Horace Darwin's Shop, A history of the Cambridge Scientific Instrument Company 1878-1968

Horace Darwin's Shop traces the early years of one of the most famous and best respected instrument companies in the world - the Cambridge Scientific Instrument Company, at the forefront of the industry for more than half a century. The book is largely about people, many of them famous engineers and scientists who became closely involved with "Horace's Shop", about the forging of links between industry and university and above all about the ability of one man, Horace Darwin, youngest son of Charles Darwin, to create beauty and elegance in simple, clever design. The account of the early history of the Cambridge Scientific Instrument Company is presented in two parts: the first is a historical account of those instruments particularly relevant to the growth of the Company and the second is devoted to individual instruments and topics. The book will be of interest to students of the history of instrumentation as well as to readers who may already be familiar with the Company and its products. About the authors Arthur F Wolfe began his career at the age of 14 as an office boy at the Cambridge Scientific Instrument Company, where he worked until retirement in 1966. In 1932 he became Assistant Accountant of the company and ten years later was appointed Chief Accountant and Assistant Secretary, becoming Company Secretary in 1947, a post he held for 17 years Michael J G Cattermole joined the Cambridge Instrument Company research department in Cambridge in 1959 where he worked on the design of gas analysis and industrial instruments until 1966. After a two year break he rejoined in 1968 as the head of the Muswell Hill development laboratory and was with the company during the takeovers by George Kent and Brown Boveri in 1968 and 1974. In 1970 he was appointed Technical Manager of Foster Cambridge Ltd, a post held until leaving in 1981 to become a teacher.