucleonics]] and [[Isotope Developments]] in nucleonics<ref>The Times, Oct 21, 1963</ref>. Created new [[Satchwell Controls Co|Satchwell Controls]] divisions - one at East Kilbride and the other at Slough; Perl Controls was expanded to cover all of the gas controls of Satchwell<ref>The Times, May 28, 1964</ref>
 
1964 Acquired controlling interest in [[A. E. Dean and Co]], maker of medical X-ray apparatus, to enhance the medical technology activities<ref>The Times, May 28, 1964</ref>
 
1964 Two new management divisions formed - [[Elliott Mechanical Automation|Mechanical Automation]] and [[Elliott Automation Nucleonics|Elliott-Automation Nucleonics]] - bringing the total to 14 business divisions in the Group.
 
1964 Formation of new subsidiaries [[Elliott Traffic Automation]] and [[Elliott Marine Automation]]<ref>The Times, May 25, 1965</ref>
 
1967 in the first deal arranged by the Industrial Reorganization Corporation, [[English Electric Co]] took over [[Elliott Automation]] to form the leading European group in computing and process control.
 
1967 [[GEC]] sold its computer subsidiary [[GEC Computers and Automation]] to Elliott Automation
 
1968 the computer activities of this group were taken over by [[International Computers and Tabulators]] (ICT), encouraged by the British Government who believed that the U.K. required a strong national computer company. The combined company was called International Computers Ltd ([[ICL]]).
 
1968 [[GEC]] took over [[English Electric Co]]<ref>[[The Engineer 1968/07/05]] p10</ref>.
 
1969 [[Elliott Automation]] became part of [[GEC-Elliott Automation]], the managing group for automation within GEC.
 
== See Also ==
<what-links-here/>
 
== Sources of Information ==
<references/>
* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elliott_Automation] Wikipedia
* [[1961 Dun and Bradstreet KBE]]
 
[[Category: Town - Lewisham]]
[[Category: Town - Borehamwood]]
[[Category: Controls and Automation]]
[[Category: Electronic Equipment]]

Revision as of 08:36, 17 July 2017

1959. Track Recording Coach.

Elliott Automation Group, of Lewisham, London, the holding company for a collection of companies involved in process control and automation including a company active in the development of computers in the 1950s–60s in the United Kingdom.

Originated as a firm of instrument makers Elliott Brothers founded in London around 1800.

1950 Elliott Automation formed as private company.

1957 Elliott Automation issued shares to the shareholders of Elliott Brothers and Associated Automation to effect a merger of the 2 companies, forming 'the largest automation and instrumentation company in Europe'. Elliott Brothers continued to exist as a subsidiary company of Elliott Automation Group.[1]. Leon Bagrit became deputy chairman and managing director.

1958 Acquired Rotameter Manufacturing Co[2]. Sold Associated Insulation Products to AEI[3]

1960 Elliott Automation acquired Isotope Developments (Beenham), a subsidiary of Isotope Developments in order to avoid duplication by both companies in the nucleonic instruments field. Isotope Developments changed its name to Nucleonic Investments Ltd[4]

1960 Bendix Corporation sold its remaining shareholding in Elliott Automation.

1961 Manufacturers of automation systems; "Bendix" aviation instrumentation and specialised process control equipment; electrical recorders and switchboard instruments, industrial weighing equipment; "Fisher" fluid control equipment; valves and regulators, "Swartwout" electronic control systems, "Swift" weighing machines and "Swallow" food preparing machinery. 8,500 employees.

1961 Elliott Automation purchased Firth Cleveland Instruments; the business would continue from the same site under the name Elliott (Treforest).

1962 Acquired Londex, maker of specialized electrical control equipment[5]

1963 Elliott Automation acquired Perl Controls[6] and Baldwin Instrument Co of Dartford; Baldwin had 2 areas of operation: nucleonic instrumentation and fluid power equipment, both complementary to Elliott's existing activities - i.e. Elliott Nucleonics and Isotope Developments in nucleonics[7]. Created new Satchwell Controls divisions - one at East Kilbride and the other at Slough; Perl Controls was expanded to cover all of the gas controls of Satchwell[8]

1964 Acquired controlling interest in A. E. Dean and Co, maker of medical X-ray apparatus, to enhance the medical technology activities[9]

1964 Two new management divisions formed - Mechanical Automation and Elliott-Automation Nucleonics - bringing the total to 14 business divisions in the Group.

1964 Formation of new subsidiaries Elliott Traffic Automation and Elliott Marine Automation[10]

1967 in the first deal arranged by the Industrial Reorganization Corporation, English Electric Co took over Elliott Automation to form the leading European group in computing and process control.

1967 GEC sold its computer subsidiary GEC Computers and Automation to Elliott Automation

1968 the computer activities of this group were taken over by International Computers and Tabulators (ICT), encouraged by the British Government who believed that the U.K. required a strong national computer company. The combined company was called International Computers Ltd (ICL).

1968 GEC took over English Electric Co[11].

1969 Elliott Automation became part of GEC-Elliott Automation, the managing group for automation within GEC.


See Also

Loading...

Sources of Information

  1. The Times, 8 October 1957
  2. The Times, Apr 25, 1958
  3. The Times, May 03, 1958
  4. The Times, Jan 14, 1960
  5. The Times, Aug 02, 1962
  6. The Times, May 28, 1964
  7. The Times, Oct 21, 1963
  8. The Times, May 28, 1964
  9. The Times, May 28, 1964
  10. The Times, May 25, 1965
  11. The Engineer 1968/07/05 p10