Products from Kipp & Zonen

1808

March 5, Petrus Jacobus Kipp is born in Utrecht, the Netherlands

1829

With a thesis on seven substances P.J. Kipp passes his exam as a pharmacist (by coincidence this thesis is discovered again in 2004 in the records of an old pharmacy shop in the town of Utrecht and the thesis is bought by the city of Delft).

1830

Kipp buys an existing pharmacy shop in the town of Delft, close to the old church. To increase his income he starts an instrument business under the name Kipp.

1842

King Willem II founds in Delft the Royal Academy (now Delft Technical University). Mr. Kipp had some friends at this Academy who appreciated his advice and ideas. Also he is engaged in several commissions and societies. To detect arsenic in living matter he used a H2S gas generator produced by Marsh in 1836, but Kipp was not happy with the design of this instrument.

1864

After Kipp's sudden death in February, his widow and one of their sons carry on the instrument business and the firm's name becomes Kipp & Zoon (son) for two years.

1887

Anthonius Kipp retires and Giltay becomes owner of the firm named P.J. Kipp & Zonen, J.W. Giltay Opvolger (successor). Wilhelmus Arnoldus continues the separate pharmacy, which still exists under the same name. And up to January 2008 even in the same place!

1913

In this year another man from Utrecht brings a new impulse to the firm. Dr. W.J.H. Moll, a scientist at Utrecht University, contacts Kipp & Zonen to show him some innovations; a sensitive mirror galvanometer and a rapid sensitive thermopile. Mr. Ankersmit is impressed and starts the production of both instruments, which eventually leads to a complete new product range of scientific instruments.

1918

To make space in the workshop for the galvanometer and thermopile production, Mr. Ankersmit decides to move the telephone works into a new factory as a separate enterprise. However, after three years the telephone works fails due to a shortage of metals, alloys and other material caused by the World War.

1923

Prof. Dr. Moll promotes the thermopile at a meteorological congress in Utrecht. Dr. Ladislas Gorczynski (Meteo Warshaw) is interested and constructs a thermo-electric pyrheliometer and makes the first daily curves of direct solar radiation with his recording galvanometer.

1927

The first Kipp catalogue appears with "Solarimeters and Pyrheliometers" and photographic drums to record the intensity of global and direct solar radiation.

1930

At the company centenary Mr. Ankersmit states that the production of Kipp & Zonen is instruments based on the Moll principle. The firm is healthy with 46 workers and 28 persons in the office staff and 6 salesmen, although the World depression is already underway.

1931

Kipp & Zonen Delft out-sources his chemicals and glassware business to N.V. v/h G.B. Salm, Amsterdam. The joint-venture is named N.V. Salm-Kipp and still exists as Salm en Kipp B.V. in Breukelen (Brooklyn!) near Utrecht.

Kipp & Zonen now is mainly a manufacturer of scientific instruments, which often contain thermopile detectors and mirror galvanometers with recording drums. Among them micro-photometers and large recording IR spectrographs based on the ideas of Dutch scientists Mr. Zernike, Mr. van Cittert and Mr. van Heel.

1963

Kipp & Zonen leaves the premises behind the old pharmacy and moves to a new modern factory in the suburbs of Delft. Meanwhile next to the galvanometers an electronic recorder range is developed, which rapidly becomes more important.

1989

Until now the handmade Moll thermopiles are the basis of the solar radiation equipment. At this time electroplated polyamide foil thermopiles become available and CM1, CM5, CM6B, CM3 are developed. Semiconductor thermopiles are now used for the more scientific pyranometers CM 21, CM 22 and the pyrheliometer CH 1.

1996

The Canadian firm SCI-TEC Instruments acquires Kipp & Zonen B.V. and its related sales offices. The firm is the manufacturer of the Brewer Ozone Spectrophotometer, developed in Canada by the University of Toronto originally for the Meteorological Service of Canada. The Brewer is already the standard instrument for the global monitoring of the ozone layer thickness.

2005

Celebration of our 175th anniversary.

Today

Kipp & Zonen is the expert in solar radiation measurement solutions with a comprehensive range of solar instruments, from low level to the highest quality available. Furtermore we manufacture scientific instrumentation such as the Brewer spectrophotometer and LAS MkII Large Ap[erture Scintillometer.

The company continues to explore new technologies and respond to the challenges of a changing environment that face scientists today and in the future.