Cooke, Thomas, & Sons, optical instrument makers
Other Business Names:
- Vickers Ltd
- Troughton & Simms
- Cooke Troughton & Simms Ltd
- Buckingham Works
Locations city-town / local authority / county1974 / region-state / country:
- York, City of York, North Yorkshire, Yorkshire & the Humber, England
Sectors:
-
Luxury / consumer goods production
Clock, watch & chronometer making
-
Mechanical engineering
Machine tool production
-
Precision instruments production
Optical equipment inc eyewear production
Notes:
Traced origins to Thomas Cooke, 1807-68, who set up in business as an optical instruments maker at York in 1837. Sold and made a wide variety of instruments. Also made turret clocks. 1855 built a steam powered factory to cope with demand and made his own machine tools to facilitate production and for sale. Located at Buckingham Works. Business continued by his sons who focused in particular on astronomical and surveying equipment. 1915 acquired by Vickers Ltd and developed as a manufacturer, inter alia, of range finders, gunsights, etc, for military use. 1922 merged with Troughton & Simms to form Cooke Troughton & Simms Ltd
Publications:
- Aspects of the Development of British Scientific Instrument Making in the Second Half of the Nineteenth Century by Meliconi, Ilaria
- At the Sign of the Orrery. The origins of the firm of Cooke Troughton & Simms Ltd, brought up to date by P D Scott Maxwell by Taylor, E W, & J S Wilson with P D Scott Maxwell
- 'Cooke of York' in A McConnell, Instrument Makers to the World. A history of Cooke, Troughton & Simms by McConnell, Anita
- 'Cooke, Troughton & Simms' in A McConnell, Instrument Makers to the World. A history of Cooke, Troughton & Simms by McConnell, Anita
- History and Achievements and Products of Cooke Troughton & Simms by Unknown
- Kent Turret Clocks of Thomas Cooke of York by Wotton, Pam & Peter
- 'Thomas Cooke's order book. Analysis of an optical business, 1856-1868' in R G W Anderson, J A Bennett & W F Ryan (eds), Making Instruments Count. Essays on historical scientific instruments presented to Gerald L'Estrange Turner by McConnell, Anita
Groups:
Other Business Names:
- Vickers Ltd
- Troughton & Simms
- Cooke Troughton & Simms Ltd
- Buckingham Works
Locations city-town / local authority / county1974 / region-state / country:
- York, City of York, North Yorkshire, Yorkshire & the Humber, England
Sectors:
- Luxury / consumer goods production Clock, watch & chronometer making
- Mechanical engineering Machine tool production
- Precision instruments production Optical equipment inc eyewear production
Notes:
Traced origins to Thomas Cooke, 1807-68, who set up in business as an optical instruments maker at York in 1837. Sold and made a wide variety of instruments. Also made turret clocks. 1855 built a steam powered factory to cope with demand and made his own machine tools to facilitate production and for sale. Located at Buckingham Works. Business continued by his sons who focused in particular on astronomical and surveying equipment. 1915 acquired by Vickers Ltd and developed as a manufacturer, inter alia, of range finders, gunsights, etc, for military use. 1922 merged with Troughton & Simms to form Cooke Troughton & Simms LtdPublications:
- Aspects of the Development of British Scientific Instrument Making in the Second Half of the Nineteenth Century by Meliconi, Ilaria
- At the Sign of the Orrery. The origins of the firm of Cooke Troughton & Simms Ltd, brought up to date by P D Scott Maxwell by Taylor, E W, & J S Wilson with P D Scott Maxwell
- 'Cooke of York' in A McConnell, Instrument Makers to the World. A history of Cooke, Troughton & Simms by McConnell, Anita
- 'Cooke, Troughton & Simms' in A McConnell, Instrument Makers to the World. A history of Cooke, Troughton & Simms by McConnell, Anita
- History and Achievements and Products of Cooke Troughton & Simms by Unknown
- Kent Turret Clocks of Thomas Cooke of York by Wotton, Pam & Peter
- 'Thomas Cooke's order book. Analysis of an optical business, 1856-1868' in R G W Anderson, J A Bennett & W F Ryan (eds), Making Instruments Count. Essays on historical scientific instruments presented to Gerald L'Estrange Turner by McConnell, Anita