This was a British company. Until recently I had thought that NTR was founded around 1920, but I have seen a copy letter in which Paul Harrison, who wrote the excellent book on Gledhill-Brooks recorders, indicates that the company was incorporated circa 1910-1912 and mentions earlier commercial documentation of around 1908.
Recently I have obtained a copy letter dated 1921 and the letterhead shows that at that date the company were well established with branch offices in Birmingham, Manchester, Bristol and Glasgow and that they had supplied time recorders to the British Government and to the Indian government.view this letterhead or recorder shown on letterhead
I also have a copy of an advertisement showing, as a part of the printed matter a date of 1927. This advertises "British Manufactured Time Recorders with 20 years' reputation" so that it now seems more likely that the construction of time recorders started in 1907.
The 1927 advertisement showed 7 pictures covering about 20 models. These pictures can be viewed by clicking the appropriate name (taken from the advert).
National Card Recorder
National Card Recorder w/ racks
National Radial Recorder
National Clipit Recorder
National Standard Autograph Recorder
National Portable Autograph Recorder
National Key Recorder
National Time Stamp Recorder
National Short Model Recorder
In 1920 Mr Lowe, a Director of NTR, went to the USA and there met a Mr Rimington who was Chairman and Managing director of another British company "Blick Time recording devices", which then was a subsidiary company to the Blick typewriter Co. Ltd. The two companies agreed that Blick would market National Time Recorders as "Blick National" in the UK. This continued until 1927 when Blick dropped the word "National" from the title of their machines thereafter selling them as "Blick"
It would appear that although Blick became the main user of National time recorders, NTR continued to supply recorders under their own name as I have a booklet of instructions for National Time Recorders, which gives Cray Avenue, St Mary Cray, Kent. as the Factory and head office address and shows that the company at that time had branch offices and local service departments in London, Birmingham, Bristol, Dublin, Glasgow, Leeds, Manchester, Newcastle and Sheffield. The booklet is unfortunately undated but the telephone number for the London office was 01-928 6641 which has a reasonably modern sound to me.
I believe that all the early recorders N.T.R. made used the same strongly built movement with substantial brass plates and twin heavy duty springs. This movement is found in both short case and long case Recorders by the National Company and Blick.
The original type of mechanical movement was cut down in size and fitted with a synchronous motor when the market for electric time recorders developed. A model was also marketed which accepted impulses from a master clock.
In later years National marketed other types of time recorder such as the "Autograph" series which was available with a spring driven model using a compact mechanism with a sturdy platform escapement or with a mains powered synchronous motor.
In 1972 National Time Recorders Ltd. were acquired by Blick. With this acquisition Blick also acquired the National factory in Orpington (actually the Lagoon Works, Cray Avenue, St Mary Cray, Kent.) and offices in London, Bristol, Leeds and Glasgow.
It may be of interest that Blick, possibly around 1965, though the instruction is undated, issued an edict to their repairers that all machines earlier than 1945 should be scrapped!
One final point, I have a fairly complete record of the serial numbers for Blick Time Recorders going back to 1922 and I believe that these also apply to recorders with the National name.
