Waterworth

Centaur Lens Advt. 1948 image by Geoff Harrisson (Image rights)

Eric Newham Waterworth (1905-1990) was the first of three sons of John Waterworth, an optician who in 1918 founded the firm of Waterworth & Ross in Hobart, Tasmania, Australia. Eric's brother David became an opthalmologist and his other brother Philip an optometrist. Eric, having acquired some engineering design expertise, at the age of 20 invented and patented an automatic record changer. In July 1940 he and Philip were working with a team from the University of Tasmania when they were asked by the Director of Ordnance Production if they could manufacture precision optics for wartime use. They established the Optical Munitions manufacturing facility in Hobart and made many optical products, mainly roof prisms and aerial lenses, during the war years.

At the end of the war the facility was sold to Eric whose new challenge was to develop and produce other products which would be commercially successful. They marketed a Leica style lens, the "Centaur" which was advertised in 1948. Total numbers produced is unknown but serial numbers known range from 106 to 171. A request for projectors from the Department of Visual Aids in the Education Department of Tasmania for school use was the beginning of projector manufacture. The company's most well-known product, it was in production from 1945 to 1963. Various other lenses and optical items were made and the lens coating machine they devised was in use for many years. The Optical Annexe building still exists in Hobart in the old University grounds and is named the Waterworth Building.

Waterworth 500w Projector c.1959 image by Geoff Harrisson (Image rights)