Barr and Stroud

They played a leading role in developing modern optics, including rangefinders, for the Royal Navy and other branches of British Armed Forces during the 20th century.

Archibald Barr and William Stroud had been associated from as early as 1888 when the two men were professors of, respectively, engineering and physics at the Yorkshire College (now the University of Leeds).

By this time, Barr had returned to Scotland and taken the Regius Professor of Civil Engineering and Mechanics post at the University of Glasgow.

[2] In 1914, they began extensions to the Anniesland works in order to meet the sharp increase in demand for their rangefinders that followed on the outbreak of the First World War.

The war years saw the development of other products, including a torpedo depth recorder, a periscope rangefinder, fire-control systems and a dome sight for aircraft.

In 1992 operations moved from the original factory in Anniesland to a new plant in Linthouse on the site of the former Alexander Stephen and Sons shipyard.

In 1926 Barr & Stroud produced the prototype GD1 reflector gunsight for aircraft based on a 1900 patent awarded to Sir Howard Grubb.

The sights were superseded during the war by Ferranti's GGC gyro gunsight which calculated and displayed the "lead" required for a successful deflection shot.

Barr and Stroud constructed the first computer to be built in Scotland, the pioneering SOLIDAC minicomputer for the University of Glasgow, assembled between 1958 and 1963 as an attempt to expand into electronics.