The company, which started as a mechanical workshop was founded in 1870 by the great-grandfather Wilhelm Schließer and became a rapidly growing save factory. Great-grandfahter Schließer was also the one who made the sewing machine and the Veloziped popular in the Altmark region.

After the First World War, the company was lead by Otto Zorn. Under his leadership it mainly concentrated on repairs regarding the gunsmith trade.

After the Second World War, Gerhard Zorn rebuilt the mainly destroyed company by working as a supplier for the German state railway.

In 1955 began the production of hardness test control units for metallic materials which are produced until today by the Zorn company.

In 1980 the company was taken over by the present owner Bernd Zorn. Today, the ISO 9001 certificated company with its 40 employees is a modern company with its own research and development sector.

Thanks to the steadily increasing range of products, the company Zorn nowadays has more than 25,000 test devices and instruments, which are sold all around the world. All devices are very demanded in Eastern and Western Europe as well as in Japan, Brazil or India.

During the last years a worldwide leading market position could be reached especially with the devices of the light Drop-Weight Tester series ZFG als well as with the CBR devices.

change of name in ZORN-INSTRUMENTS