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Kenneth Corfield
Sir Kenneth George Corfield (27 January 1924 – 11 January 2016) was a British camera engineer and industrialist. Born in Rushall near Walsall, Corfield attended the South Staffordshire College of Advanced Technology and worked in management development in ICI's Metals division from 1946 until 1950, when with his brother John he established K. G. Corfield Ltd in Wolverhampton. The company first made accessories for photographers, then launched the Periflex camera in 1953; it also imported Exacta Varex and Minox cameras from East Germany. After a majority holding in the company was bought by Guinness in the early 1960s, he led the expansion of Parkinson Cowan, a maker of gas meters and gas appliances. In 1966 he moved to American company ITT, becoming managing director of their British subsidiary Standard Telephones and Cables in 1969 and then executive chairman from 1979. Here he followed an ambitious expansion strategy, including in 1984 the ill-fated acquisition of computer ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rushall, West Midlands
Rushall is a suburb in the Metropolitan Borough of Walsall in the West Midlands County, West Midlands, England. It is centred on the main road between Walsall and Lichfield. It is mentioned in the ''Domesday Book'' but has mostly developed since the 1920s. Rushall was historically a part of the county of Staffordshire before it was incorporated with much of the old Aldridge-Brownhills Urban District into the modern-day Walsall district. Heritage The first record of Rushall occurs in ''Domesday Book'' (1086), where its total annual value to its lord was assessed as 10 shillings, from a village of eight households and a Mill (grinding), mill. The name means "a place in the marshy ground where rushes grow". Early settlement by the Saxons probably started to the north of Rushall Hall, where there are remains of a moated Archaeological site, site: 19th-century excavations found Saxon coins in earthworks in that area. The feudal lordship did not originally have a parish church. The ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Walsall
Walsall (, or ; locally ) is a market town and administrative centre in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands County, England. Historic counties of England, Historically part of Staffordshire, it is located north-west of Birmingham, east of Wolverhampton and from Lichfield. Walsall is the administrative centre of the wider Metropolitan Borough of Walsall. It was transferred from Staffordshire to the newly created West Midlands County in 1974. At the 2011 census, the town's built-up area had a population of 67,594, with the wider borough having a List of English districts by population, population of 269,323. Neighbouring settlements in the borough include Darlaston, Brownhills, Pelsall, Willenhall, Bloxwich and Aldridge. History Early settlement The name Walsall is derived from "Walhaz, Walh halh", meaning "valley of the Welsh", referring to the Celtic Britons, British who first lived in the area. However, it is believed that a manor was held here by William Fitz-An ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Imperial Chemical Industries
Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI) was a British chemical company. It was, for much of its history, the largest manufacturer in Britain. It was formed by the merger of four leading British chemical companies in 1926. Its headquarters were at Millbank in London. ICI was a constituent of the FT 30 and later the FTSE 100 indices. ICI made general chemicals, plastics, paints, pharmaceuticals and speciality products, including food ingredients, speciality polymers, electronic materials, fragrances and flavourings. In 2008, it was acquired by AkzoNobel, which immediately sold parts of ICI to Henkel and integrated ICI's remaining operations within its existing organisation. History Development of the business (1926–1944) The company was founded in December 1926 from the merger of four companies: Brunner Mond, Nobel Explosives, the United Alkali Company, and British Dyestuffs Corporation. It established its head office at Millbank in London in 1928. Competing with DuPont a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wolverhampton
Wolverhampton () is a city, metropolitan borough and administrative centre in the West Midlands, England. The population size has increased by 5.7%, from around 249,500 in 2011 to 263,700 in 2021. People from the city are called "Wulfrunians". Historically part of Staffordshire, the city grew initially as a market town specialising in the wool trade. In the Industrial Revolution, it became a major centre for coal mining, steel production, lock making, and the manufacture of cars and motorcycles. The economy of the city is still based on engineering, including a large aerospace industry, as well as the service sector. Toponym The city is named after Wulfrun, who founded the town in 985, from the Anglo-Saxon ''Wulfrūnehēantūn'' ("Wulfrūn's high or principal enclosure or farm"). Before the Norman Conquest, the area's name appears only as variants of ''Heantune'' or ''Hamtun'', the prefix ''Wulfrun'' or similar appearing in 1070 and thereafter. Alternatively, the city ma ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Corfield Periflex
The Periflex 35mm camera was launched by K. G. Corfield Ltd, England in May 1953 as the first and original model from this source. The camera resembles the Leica Standard and qualifies fully as a Leica copy. However, film loading is by way of a removable back, and it provides through the lens visual focusing using an inverted periscope to be lowered into the light path between the lens and the film, utilising the single-lens reflex principle, showing a small section from the lower middle of the full image. The Periflex became quite popular in Britain and several improved models were introduced during the ensuing years until their demise in the early 1960s. Description The body is made of black painted metal alloy castings, while the top and base-plates are of black anodised stamped aluminium with delicate engravings. The covering material of the first two hundred units or so were brown pigskin, while all later ones were finished in black leather cloth because the pig skin stained ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Guinness
