Megger Group Limited (also known as Megger) is a British manufacturing company that manufactures electronic test equipment and measuring instruments for electrical power applications.
Megger is known for its electrical insulation testers. It supplies products related to the following areas: cable fault locating, earth/ground testing, low resistance measuring, power quality, electrical wiring, insulation testers, multimeters, portable appliance testers, clamp-on meters, current transformers, etc.
History Over the years there were several companies whose names were associated with Megger.
Evershed & Vignoles
Sydney Evershed (1858–1939) and Ernest Vignoles (1865–1948) bought the instrument section of Golden Trotter (where they both worked) and founded Evershed & Vignoles Limited on 5 February 1895.http://archives.theiet.org, Evershed & Vignoles Ltd However, it is likely that the origins of Megger can be traced back to 1889. The company was based at Acton Lane Works, Acton Green, London, where it moved from Westbourne Park in 1903.
Sydney Evershed applied for several patents for various electric devices.US Patent 611,809 (4 Oct 1898)US Patent 642,743 (6 Feb 1900) One of them was for a "hand dynamo",US Patent 639,849 (26 Dec 1899) which allowed the generation of voltages high enough to measure resistance in the megohm range and facilitated the construction of the first portable insulation tester. The Megaohm Meter was then named the Megger, and the word became a trademark name, registered on 25 May 1903.Megger trademark The invention became a popular method of insulation testing and, by the 1920s, it was "well-known" by other engineers.US Patent 1,358,179 mentioning Megger (1920)Megger is "well-known" by 1927, US Patent 1,616,387
Due to electromagnetic interference, the first Megger insulation testers were built as two separate boxes – one for voltage generation, and one for measurement. They were later integrated into a single device in a Bakelite case, with special foldable handle for driving the dynamo. The most popular was the so-called "Wee Megger" (voltage up to 500 V and resistance up to 20 megohms), but there were larger devices like the "Major Megger", "Meg", or "Megger insulation tester", which could generate up to 2500 V and measure resistance up to 20,000 megohms.Vintage Communication Pages, Major Megger Megger advert from 1943 The modern version of Megger – model MJ15 – can generate up to 5 kV.Megger MJ15
In the 1920s, the company employed approximately 500 people. That number rose to 1,000 during the Second World War, reaching its peak of 1,870 in 1967.www.gracesguide.co.uk / Evershed_and_Vignoles
In 1965, Evershed & Vignoles Ltd. became a part of the George Kent Group.http://archives.theiet.org / Evershed_and_Vignoles
H.W. Sullivan Ltd The company (established in 1922) was producing precision laboratory equipment (e.g. resistors, inductors, shunts, galvanometers, etc.www.porthcurno.org.uk / Sullivan). H.W. Sullivan Ltd was incorporated into Megger in 2002.H.W. Sullivan Limited in the Companies House
AVO
The invention of the first multimeter is attributed to Donald Macadie (1871–1955) Register of Births, Parish of Halkirk, Caithness, (Scotland) Entry No. 46Wireless World, April 1955, P. 156 who was the manager of the Post Office Telephone Factory in Holloway, North London. He was granted Patent GB 200977 on 26 July 1923. It has often been stated that Mr. MacAdie devised the Avometer because he became dissatisfied with having to carry many separate instruments required for the maintenance of the telecommunication circuits. This story may be based on a paper "The History of the Avometer" by PR P Hawes.Bulletin of the Scientific Instrument Society No.37 (1993) However the accuracy of the story may be questioned because it is unlikely that a senior Post Office Engineering manager would have been carrying around his own instruments. Macadie invented a first instrument, which could measure Amps, Volts and Ohms, so the multifunctional meter was then named as AVO.name="Grace_AVO"www.gracesguide.co.uk / AVO The Automatic Coil Winder and Electrical Equipment Company (ACWEECO,)was formed in 1922, principally by R H Rawlings, to exploit both the Avometer patent and that for an automatic coil winder also designed by MacAdie (GB199417).D. MacAdie correspondence file Imperial College Archives, London The first AVO was put on sale in 1923, and although it was initially a DC-only instrument many of its features remained almost unaltered right through to the last Model 8.
ACWEECO later became known as AVO Limited and manufactured instruments with the AVO trademark.http://archives.theiet.org / AVO
Instruments derived from the original AVO multimeter were manufactured continuously from 1923 until the final model (AVO Model 8 Mk 7) was made in October 2008. Its production was terminated only due to increasing problems with obtaining some mechanical parts for the movement. The AVO Model 8, a 20,000 ohm per volt universal instrument, was introduced in 1951 and versions of this model were extensively used, especially in British industry, education and research, for 57 years without major modifications to the functions it provided.www.electronicsweekly.com / Megger bids farewell to AVO 8www.electricalportal.co.uk / AVO Model 8 retires after 58 years
With the intention of promoting export sales, Avo produced several other types of multimeter (Models 10, 14, 15, 16 and 20/21), which might be considered more modern in design than their traditional types but considered the British market more conservative and, initially at least, these instruments were not offered on the home market.AVO press release 1967 The Model EA113 was an excellent electronic multimeter, sold in the UK and abroad, in the same style as the Model 14 to 21 range.
