Beautiful certificate from the
Rank Organisation Limited issued no later than 1973. This historic document has a vignette of a man beating a gong. This item is over 34 years old.
Certificate Vignette
Rank had its origins in the film industry. Lord Rank (then Mr. J. Arthur
Rank) entered that industry in 1934 and acquired interests in its production and
distribution sectors. Convinced that British films were of great importance to
the British economy, and believing in the ability of the British industry to
produce films which would be competitive in world markets he felt, nevertheless,
that British film production could only achieve lasting success in an industry free
from American domination and that such freedom could be gained only by the
creation of a vertically integrated organisation, combining the production,
distribution and exhibition of British films. Thus in 1941 he acquired control of
the Odeon Theatre Group and of Gaumont British Picture Corporation
Limited. Both had interests in cinema exhibition, owning some 300 cinemas
each. Gaumont British also had a large number of subsidiary companies and
other interests, covering a wide field, e.g., film equipment companies of various
kinds, film production companies, studios, lens and instrument manufacture,
and television and radio manufacture. At the beginning of the 1950s the greater
part of the assets of the Group was still committed to the film industry and
supporting services. However, it was recognised that the world-wide phenomenon
of a decline in cinema-going, associated in particular with the growth of
television, and destined to end the cinema's monopoly of screen entertainment,
had begun. Broadly, Rank has sought to meet this challenge in three ways.
First, while retaining its commitment to the film industry, which had provided
the original reason for its existence, its cinema interests were rationalised so that
they could continue to operate efficiently and profitably. Secondly, it broadened
the scope of its activities in other entertainment fields to match new tastes.
Thus, in the entertainment field it added, for example, bowling alleys, bingo
halls and ice-rinks, and expanded its activities in dancing. It also entered the
fields of catering, banqueting, motorway services and the hotel business, the
latter both in the UK and abroad. Thirdly, it developed its manufacturing
activities both to meet growing demand in the leisure field (cameras, projectors,
television sets and radios) and to provide industry with a wide range of electronic
equipment and precision measuring instruments. This reorientation of policy
was reflected in the building up over the years, partly by acquisition, of the
following businesses and their absorption into divisions of The Rank Organisation
Ltd.
Rank Precision Industries Division
Gaumont British had among its subsidiaries British Acoustic Films Ltd,
which manufactured sound equipment for cinemas and also manufactured and
marketed 8mm and 16mm projectors and cameras under arrangements with the
Bell & Howeil Company, a major American manufacturer of such goods.
Taylor, Taylor & Hobson Ltd, a subsidiary of British Acoustic Films Ltd, was
an internationally known company manufacturing precision measuring instruments
and specialised lenses. A further subsidiary of Gaumont British was
Cinema-Television Ltd, trading as Cintel, engaged in the development and
manufacture of electronic equipment, cathode-ray tubes and cinema largescreen
television. Yet another subsidiary of Gaumont British was G.B-Kalee
Ltd which among other activities marketed general cinema supplies. In 1947
British Optical & Precision Engineers Ltd was formed as a public company, and
was subsequently re-named Rank Precision Industries Ltd. It acquired the
businesses of British Acoustic Films Ltd and G.B-Kalee Ltd and at the same
tune acquired the rest of the share capital of Taylor, Taylor & Hobson Ltd (i.e.
that portion not already held by British Acoustic Films Ltd). At the same time
it acquired control of the business of A. Kershaw & Sons Ltd (manufacturers of
cinema projectors) and also became responsible for manufacturing and marketing
internationally (excluding the American continent) a part of Bell & Howell's
range of cameras and projectors. In the course of time its activities outside the
scientific instruments side of the business so formed were transferred to the
Rank Audio Visual Division (see paragraph 17). The scientific instrument
business of Rank Precision Industries Ltd was substantially expanded over the
years on a world-wide basis, and the range of its products was increased. In
1964, The Pullin Group Ltd was acquired, and, in 1968, Hilger & Watts Ltd.
About that time Rank also made a bid for the Cambridge Instrument Co. Ltd,
but this failed following the intervention of the Industrial Reorganisation
Corporation, after which Cambridge merged with George Kent Ltd. As part of
the reorganisation following the acquisition of Hilger & Watts Ltd, Rank's
interests in broadcast equipment of a tele-cine nature, cathode-ray tubes and
other electronic equipment (which had been developed from the activities of
Cintel) were brought into sub-divisions of the Rank Precision Industries
Division.
