Ross (company)

Ross was a historically significant company in the English optical industry based in London. Ross was founded by Andrew Ross (* 1798, † 1859) in 1830. From 1840 Ross began to manufacture products labeled “A. Ross ”. The company became one of the most important optical lens manufacturers in England during Ross's lifetime.

From the 1890s, Ross produced Carl Zeiss and Goerz lenses under license for exclusive distribution in the United Kingdom and throughout the British Empire . An advertising brochure from 1902 contains the company's own symmetrical anastigmates , the new Planar and Unar lenses from Zeiss, Zeiss set anastigmates and double anastigmates from Goerz. Before the First World War , there was a close mutual cooperation between Zeiss and Ross. Ross patented a wide-angle lens , which Zeiss used for the development of the Protar lens. When the war broke out, the British government appointed Ross to manage the new British Carl Zeiss factory in Mill Hill , London.

From around 1855 Ross also produced photographic cameras. Production stopped in the 1930s.

The supply of lenses for Ensign cameras began in the 1930s . After the end of World War II , Ross teamed up with Ensign camera producer Barnet Ensign . The company continued to produce lenses, binoculars, epidiascopes and other optical devices. It was later renamed Ross Ensign .

Ross Ensign was taken over by Avimo in 1975 ; Avimo later from Thales Optics .

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• Wilkinson, Matthew, and Colin Glanfield. A lens collector's vade mecum. (CD publication) "Version 7/5/2001" (7 May 2001).
• British Journal Photographic Almanac 1935 , Henry Greenwood & Co 1935