Krüss Optronic

A. Krüss Optronic GmbH is a German manufacturer and distributor of optical and electronic laboratory equipment as well as instruments for gemology. The Hamburg-based company is one of the traditional Hanseatic family-owned enterprises and one of the oldest companies in Germany. It had its origins in the optical workshop of Mechanicus Opticus Edmund Gabory, founded in 1796. A. Krüss Optronic has a branch office in the US, and representations in many countries of the world.

History

Edmund Gabory trained in London, with the well-known optician Jesse Ramsden. After some years in their own workshop in London, in 1796 he and his family moved the business to Hamburg in 1796, a prospering seaport and trading center. In 1844, Edmund Garbory's assistant and son-in-law Andres Krüss founded his own company, A. Krüss Optisches Institut, and sold navigational instruments and nautical charts. The two businesses were joined in 1886 into one company that exists in 2015.

In 1859, Edmund Johann Krüss, the son of Andres, expanded the company by adding a lens-grinding facility, to produce his own lenses for microscopes, photographic cameras and projectors. He demonstrated the quality of his products in his own photographic studio. Edmund Johann constructed early cross-fading slide projectors and received a patent for the magic lantern, a forerunner of movie projectors, in 1865.