Bush Murphy Division
The control of Bush Radio Ltd, an associated company of Gaumont
British, was acquired by Rank in 1945. In 1962, Murphy Radio Ltd, which
was then in difficulties, was acquired and its production integrated with that of
Bush. Both the Bush and Murphy trade names were retained, and Bush and
Murphy products are now sold in competition by separate sales forces, operating
under a single sales management. The acquisition of Murphy Radio brought
Rank further into the field of electronics (as did also the industrial inspection
service of Solus-Schall Ltd which is now carried on within the Rank Precision
Industries Division).
Audio Visual Division
This Division was formed in 1960 to bring together for more convenient
administration a number of activities which had already been carried on for a
number of years. As the name of the Division implies, its activities have a
common thread in that they are all connected in one way or another with the
communication of sight and sound, whether in the studio, cinema, theatre or
home. Thus the range of goods and services supplied by the Division includes
seating, floor coverings, curtains and screens for cinemas and studios, projectors
for films and slides, still and movie cameras, lighting for studios, cinemas and
theatres, other studio equipment, hi-fi sound reproduction equipment, the hiring
of films and amateur film processing. These goods and services are supplied to
trade customers as well as to users in the home. In the case of the studio and
cinema equipment businesses, Rank built them up and extended their range
partly by internal expansion and partly by the acquisition of Andrew Smith
Harkness Ltd and Strand Electric Holdings Ltd, in 1952 and 1968 respectively.
The Bell & Howell photographic business (see paragraph 15 above) was
acquired with Gaumont British in 1941, and to those marketing arrangements
there were later added similar marketing arrangements for other makes of
cameras. The Division has become the major distributor of leading Japanese
products, including such internationally known brands as Pentax, Mamiya,
Konica and Nikon. The addition in 1958 of Wharfedale Ltd (now known as
Rank-Wharfedale Ltd), manufacturers of high-fidelity loud-speakers, was
regarded as a natural development. The acquisition of H. J. Leak & Co. Ltd
in January 1969 is regarded as having supplemented Wharfedale's range of
products with two other main components of hi-fi equipment, namely, tuners
and amplifiers. The Top Rank Film Processing business was established in the
1950s, and the Organisation has since acquired A.C. Vallance Ltd, a processing
business, based in the North of England, said to have given added geographical
coverage.
Educational Activities
A film library was acquired with Gaumont British in 1941. This was
regarded as giving Rank a stake in the educational field, to be exploited by
developing a range of products, such as language laboratories, in the communications
and educational field. Rank has also entered into an equal
partnership with Responsive Environments Corporation of America to operate a
company known as Rank-R.E.C. Ltd. It is considered that this will carry Rank
further into the educational field by the marketing of a special range of
responsive environmental products.
Rank Xerox Limited
The xerographic machine was the product and invention of the Xerox
Corporation of America. In 1956 the Corporation and Rank set up a new
company, Rank Xerox Limited, to undertake the manufacture and marketing
of xerographic products under licence from the American company, in all
territories in the world except North America. Rank Xerox Limited subcontracted
the manufacture of xerographic products to The Rank Organisation
Ltd. In the case of Japan, it was deemed that conditions required the establishment
of local manufacture, and, in 1962, the production and selling of xerographic
products in the Japanese market was accordingly undertaken by
Fuji-Xerox, a company owned 50 per cent by Rank Xerox Limited and 50 per
cent by a Japanese corporation. In 1963, Rank Xerox Limited released to
Xerox Corporation its rights for South America, in consideration of a royalty
and the allotment to Rank of a block of Xerox stock. In 1965, at the request of
Xerox Corporation, the manufacturing activities were transferred from Rank
to Rank Xerox Limited. Rank Xerox Limited, and its subsidiaries now market
xerographic products in 60 countries, i.e., in all major markets of the world
except the Americas and Japan. Xerox Corporation undertakes all the research
and development in the field of xerography; Rank keeps Xerox Corporation
informed of market trends and consumer preferences.
Rank Xerox Limited, although jointly owned by Rank and Xerox
Corporation of America, operates as a Division of The Rank Organisation Ltd.
History from Wikipedia and OldCompanyResearch.com.