THE Queen gave her official seal of approval to the sought-after technology products of a South Cumbrian specialist in oil and gas industry power connections in 1993.

The Mail, on April 21,noted: “Electronics firm Tronic won a top national award for the development of a piece of high-tech underwater wizardry.

“The Ulverston-based company won the Queen’s Award for Technological Achievement for its development of an advanced electrical connector for undersea equipment.

“The award recognises the contribution Tronic has made to the offshore and defence industries in developing a reliable means of connecting electrical equipment in some of the most severe conditions in the world.

“Connecting electrical equipment underwater is a very difficult task. If the connection is not sealed properly, water may seep in causing a short circuit and supply failure.

“Tronic’s controlled environment connector uses an oil-filled sealed chamber to protect the electrical contacts."

Managing director John Alcock, who founded Tronic in 1978, said: “A lot of hard work, both inside and outside working hours, has been spent on developing this product.”

In June 2000 sales manager Gavin Wilkinson displayed a plaque received for Tronic’s role in the world’s first deepwater installation of an electrical submersible pump in a Brazilian offshore oil field.

Equipment was needed to work at depths well below the limits of divers at around 250m. Exploration for oil off the Shetland Islands was at 650m, off Mexico at 1,000m and some new fields off Brazil needed to withstand the pressure or working at 2,000m. Pictured with him and holding the firm’s next generation DigiTRON connector  were the development team of technical manager Mark Jones, development engineer Gill McKinnon and senior development engineer Simon Walker.

At the end of April in 2009 the firm, part of Expro, was able to move into its new £12m base at the Low Mill Business Park at Ulverston.