Prehistory

90 years of Schmidthammmer  - that is the story of  a company. the chronicle of four
generations. It's the life and activity of fathers and sons. It's finally also a part of age and industrial history of development.

That happened then, and nowadays, from the beginning of crafts until todays modern enterprise of quality products, has been documented on the following pages. This presentation may give a convincing impression of the actual standard of the company Schmidthammer. It should also be a "thank you" to all, who helped to realize the development of todays standard based on close relationship and faithfulness.

For better understanding of the foundation of KOHLEBÜRSTENFABRIK ADOLF SCHMIDTHAMMER in Schwabach in 1929 it is essential to consider the pre-history in detail:
The know-hows about the electrical carbon fields (also known as "black magic") date back to the ancestor Leonhard Schmidthammer.

He developed own carbon grades before the turn of century, which he put successfully on the electrical motors at the time. These acquaintances were given away by him as instructor from Germany to France, UK, Italy, the USA until Russia over a period of 20 years.

Only later, in 1918, Leonhard Schmidthammer founded the "Dynamobürstenfabrik" Schmidthammer & Magnus in Nürnberg-Reichelsdorf, which was transfered    in 1923 to a bigger German company of the same line, due to serious illness of the owner.

His son Adolf Schmidthammer emmigrated 1923, after a 5 years practical work in father's company, to the USA, where he was active for further 2 years in the electrical carbon line. New knowledges - especially on the field of metal graphite brushes - were the reason of the establishment of the KEYSTONE CARBON COMPANY in Emporium, St. Marys, USA, together with the hitherto President B.R. Reuscher, who has formed the company to its todays size of 1200 employees.

After 3 more years of activities as co-founder of the Keystone Carbon Company Adolf Schmidthammer decided to return back to Germany, and established here his own factory.