William Henry Fowler established the Scientific Publishing Company in 1898 on Corporation Street, Manchester. It soon moved to New Bailey Street in Salford and published Fowler's Mechanical Engineer's Pocket Book, the first of a series of annual pocket books for a variety of trades. The company moved to premises in West Timperley, near Altrincham, in the early 1940s and again, in the early 1960s, to the Rochdale Road, and was in business until about 1976.

The Scientific Publishing Company also sold circular calculators from 1898. This eventually led to Fowler’s son Harold, who joined the Scientific Publishing Company in 1905, designing and manufacturing circular calculators through the family’s new company Fowler & Co established in 1908.

The two companies remained separate until the early 1960s, when Fowler & Co, renamed Fowlers (Calculators) Ltd in 1938, took over as proprietors of the Scientific Publishing Company. The Scientific Publishing Company ceased trading in around 1976.