1896 | W. G. Pye & Co was the original member of the Pye Group of companies and was founded by William George Pye for the manufacture of scientific instruments for supply to universities and schools. |
1928 | Pye Radio Ltd was formed to acquire the radio branch of the business from W. G. Pye and Co and separated from the instrument business. |
1946 | The instrument business continued as a separate business from Pye Ltd until it was acquired by Pye Ltd. |
1947 | Pye Ltd acquired Unicam Instruments Ltd which in 1934 had been founded by S. W. J. Stubbens, a foreman at Cambridge Instrument Co, to manufacture instruments for schools and Universities. Unicam was based in Arbury Road Cambridge. When Pye acquired Unicam Instruments Ltd it specialised in spectroscopic and crystallographic analytical instruments. |
1962 | Unicam Instruments Ltd and W G Pye & Company Ltd were located together in Pye’s Scientific Instrument Centre in York Street, Cambridge. However the companies continued to operate independently from each other. |
1968 | The two companies were merged into a single company called Pye Unicam Ltd as part of Philips Industries; Philips’s scientific division of M.E.L. Equipment Co was also put into the new company. In addition to the York Street site the optics department and technical publications were located on Newmarket Rd and the warehouse and Special Engineering Group were located at Coral Park. |
See Pye Unicam Ltd for the timeline beyond the merger the of the two companies.