Guinness () is an Irish dry stout that originated in the brewery of Arthur Guinness at St. James's Gate, Dublin, Ireland, in 1759. It is one of the most successful alcohol brands worldwide, brewed in almost 50 countries, and available in over 120. Sales in 2011 amounted to . In spite of declining consumption since 2001, it is the best-selling alcoholic drink in Ireland where Guinness & Co. Brewery makes almost €2 billion worth of beer annually. The Guinness Storehouse is a tourist attraction at St. James's Gate Brewery in Dublin, Ireland. Since opening in 2000, it has received over 20 million visitors. Guinness's flavour derives from malted barley and roasted unmalted barley, a relatively modern development, not becoming part of the grist until the mid-20th century. For many years, a portion of aged brew was blended with freshly brewed beer to give a sharp lactic acid flavour. Although Guinness's palate still features a characteristic "tang", the company has refused to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Parkinson Cowan
Parkinson Cowan was a British manufacturer of gas meters and gas stoves between 1900 and 1971. The name is now used for a brand of cooking appliances, owned by the Electrolux group. History *1900: The company is formed by the amalgamation of W. Parkinson Ltd, founded by William Parkinson of London and Birmingham, and W. and B. Cowan Ltd of London, Manchester, Edinburgh and New South Wales. The new enterprise is known as Parkinson and W. and B. Cowan. *1919: The company opens a new factory at Stretford, Manchester to manufacture gas meters. *1928 The company is renamed Parkinson and Cowan. Henry Cowan, Unionist member of parliament, is chairman around this time. *1937: Parkinson and Cowan (Gas Meters) Ltd is a listed exhibitor at the British Industries Fair. *1939: The company, like many other engineering concerns of the period, becomes an aircraft industry supplier. *c.1960 to 1966: Kenneth Corfield is chairman. *1971: The company is taken over by Thorn, becoming part of Thor ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
ITT Inc
ITT Inc., formerly ITT Corporation, is an American worldwide manufacturing company based in Stamford, Connecticut. The company produces specialty components for the aerospace, transportation, energy and industrial markets. ITT's three businesses include Industrial Process, Motion Technologies, and Connect and Control Technologies. ITT has approximately 10,000 employees in more than 35 countries and serves customers in well over 100 countries. The company's long-standing brands include Goulds Pumps, Cannon connectors, KONI shock absorbers and Enidine energy absorption components. The company was founded in 1920 as International Telephone & Telegraph. During the 1960s and 1970s, under the leadership of CEO Harold Geneen, the company rose to prominence as the archetypal conglomerate, deriving its growth from hundreds of acquisitions in diversified industries. ITT divested its telecommunications assets in 1986. In 1995, the company sold off its hospitality portfolio, including S ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Standard Telephones And Cables
Standard Telephones and Cables Ltd (later STC plc) was a British manufacturer of telephone, telegraph, radio, telecommunications, and related equipment. During its history, STC invented and developed several groundbreaking new technologies including pulse-code modulation (PCM) and optical fibres. The company was founded in 1883 in London as International Western Electric by the Western Electric Company, shortly after Western Electric became the telephone equipment supplier for the American Telephone and Telegraph Company (AT&T) in the United States. In 1925, Western Electric divested itself of all foreign operations and sold International Western Electric to International Telephone and Telegraph (ITT), in part to thwart antitrust actions by the American government. In mid-1982, STC became an independent company and was listed on the London Stock Exchange; for a time it was a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. It was bought by Nortel in 1991. History Early days The company was ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
International Computers Limited
International Computers Limited (ICL) was a British computer hardware, computer software and computer services company that operated from 1968 until 2002. It was formed through a merger of International Computers and Tabulators (ICT), English Electric Computers (EEC) and Elliott Automation in 1968. The company's most successful product line was the ICL 2900 Series range of mainframe computers. In later years, ICL diversified its product line but the bulk of its profits always came from its mainframe customers. New ventures included marketing a range of powerful IBM clones made by Fujitsu, various minicomputer and personal computer ranges and (more successfully) a range of retail point-of-sale equipment and back-office software. Although it had significant sales overseas, ICL's mainframe business was dominated by large contracts from the UK public sector, including Post Office Ltd, the Inland Revenue, the Department for Work and Pensions and the Ministry of Defence. It also had ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Science Museum, London
The Science Museum is a major museum on Exhibition Road in South Kensington, London. It was founded in 1857 and is one of the city's major tourist attractions, attracting 3.3 million visitors annually in 2019. Like other publicly funded national museums in the United Kingdom, the Science Museum does not charge visitors for admission, although visitors are requested to make a donation if they are able. Temporary exhibitions may incur an admission fee. It is one of the five museums in the Science Museum Group. Founding and history The museum was founded in 1857 under Bennet Woodcroft from the collection of the Royal Society of Arts and surplus items from the Great Exhibition as part of the South Kensington Museum, together with what is now the Victoria and Albert Museum. It included a collection of machinery which became the ''Museum of Patents'' in 1858, and the ''Patent Office Museum'' in 1863. This collection contained many of the most famous exhibits of what is now t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bradford
Bradford is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Bradford district in West Yorkshire, England. The city is in the Pennines' eastern foothills on the banks of the Bradford Beck. Bradford had a population of 349,561 at the 2011 census; the second-largest population centre in the county after Leeds, which is to the east of the city. It shares a continuous built-up area with the towns of Shipley, Silsden, Bingley and Keighley in the district as well as with the metropolitan county's other districts. Its name is also given to Bradford Beck. It became a West Riding of Yorkshire municipal borough in 1847 and received its city charter in 1897. Since local government reform in 1974, the city is the administrative centre of a wider metropolitan district, city hall is the meeting place of Bradford City Council. The district has civil parishes and unparished areas and had a population of , making it the most populous district in England. In the century leadin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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