Abstract
THE well-known instrument makers Messrs E. R. Watts and Son, Ltd., and Adam Hilger, Ltd., are being formed into one company registered as Hilger and Watts, Ltd. Watts was founded in 1856 and has specialized in the manufacture of surveying and engineers' measuring instruments, while Hilger, started in 1874, has built up a world reputation for instruments for research and industry. The products of the two firms are complementary to some extent, and the instruments developed by Hilger for chemical, biological and medical research are closely related with the products of James Swift and Son, Ltd., microscope makers, who are a subsidiary of Watts. The resources for research which have been at the service of Hilger and Watts respectively, and to which their success has been largely due, will be combined. The board of directors of the new Company is an amalgamation of the boards of Hilger and Watts, namely, G. A. Whipple, who has been managing director of Watts and Hilger since 1939 and 1946 respectively (chairman and managing director) ; F. Twyman (technical adviser) ; Dr. A. C. Menzies (controller of research) ; D. R. Stanley (controller of sales) ; V. W. H. Towns (technical controller) ; R. H. Watts (assistant controller of sales). Hilger and Watts, Ltd., will employ 1,300 people in the six existing factories. A new factory in the Greater London area has been planned and approved.
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Amalgamation of Instrument Makers : Hilger and Watts, Ltd. Nature 161, 345 (1948). https://doi.org/10.1038/161345a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/161345a0