|
|
|
|
 1854David Gestetner, the founder of Gestetner was born in Hungary. He developed the stencil process for office duplicating by using special long fibered Japanese paper used in children’s kites. |
1888
Gestetner obtained British and American patents when he recognized the importance of making handwriting on stencils simple. He invented the Neo-Cyclostyle which could be held in the hand like an ordinary pen. |
|
|
1890
Gestetner further extended his ideas of the Japanese-base tissue, and investigated the idea of making a stencil which could be typed. The business world began to realize the pen could soon be dominated by the use of shorthand and the ‘copy’ by the typewriter – this led to the alliance of stencil duplicating with typewriting. |
1893
Gestetner automated the duplicating machine, which was still a flat-bed equipment requiring manual intervention, and was slow and inconvenient. His improved machine paved the way for rotary duplicating. |
|
|
1904
Group Head Office and main manufacturing site opened in Tottenham, North London. Site remained open until 1987. |
1929
Gestetner Duplicators became a public company listed on the London Stock Exchange with a floatation price of £1 million. It continued as a very successful listed company right through to 1995. |
|
|
1950
Group diversified from being a single technology company and began selling manufacturing offset litho equipment and supplies. |
| 1974
Gestetner acquired Rex Rotary, a Danish duplicating company that also made two cylinder duplicators, stencil scanners and copiers. |
|
|
1986
AFP, an Australian Group, purchased a significant shareholding and acquired management control. The Group then switched emphasis from being a manufacturer to being a distributor of modern office automation products principally purchased in Japan. |
| 1989
Gestetner acquired Hanimex (Vivitar), a photographic company operating in Australia, the Far East, Europe and North America.
|
| 1990
Gestetner acquired the Business System Division of Nashua Corporation later changed the sales name to Nashuatec. |
|
|
1999
What was previously termed the Office Automation Division was renamed The Office Solutions Division (OSD). The new name reflects the new customer offering of providing solutions in the digital/network era. |
2001
The Group traded under the name Gestetner until July when the name was changed to NRG Group PLC. Using the first letter from each of the three sales brands, Nashuatec, Rex-Rotary and Gestetner form NRG, an umbrella name unifying the strategic evolution for the Company as a large supplier of office equipment. | |
|
|
|
|
