Samuel Smith opens his first jewellery and watchmakers shop on Newington Causeway, south London, founding what we know to be Smiths Group today. Read article here.
The early development of car instrumentation - Smiths fit ‘Speedometer No1’ to King Edward VII’s Mercedes-Simplex. Read article here.
Smiths provide watches and ‘sledgemeters’ for Captain Scott’s epic expedition to the South Pole.
S. Smith & Sons (Motor Accessories) Limited, lists on the London Stock Exchange.
To meet soaring wartime demand, Smiths opened a new Cricklewood factory, where aircraft instruments, including their first airspeed indicator, began rolling off the production line in growing numbers.
In 1919, Alcock and Brown made their historic transatlantic flight in a Vickers Vimy equipped with Smiths engine speed and airspeed indicators. Read article here.
Smiths is producing 80% of all speedometers sold in the UK.
The first affordable electric clock developed for homes and offices.
By the mid-30s Smiths produces half of all clocks made in the UK, manufacturing 4,000 electric and up to 10,000 mechanical clocks a week.
Smiths acquires a controlling interest in Henry Hughes & Son Ltd. Later merged with Kelvin, Bottomley & Baird Ltd, to form Kelvin & Hughes Ltd – Smiths Industries’ maritime division.
Smiths supported the war effort by producing over ten million aircraft instruments, four million clocks, and 1.5 million speedometers and mileage counters -prompting the acquisition of a new Cheltenham site.
Design of the world's first automotive mechanical seal by John Crane.
First automatic pilot, manufactured by Smiths, fitted to the de Havilland Comet, the world’s first commercial jet airliner.
After decades of failed attempts, Mount Everest was finally climbed by a British team equipped with Smiths wristwatches, oxygen gauges and Kelvin Hughes compasses. Sir Edmund Hillary wore his Smiths watch all the way to the summit.
Smiths innovates with the invention of the first safe medical ultrasound device to produce clear images of human organs and unborn babies.
Smiths autopilot completes the first successful landing without human control in zero visibility.
Smiths instruments were vital to Formula One success in the 1960s, with leading teams like BRM, Lotus, Cooper and Lola relying on them for precise, real time data that helped drivers push their cars to the limit. Read article here.
Smiths helped drive Bluebird’s land‑speed record with precision instruments, an early heads‑up display, and advanced data logging -innovation at the heart of a landmark engineering achievement. Read article here.
Smiths is behind the development of the first ATM (Automatic Teller Machines) including PIN (Personal Identification Number) technology.
John Crane innovates through developing the first non-contacting, dry-running gas seal.
Smiths introduces first ever heads-up displays, to project data onto the windscreens of planes, working with customer Saab to fit them to their Viggen aircraft.
First checkpoint hand baggage X-ray scanner introduced by Smiths Detection.
John Crane introduces the Type 28 dry gas seal, revolutionising gas compression sealing and setting a new benchmark for reliability, safety and performance.
Smiths works with Boeing to provide auto-throttles for the 727 and 737 ranges and engine indicators for the 747.
Smiths Industries ceased production of its domestic clocks and watches.
Smiths joins the FTSE100 index on the London Stock Exchange for the first time.
Smiths Detection introduces the world’s first hold baggage CT scanner.
Smiths Industries merges with TI Group to form Smiths Group plc. John Crane becomes the largest division.
European Space Agency Rosetta’s mission to land first probe on a comet launched and landed on Comet Churyumov–Gerasimenko in 2014. Smiths enabled the probe to communicate its findings back to Earth.
Smiths Group completes the divestment of its aerospace and maritime businesses.
NASA’s Mars Curiosity Rover mission launched and landed on Mars in 2012. Smiths ensured the integrity of huge volumes of data transmitted to Earth.
NASA’s Parker Solar Probe mission launched to conduct landmark study of the sun. Travelled 7x closer than any other spacecraft before it. Smiths delivered high reliability and connectivity performance for the data and control transmission systems of the probe.
Smiths develops next generation 3D CT scanners that eliminate the need for passengers to remove liquids and laptops from their bags.
Flex-Tek’s Next generation FlashShield+TM corrugated stainless steel tubing system is the only product in its category to provide the highest levels of safety against lightning and household fault current.
NASA’s Orion spacecraft, built to take humans farther than ever before, launched its successful test flight proving Orion could pull astronauts to safety in the event of an emergency. Smiths ensured the signal and communication integrity of the control modules onboard.
Smiths supports the Mars Perseverance Rover with a connectivity solution specifically engineered and optimised to mitigate the effects of heat, shock and vibration.
First dry gas seal digital diagnostics solution to monitor conditions at the heart of the compressor.
NASA’s DART mission launched to demonstrate the first asteroid deflection technology. Smiths enabled the transmission of mission critical data, including providing images of asteroids to help the probe stay on its collision course.
Smiths announces the sale of it Medical business.
First commercial decarbonisation of Direct Reduction of Iron (DRI) process. Replaces fossil fuels used in traditional DRI steel production with hydrogen and creates water vapour as the effluent gas rather than CO2 to create ‘green steel’.
Smiths supports the Indian Space Research Organisation as it becomes the first country in the world to land a spacecraft successfully near the South Pole of the Moon.
Smiths Group announces the sale of its Detection and Interconnect businesses.
Smiths supports NASA’s Artemis II historic mission providing critical components from three of its divisions for the first crewed lunar mission since Apollo.
Today Smiths has c.16,000 colleagues in over 50 countries, and sells to over 200 countries and territories around the world.
Smiths today
We are proud to be Smiths
