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The company traces its origins to a craftsman named Samuel Smith, who opened a workshop on Newington Causeway in London in 1851, where he manufactured and sold clocks and scientific instruments.
Samuel’s son, also named Samuel, took over his father’s business. He established his own company at 85 Strand, and in 1899, he transformed it into a private limited company under the name S. Smith & Son Ltd. In 1903, his son Allan Gordon-Smith joined the company, leading it towards the rapidly growing automotive industry.
SmithS started by making clocks for car dashboards, but in 1904, the company Nicole Nielsen developed and manufactured the first British speedometer for SmithS. The very first unit was delivered to King Edward VII for his royal Mercedes. From 1907, Smiths began independently manufacturing automotive components, including speedometers.
In 1914, a new company, S. Smith & Sons (Motor Accessories) Ltd., was established to focus on automotive accessories. This company later expanded and evolved into Smiths Industries Ltd.
Meanwhile, the original company, S. Smith & Sons Ltd., continued its operations as a manufacturer of jewelry, floor and wall clocks, and chronometers. However, this branch ceased to exist in 1930, and its premises were taken over by the Bravingtons jewelry chain.
In 1931, Smiths decided to enter the market for affordable domestic clocks and founded Smiths English Clocks Ltd. as a subsidiary of S. Smith & Sons (Motor Accessories) Ltd.
In 1966, the company changed its name to Smiths Industries Ltd. The company’s products spanned automobiles, aviation, shipbuilding, construction, medicine, timepieces, home appliance controls, electronics, and industrial ceramics.
In 1977, after restructuring its clock division, Smiths Industries split it into two separate companies: Smiths Industries Clock Company and Smiths Industries Watch Company. Smiths Industries continued expanding across various industries, including the production of automotive, aviation, and marine instruments, as well as household clocks.
Smiths remains active in the 21st century.
The history of the SmithS brand is incredibly vast and fascinating. However, nowhere in historical records do we find explicit references to the manufacture of barometers. Apart from vague mentions such as “other scientific devices” or “other precision instruments”, there are no direct indications that barometers were a significant product for the company. This raises many questions.
The fact is that barometers bearing the SB marking inside a distinctive circle with “wings”—the logo of Shortland Bros.—can be found for sale. However, in half of all cases, sellers interpret this marking as standing for Shortland Bowen, a company that did exist and produced meteorological instruments, including barometers, but only appeared in 1969.
At the same time, it is known that Shortland Bros. at some point changed their name to Shortland Smiths Instrument, which was reflected in their logo—the word “Shortland” was placed above the circle, while “Smiths” appeared below it. This logo appears in mid-20th-century product catalogs.
Moreover, it is absolutely clear that barometers produced under the SB brand share the same components as SmithS products. Among other things, this includes: the aneroid movement based on a rack-and-pinion mechanism, the distinctive chrome bezel, the set hand, adjusted via a chrome knurled knob, fixed through a central opening in the glass.
However, I have not been able to find any information about when exactly Shortland Smiths was established or how the partnership between SmithS and Shortland Bros. was structured. Was the merger of brands driven by Smiths’ desire to diversify its production, for example, by adding household meteorological instruments to its existing lineup of precision instruments and automotive gauges? This remains unclear. Additionally, there is no information available about Shortland Bros. as a company, apart from its product catalogs.
