Graupner Modellbau
| Graupner / SJ GmbH
|
|
|---|---|
 |
|
| legal form | GmbH |
| founding | 1930 |
| Seat | Kirchheim unter Teck , Germany |
| management | Hannes Runknagel |
| Number of employees | 54 |
| sales | EUR 12.1 million |
| Branch | Modelling |
| Website | www.graupner.de |
| As of December 31, 2017 | |
The Graupner / SJ GmbH was a model company , which in 1930 by Johannes Graupner in Stuttgart-Wangen was founded and under the trade name Graubele produced initially smaller fretwork. Along with Simprop , Robbe Modellsport , and Multiplex, Graupner was one of the "big four" who made RC model making popular in Germany and shaped it with their full range. After decades of family ownership, the company was taken over by the South Korean company SJ Incorporated in 2013 following bankruptcy proceedings . In November 2019, Graupner again initiated insolvency proceedings. The South Korean parent company has ceased sales in Kirchheim due to a restructuring of the company. The insolvency proceedings were opened on February 1, 2020, there is no hope that the company will continue to exist.
history
Two years after it was founded, the company moved to Kirchheim unter Teck . In the meantime it also produced a construction kit with movable animal figures. In 1935 a model of a glider was added as a toy ; In 1938 plans and materials for various ship models were added to the range. Mainly handicraft groups of the Hitler Youth were supplied.
After the Second World War, Johannes Graupner applied for a permit to reopen. He initially produced handicraft toys and kitchen items with 18 employees. In 1950 the company, which in the meantime was selling plans and accessories for model airplanes again , began manufacturing model railway accessories such as buildings and systems.
In addition to an English model diesel, a compression-ignition engine called Taifun-Standard, developed in Germany under the brand name Taifun, came onto the market in 1952, and two years later the first model radio remote controls manufactured industrially in large numbers in Germany .
When the company's founder died in 1953, the company was continued by his son Hans Graupner, who was at the toy fair in Nuremberg for the first time in 1954 .
In 1962 a new building was erected in Kirchheim.
In the 1970s, in addition to the Austrian branch, branches were also set up in Switzerland. There was also a subsidiary in Ecuador to supply the company with balsa wood . Graupner has now supplied 2,000 specialist dealers worldwide.
In 2007 the turnover was 40 million euros. The export share exceeded 50% (Electronic Federal Gazette).
Hans Graupner, the son of the company founder, died on November 11, 2010 at the age of 81.
In December 2012, insolvency proceedings were opened against the assets of Graupner Beteiligungen GmbH and the Esslingen District Court initiated protective shield proceedings. The application for the procedure was filed on February 12, 2013. Obviously, this "hard cut" did not bring the hoped-for success. According to the management, the aim was to complete the restructuring of the company by March during the three-month protective shield proceedings and to avert insolvency. Despite all efforts, this did not succeed by February 22, 2013.
At the beginning of March 2013 the Graupner company was liquidated and its trademark rights were taken over by the South Korean company SJ Incorporated , the main supplier of the chargers, DES servos and HoTT remote controls (Hopping Telemetry Transmission) it had developed. Only a third of the old workforce was taken over by the newly founded Graupner / SJ company. Production at the Kirchheim location was completely discontinued, only development, marketing, sales and service remained.
Around 2016/2017, the Korean mother of SJ Incorporated was changed to Graupner Co. Ltd. renamed. Your European branch continues to operate under the name Graupner / SJ GmbH.
At the Nuremberg Toy Fair in February 2017, Graupner presented the "vector control", an aircraft motor with a pressure screw that sits directly on the lever of a servo; the unit is mounted on top of a hall flight model, about the size of an A3 sheet.
In November 2019, GRAUPNER / SJ GmbH announced that due to measures taken by Graupner Co. Ltd. has filed an application to initiate insolvency proceedings due to impending insolvency. In February 2020 the Graupner company officially ceased its business activities.
Construction kits and blueprints
In addition to the construction sets made from the then common materials pine strips and plywood , a throwing glider made entirely of balsa wood was offered as a construction set as early as 1950 . In cooperation with internationally successful model pilots such as Wilfried Biesterfeld ( Fesselflugzeug Ultra Stunter ) or Karlheinz Denzin (free flight model Kadett ), educationally valuable, largely prefabricated modular models were created, which enabled even the less experienced young prospect to get started in the construction and operation of flight models. Above all, the small UHU should be mentioned here, which helped countless young people to get their first model-making experience.
Remote controls
From 1954 Graupner took over the sale of a series of model radio remote controls from the Munich manufacturer Klemm with the transmitters Standard 10 , Standard 20 and Standard 30 / 30Q , all of which transmitted in the 27.12 MHz shortwave band , which was then exclusively permitted . The race between the transistor and the electron tube was already in progress, but the first Graupner radio remote controls were still completely equipped with the tried and tested tubes for technical reasons. The Standard 10 transmitter generated the anode voltage with a mechanical chopper from commercially available dry batteries, the Standard 20 with two 75-volt anode batteries, the Standard 30Q already had a quartz oscillator . The standard tube receiver was equipped with two receiving tubes DL68 and DL92 as well as a display tube DM70 ( magic line ), which facilitated precise tuning to the transmission frequency. A few years later, the hybrid receiver transistor appeared with an electron tube in the high-frequency part and a transistor that amplified the noise voltage for switching the relay - at that time all Graupner remote controls were unmodulated single-channel systems with carrier keying, pendulum audio , switching amplifier and noise voltage-controlled relay. In 1956 a Tippy kit supplemented the range of Graupner remote controls.
