Their instruments were also produced under licence to supply the USAAF. During World War II, N&Z expanded substantially to meet the demand for instruments for war planes in particular.
Later on they increased their range to include telescopes, gun sights, theodolites and similar optical instruments. In the early days they specialised in barometers and thermometers, particularly those required for taking deep sea and atmospheric measurements, which until they came on the scene were terribly unreliable. The company was highly successful from the start, winning a medal at the Great Exhibition in 1851 and counting among their customers the Astronomer Royal, Prince Albert, the Royal Observatory and Admiral Robert Fitzroy. They had shops firstly in Regent Street and later on at Holborn Viaduct. He told me about a London company who, when the British Empire was absolutely at its zenith, led the world in the manufacture of specialist brass instruments: Negretti & Zambra.Įnrico Negretti and Joseph Zambra started their company in 1850, which was run by them and their descendents until well after WWII.
Sextants, telescopes, astrolabes, marine clocks, that sort of thing.
I was talking to a friend the other day about something we both love: old brass instruments.
0 kommentar(er)
