WW11 Barr & Stroud 7 x CF41 Naval Military Binoculars

WW11 Barr & Stroud 7 x CF41 Naval Military Binoculars

Lovely pair of Barr & Stroud Naval Binoculars 7 x , Original Leather case. CF41 Glasgow & London. A.F. 1900A – Serial Number 66052 – Binoculars are approx 25cm long.

Bold Yellow Crows Foot stamped into each side. Both lenses are clear and fine . The  focus control on both are fully functioning. Both filter selector knob’s are also fully functioning. Item is in vintage used condition with obvious signs of age, use and wear . Case is usable but worn and top of case is unfortunately missing. Please see pictures before purchase.

The CF 41 was the British Naval binocular during WW2 , they came into service in 1935 as the 1900A patt. The large yellow arrows on the barrels on the binocular denote government ownership and were placed there to prevent pilfering.

Barr and Stroud, founded in 1888 by Archibald Barr and William Stroud to develop and manufacture

optical rangefinders, produced their first binoculars in 1919. During the 1930s the company became the preferred supplier of binoculars to the Admiralty, a position it maintained until the mid-1950s.

Archibald Barr and William Stroud had been associated from as early as 1888 when the two men were professors of, respectively, engineering and physics at the Yorkshire College (now the University of Leeds). In 1891, they were approached by the Admiralty to submit a design for a short-base rangefinder for trial. By this time, Barr had returned to Scotland and taken the Regius Professor of Civil Engineering and Mechanics post at the University of Glasgow. Although apart, Barr and Stroud kept in close touch and in 1892 they were awarded with a contract for six of their rangefinders.

In 1895, Barr & Stroud’s Patents Ltd was renting workshop space near the university, at 250 Byres Road, Glasgow, but demand for the product soon necessitated a move to larger premises in Ashton Lane, Glasgow. By 1904, 100 men were working for the company in a new purpose-built factory in Anniesland, Glasgow designed by Campbell Douglas.^[1] Shortly thereafter, in 1909, Stroud resigned his chair at the University of Leeds and moved to Glasgow to work for the company full-time. Barr, in spite of a distinguished teaching career at Glasgow University, followed his example in 1913. Together they formed Barr & Stroud Ltd. that year.^[2]

WW11 Barr & Stroud 7 x CF41 Naval Military Binoculars