In 1958, the new sound-modulated single-channel transmitters of the Bellaphon A and Bellaphon B series, designed by Hans Schuhmacher , followed, as well as the matching microton receiver - the transmitter frequency was quartz stabilized, which made it easier to tune the receiver, and was also in the 11-meter band (27.12 MHz). Both transmitters used a battery transmitter tube in the high-frequency section, only the audio frequency oscillator for the audio modulation already worked with what was then a state-of-the-art transistor . In the Bellaphon A model , a transistor inverter has now replaced the usual mechanical chopper for generating the necessary anode voltage from a lead-acid battery , the cheaper Bellaphon B model lacked the electronic voltage converter, which is why the transmitter needed a set of the not entirely cheap in addition to the mandatory heating battery Anode batteries, which, however, achieved a long service life due to the low current load. Even the pendulum Audion -Einkanalempfänger Mikroton had also as a result of technical shortcomings former transistors in its high-frequency step nor Subminiaturröhre that required a 30-volt miniature anode battery in the receiving system.
The tube operation of the remote control, which is very unfavorable due to its unfavorable power supply, especially for model aircraft construction, ended at Graupner in 1960, when the first tube- free remote control devices appeared on the market: the 3- and 10-channel systems of the Graupner Bellaphon / Polyton series and the ones for them developed the Bellamatic and Unimatic rudder servos . Both the transmitter and receiver electronics of the new devices were completely equipped with the transistors, which are now suitable for high frequencies, which had a particularly advantageous effect on their size, weight, reliability and operating costs and contributed to the fact that the Graupner systems were very successful in the remote control market of that time claimed.
In 1962, the Bellaphon systems were replaced by the Graupner Variophon , Graupner Varioton and later Graupner Varioprop remote control systems designed and built by Grundig . The former was an expandable sound-modulated multi-channel system in tip-tip technology, the Varioprop 10 came out in 1968 as the second digital system (after the Digital TX / RX 14 introduced in 1966 ).
In the early 1980s, Graupner introduced remote control systems and servos from the well-known Japanese company JR Propo in Germany. JR Propo developed the well-known console transmitters of the FM and MC series under the Graupner / JR brand especially for the Central European market. The finally final MC-32 in development went to the Korean company SJ Incorporated .
Internal combustion model engines
In addition to importing small US-American glow-igniter model engines from the manufacturer Cox and the engines from the Japanese manufacturer OS , Graupner had a series of compression-ignition engines with the brand name Taifun (from 1.0 cm³) from the Hörnlein company in Vöhringen / Manufacture Iller. These included reliable utility engines such as the Hobby (1 cm³), the sports engine Hurrikan (1.5 cm³) or the Rasant (2.5 cm³), but also a racing engine like the Hurricane (2.5 cm³). The Graupner engines were increasingly winning national and international prizes in flight competitions and model shows.
Among the OS model engines imported by Graupner was the rotary piston engine 1-49 , which appeared in 1970 - the first model engine based on the principle developed by Felix Wankel that was mass-produced.
Electric flight
The first electric flight models designed by Fred Militky were shown at model flight events in 1959. With the support of Graupner, the first commercial, free-flying model named Silentius was created in 1960. The drive was carried out with a special gear motor from the well-known Faulhaber company , which achieved a particularly high degree of efficiency thanks to its bell-shaped armature , a cantilevered helical winding on the rotor of the electric motor , and thus made it possible for the first time to fly with power sources that were comparatively weak at the time. Because of the overload of the motor, its running time had to be limited. The first kit for the radio-controlled electric flight model, the twin-engine Hi-Fly , appeared in 1973. The breakthrough came with the single-engine Mosquito, which won the first German championship in electric flight in 1975. It was powered by a Mabuch i-engine from the 550 -Series with gearbox and long-distance shaft as well as the associated "Electroprop 550".
Promotion of model flying youth
In 1956, a Germany-wide model flight competition for young people was launched together with the DAeC. With the “Der kleine Uhu” model kit (a small class A-1 glider, designed by Werner Thies), every young person could take part in the decentralized competitions. Many of these young people then joined clubs and took part in competitions in the individual model flying classes.
“The little eagle owl” will continue to be built in a similar form and will also be part of the 2019 sales program.
Prizes and awards
- In 1967 the company received the golden badge of honor of the "Nauticus" as a sponsor of the ship model sport.
- The Graupner model "DG 100" was voted the best RC glider model of the year by an international jury of the trade press during the Nuremberg Toy Fair in 1985.
- In 2004, Hans Graupner received the Staufer Medal of the State of Baden-Württemberg as thanks and recognition for special services.
Web links
supporting documents
- ↑ a b Annual financial statements as of December 31, 2017 in the electronic Federal Gazette
- ↑ Insolvent model maker Graupner ceases business operations - WELT. In: welt.de. February 11, 2020, accessed May 23, 2020 .
- ↑ Michael Brandt: Sleepy Opportunities (archive). In: deutschlandfunk.de. August 3, 2013, accessed May 23, 2020 .
- ↑ Graupner. In: graupner.co.kr. Retrieved May 23, 2020 (English).
- ↑ SJ Incorporated takes over Graupner - Homepage - Teckbote. In: teckbote.de. March 4, 2013, accessed May 23, 2020 .
- ↑ Graupner / SJ becomes Graupner again. In: rotor-magazin.com. May 2, 2014, accessed May 23, 2020 .
- ↑ Model pilot - Graupner. In: modellpilot.eu. Archived from the original on November 27, 2015 ; accessed on November 27, 2015 .
- ↑ GRAUPNER press release South Korean parent company GRAUPNER Co., Ltd carries out restructuring and relocates production back to the headquarters in Kirchheim / Teck, November 2019
