|  Shipton Communications was formally known as Communio Ltd and prior to this as DeTeWe Ltd. Shipton Communications has one of the longest, continuous, and greatest histories of any telephone Company in the UK. Shipton Communications has been in the business of manufacturing, providing and servicing telephone equipment since 1890.
Shipton Communications began in 1890 as a Company called National Telewriter Ltd, it also traces it history through the foundation and business of Shipton Communications, founded by Edward Shipton in 1923. These are the principle Companies from which Shipton Communications traces its extraordinary links to the beginnings of the telephone industry.  Shipton Communications Ltd gets its name from the founder, Mr Edward Shipton. Edward Shipton, originally worked for the National Telephone Co in the early 1900’s and then went onto work for Standard Telephone and Cables (S.T.C.) and in 1923 decided to set up his own business.
Mr. Shipton started business from premises in Dartmouth Street, London S.W.1., by laying telephone lines, but was soon to purchase telephones and then to install systems – just as Shipton Communications does today. Research was always Mr. Shiptons first passion, and in 1929 Shipton introduced the desk internal telephone called the ‘Shipton Inter-Dial’. A breakthrough in design enabling callers to dial extension numbers themselves – it seems so common place today but it all started here. By the 1930’s Shipton had built up a reputation and had started to employ staff, and the company grew. In the pre war years, Shipton’s were supplying and installing a variety of systems on both sale or rental agreements. Although Shiptons marketed products by outside manufacturers, they had their own remarkable design and development departments and manufacturing facilities. One remarkable development by Shipton’s chief engineer, Mr. Rigby, was a Digital Timing Switch Board, with a digital light display. This could time and display with accuracy up to 100 th of a second, and at one time was used at the White City Stadium for timing races. It was about to be used by the Horse Racing Board when the country was plunged into war and all the planning was abandoned. During the latter part of 1937, Shiptons moved to new premises at The Broadway, St.James Park, London S.W.1. but in September 1939, war was declared. Shortly afterwards many businesses started to move out of London and Shiptons were no exception. They leased lock-up garages at Northwood Hills, Middlesex, and commenced to set up a factory for war work. Although they vacated the premises they had occupied for the past three years at The Broadway, the Company now set up offices and a workshop at St. Stephens House on the Embankment, Westminster. Shipton manufactured timing devices for bombs and guidance devices for torpedoes during the war, before returning to telephone devices again in peace time. Many of Shipton’s men served in all branches of the armed forces during the war, meaning a lot of his expertise, research and development base became depleted. It was around this time however Shipton began to discover the strength and versatility of plastics. One of their projects resulted in the development and manufacture of the barrel for the ball-point pen. Mr. Shipton was the first to develop the ‘Bottle blowing process’. This process allowed a plastic bottle to be blown in one piece which meant no leakage or evaporation of fluid as the screw cap could be sealed. Glass had become expensive so it was ideal; this also led to the “plastic lemon” product which was a favourite with housewives! Pure lemon juice had not been tasted for seven years and this was a novel and practical way of packaging the liquid. With Shiptons discovery of the usefulness of plastics he went on to design the first deaf aid and then moved onto the toy business, creating toy cars and the first plastic doll that actually wet itself! Despite all these adventures into plastics, the development in the telephone side of the business was still progressing. Shipton Developers had designed a push-button telephone to replace the ‘Inter-Dial’. This new range was called ‘Inter-Mains’ and was available in multiples of five extensions, i.e. 5, 10, 15 and 20. Shipton also designed, developed and manufactured the first dictating machine known as ‘Intercorder’. This incorporated a cassette loaded tape all housed in a green plastic case. This machine was followed by a new design called ‘Intermains Recorder’ for system working. This was two machines on a rack which allowed the typist to transcribe whilst the other machine was recording. | 
Shipton Communications takes quality and high standards of service very seriously. To reflect this we constantly review our Quality Control processes and Standards to ensure that you receive a consistently high level of customer service. Shipton Communications is accredited with the BSI mark and registration and is an accredited BSI ISO 9001:2000 Company (Certificate Number FS 00305). 
