Ballon factory Augsburg
| Balloon factory sea and air equipment GmbH + Co. KG | |
|---|---|
| legal form | GmbH & Co. KG |
| founding | 1897 |
| resolution | May 13, 2008 |
| Seat | Augsburg , Germany |
| Number of employees | 80 (2007) |
| sales | 5.5 million EUR (2006) |
The Augsburg balloon factory was a company in Augsburg that originally manufactured balloons . Later, rescue and safety equipment for the military and rescue services as well as gas storage balloons for industry were mainly manufactured.
history
The balloon factory was founded in 1897 by Kommerzienrat August Riedinger and took over the construction of dragon balloons , which were based on the design principle of August von Parseval and Hans Bartsch von Sigsfeld . Due to the great demand, especially from the military, the company became the world market leader in the manufacture of balloons up to the First World War . At that time the company employed up to 800 people.
On May 27, 1931, the Swiss physicist Auguste Piccard set off from the factory premises to set a balloon altitude record. He reached a height of 15,785 meters with a stratospheric balloon.
- Pictures before Piccard's ascent of the factory premises
The spherical gondola is brought to the launch site
The balloon at takeoff
Auguste Piccard with family
Auguste Piccard and Paul Kipfer in the spherical gondola
Until the 1950s, mostly open-air balloons were built. Most recently, rescue and safety equipment for watercraft and aircraft , protective clothing for rescue services and gas storage balloons for industry were manufactured in the balloon factory . In April 2008 the company was taken over by the German rubber boat , a subsidiary of the Northern Irish Survitec .
Post-industrial use
The balloon factory was closed on March 31, 2009. In February 2010 the culture committee and city council decided that the building should be refurbished and used in the future as a branch of the non-profit Kulturpark West (whose rooms in the Reese barracks were no longer sufficient). Among other things, there is now a yoga studio, a cultural center and a climbing hall.
Web links
- Balloon factory. Creative freedom. Kulturpark West non-profit GmbH, accessed on September 30, 2013 (list of artists and creators who are currently working in a studio of the balloon factory).
- Article about the Augsburg balloon factory in the Augsburg city dictionary
- Ballonfabrik Augsburg in the Augsburg Wiki
- “First bought up, then flattened” - Article in Augsburger Allgemeine online from October 2, 2008, accessed on October 6, 2015
- "The end of aviation" - article in Süddeutsche Zeitung online from June 1, 2007, accessed on January 29, 2010
Coordinates: 48 ° 23 '22.5 " N , 10 ° 53' 16.7" E