Brook Time Check Company
Frank Brook was probably the UK’s most influential person regarding the development and production of time recorders.
The following is a summary of the information given in one of Dr. Paul Harrison’s excellent and comprehensive publications, A Series of Papers on the Early History and Development of Industrial Time Recorders. More information on his work can be found via the Links page.
While working at Martin Sons & Co. cloth mill in Huddersfield as a weaver around 1888, Brook ran a small business in the sale and repair of watches.
The manager of the mill was looking for ways to accurately record the arrival and departure times of his employees to eliminate the conflicts between the timekeeper and his workers. Frank Brook obliged, with the help of a Swiss clock maker named Ulrich Feichter, by inventing a machine to record the ‘checks’ deposited by workers on arrival and departure. Understandably, this machine was very unpopular with the workers, as was Frank Brook by extension.
He left the mill to focus on the development and production of time recorders. His first successful patent was secured in 1893, which led to the manufacture of the ‘Paragon’ time check machine, marketed by the Brook Time Checking Clock Company Ltd after its formation in 1896.
The company was unsuccessful and dissolved in 1899. Undeterred, Frank Brook’s continued enthusiasm for time recorders led him to operate as a sole trader between 1899 and 1907. During this time, he sold the more advanced US-made Bundy key and card recorders, while still patenting his own ideas and modifications to existing models.
In 1907, Brook formed a partnership with a fellow inventor and patentee of time recorders, James John Stockall Jr. of J. J. Stockall & Sons, forming Stockall-Brook Time Recorders. This company ran until its liquidation in 1911. His perseverance eventually paid off when forming a partnership with Arthur Gledhill in 1912 and together establishing Gledhill-Brook Time Recorders, which became a very successful manufacturer of high-quality time recorders in the UK.