John E. Hand & Sons Company

The John E. Hand & Sons Company was founded in Philadelphia in 1873, quickly gaining a reputation as competent manufacturers of nautical instruments and compass adjusters. The Hand Company built navigational equipment for all varieties of floating vessels, and operated a chain of retail outlets with "service stations" in numerous port cities, including Baltimore and New Orleans, until 1956. Service stations sold Hand instruments as well as other nautical paraphernalia and provided compass adjusting services. Additionally, John E. and his two sons, John L. and Bartram, were inventors, who patented design improvements for numerous instruments that were employed in the company's work. Commercial and private contracts dominated the firm's business until the late 1930s when the United States military began preparations for World War II. Though the Hand Company never completely abandoned its involvement with private industry, after World War II, military contracts monopolized their business. The Company obtained contracts with the Navy, Coast Guard and Marines to develop new instruments, and to build military-engineered nautical equipment. Of note are the wrist compass, developed for the Navy beginning in the 1950s, and the Mark VII Model 5 Navy Standard Binnacle.

The John E. Hand & Sons Company was founded in Philadelphia in 1873, quickly gaining a reputation as competent manufacturers of nautical instruments and compass adjusters. In fact, John Enos Hand, the company founder, is recognized as “the first man in America to adjust a compass aboard an iron ship.” 1

The Hand Company built navigational equipment for all varieties of floating vessels, and operated a chain of retail outlets with “service stations” in numerous port cities, including Baltimore and New Orleans, until 1956. Service stations sold Hand instruments as well as other nautical paraphernalia and provided compass adjusting services. Additionally, John E. and his two sons, John L. and Bartram, were inventors, who patented design improvements for numerous instruments that were employed in the company’s work.

Commercial and private contracts dominated the firm’s business until the late 1930s when the United States military began preparations for World War II. Though the Hand Company never completely abandoned its involvement with private industry, after World War II, military contracts monopolized their business. The Company obtained contracts with the Navy, Coast Guard and Marines to develop new instruments, and to build military-engineered nautical equipment. Of note are the wrist compass, developed for the Navy beginning in the 1950s, and the Mark VII Model 5 Navy Standard Binnacle.

Though it moved numerous times, the Hand Company headquarters and factory remained in the Delaware Valley, occupying several buildings in Philadelphia and southern New Jersey. Maintaining its central office in Philadelphia well into the 1900s, the factory was moved to Atco, New Jersey around the turn of the twentieth century and subsequently to Haddonfield, New Jersey. It moved one last time in the 1960s to Cherry Hill, New Jersey.

In 1997, California-based Sunset Cliffs Merchandising Corporation purchased the Hand Company and all its assets for $100,000.

1 Caron Golden, “John E. Hand & Sons: A Story of an American Marine Instrument Manufacturer,” Nautical World (April, 1999), 42-49.

Bibliography:

Department of the Navy, Bureau of Ships. Bureau of Ships Consolidated Index of Drawings, Materials and Services Related to Construction and Conversion . 1965.

Golden, Caron. “John E. Hand & Sons: A Story of an American Marine Instrument Manufacturer,” Nautical World (April, 1999): 42-49.

Navy Filing Manual. Available online: http://www.hnsa.org/doc/navyfile/agroup.htm