Avometer model numbers were first used by the company from 1936 (Avometer Model 7) and were used to distinguish designs with different ranges and functionality. Several "Models" were in production contemporaneously. Some designs were produced especially for specific industries (e.g. Model 12 for Auto-electrical work) and at the request of large companies, the British armed forces and later NATO.
The company also designed and made other electronic instruments such as signal generators, valve (vacuum tube) testers and valve characteristic meters and specialist equipment for radio servicing. Many of these were intended for both military and commercial use and were made to a very high standard.
AVO Training Institute
In 1963 Multi-Amp and AVO created Multi-Amp Institute. In 2004 the Institute became AVO Training Institute, Inc. with the headquarters in Dallas, Texas. AVO Training Institute was established for providing training in electrical engineering, particularly regarding safety, maintenance and testing of electrical equipment, also by using instruments from competitive manufacturers.
In 1996 the Institute was certified with ISO 9001 and so far over 230,000 electrical maintenance and testing technicians and engineers from around the world have attended training courses.www.occupationalhealthdirectory.com / AVO Training Institute Inc
The Institute has a Technical Resource Center – an online store offering books, standards, training materials, Personal Protective Equipment, and tools. www.avotraining.com / about The actual training can be organised in different sites around the world, for example at the Megger facility in Paris.
The AVO Electrical Engineering Division was created in 2002 and it specialises in power system studies, specifically arc flash hazard analysis.AVO Electrical Engineering Division
Thorn Electronics/EMI In 1970, along with other members of the George Kent Group the company was acquired by Thorn Electrical Industries founded in 1936. http://archives.theiet.org / Thorn Electrical Industries The company was taken over by Thorn EMI in 1967 (linked with company EMI), which at the same time also bought AVO Limited.
In 1987 the name of the company was for the first time changed to Megger Instruments Limited. http://archives.theiet.org / Automatic Coil Winder and Electrical Equipment Company
Present times
Megger Megger Instruments Limited was based at AVO's Dover site, in Archcliffe Road, Dover, CT17 9EN, Kent, England, which is also the present location of the UK branch of the company.
In 1991, the company changed its name to AVO Megger Instruments Limited. In 2000 the company became known as AVO International Holdings Limited and in 2002 as AVO International Limited.
Finally it changed its name to Megger Group Limited in 2002, as it is known today.
The Dover site employs around 230 people. www.east-kent.co.uk / Megger In total (including the sales channels) Megger Group Limited employs around 1500 people worldwide.
Biddle For many years, the James G. Biddle Company in Pennsylvania, was the United States importer of Megger products, as well as a manufacturer of equipment under their own name. In 1989, using concepts introduced by Commonwealth Edison Company of Chicago, Biddle started development of a range of equipment to test the integrity of large battery systems, which led to the BITE (Battery Impedance Test Equipment) line of products.
In 1991 Biddle, Megger and MultiAmp joined together to form AVO International. The use of the Biddle trademark was retained for many of products still available today. Biddle was one of the first companies to provide commercial cable fault locators.
States Megger Group Ltd. owns the US site in Dallas, Texas. They manufacture terminal blocks and test switches under the trademark States (existing since the 1940s).
PowerDB PowerDB was acquired in autumn 2005. They provide "acceptance and maintenance test data management software" which is compatible with many Megger products.
Programma Programma Electric AB was a Swedish electrical test and measurement equipment manufacturer founded in 1976. www.programma.se / about It provided products including: circuit breaker analysers, battery load testers, primary injection testers, vacuum interrupter testers, micrometers and protective relay test instruments. The production plant facility was located in Täby, Sweden.
In March 2001 Programma was sold to GE Energy and joined Megger Group Ltd. in June 2007 www.gepower.com / GE Sells Programma to Megger www.programma.se / about as Megger Sweden AB. The company was relocated in April 2013 from Täby to Danderyd.Megger Sweden is moving!
Pax Diagnostics In October 2008 Megger Group Ltd. acquired Pax Diagnostics in Sweden. Pax manufactures transformer testing and insulation diagnostics equipment. Pax Diagnostics was founded in 2004 by former employees of Programma Electric, and it is also based in Täby. www.paxdiagnostics.com Pax joins Megger Group
SebaKMT
In July 2012 Megger acquired SebaKMT specialising in power cable fault location and testing, and pipe leakage detection.Electrical Digest / Megger acquires SebaKMT
SebaKMT has main development and manufacturing sites in Germany and the USA. This acquisition meant substantial increase of Megger's turnover. As a result, the Group's position on the market of test equipment for the electrical power sector increased significantly.Utility Products / Megger acquires SebaKMT
SebaKMT developed and introduced the arc-reflection method for testing electrical faults in cables.
Baker Instrument The business was acquired by Megger from the SKF Group on 19 August 2018. The UK test equipment manufacturer Megger Group has entered into agreement with SKF to purchase its Baker Instrument business which makes equipment for testing and diagnosing electric motors and other rotating machines. The terms of the deal have not been disclosed.