Secumar
Secumar Bernhardt Apparatebau GmbH u. Co. (spelling: SECUMAR) is a manufacturer of life jackets and life-saving equipment for aviation , seafaring and water sports from Holm in the Pinneberg district . The brand name Secumar, introduced in 1961, was derived from securitas in mare (Latin for "safety in the sea").
history
Engineer Karl Bernhardt Apparatebau
The company's origins go back to Karl Bernhardt from Wiesbaden . After training as a plumber and beginning music studies, he was transferred to Hamburg as a cavalry lieutenant during World War I. There he met his wife, whom he married towards the end of the war. Bernhardt then settled in Hamburg.
In 1926 he founded the engineer Karl Bernhardt Apparatebau on Admiralitätstrasse in Hamburg , where he manufactured diving equipment. With regard to these products, Bernhardt chose the Poseidon's trident as the company logo . After a short time, Bernhardt expanded his portfolio to include respiratory protection equipment for industry, with which he supplied shipyards and scrapping companies, among other things . Bernhardt was able to employ eight people in his company.
During the Allied air raid on Hamburg in July 1943 , the premises in Admiralitätstrasse were bombed out, and the engineer Karl Bernhardt Apparatebau had to move to other premises. These were also destroyed in another air raid, and no usable inventory or material remained for the company . In 1945 Karl Bernhardt and his son Jost dared to make a fresh start with pre-war products at Johannisbollwerk 9-10 directly on the banks of the Elbe. The necessary repair of war damage also in the port area and thus under water ensured a strong boom for the engineer Karl Bernhardt Apparatebau . In 1946, Bernhardt employed eight people with an annual turnover of around 86,000 Reichsmarks , which today corresponds to around 295,000 EUR. In the year of the currency reform in 1948, the company already had twelve employees. From 1951, on the initiative of Jost Bernhardt, trading in life jackets was included in the company program. First of all, remnants of the Kriegsmarine were sold, with which the Danish Navy was also supplied. After the remaining stocks were used up and demand continued to rise, the production of life jackets was started in 1956. The Bernhardt company took advantage of its many years of experience with helmet diving suits and the production of waterproof coated fabrics. However, Bernhardt was not satisfied with the stupid replica of the old life jackets, but carried out investigations and basic research to improve them.
In 1955 Jost Bernhardt took over the management. In the same year the Lübeck- based company Dräger, also a manufacturer of breathing and diving technology, joined the engineer Karl Bernhardt Apparatebau as a partner . Company founder Karl Bernhardt died in March 1960 at the age of 82.
When the sailing training ship Pamir sank in the Atlantic on September 21, 1957 , Jost Bernhardt's interest in and commitment to sea rescue received a strong boost. Of the 86 sailors on the Pamirs , only six survived the disaster. Later investigations into the accident revealed that some seafarers had drowned in their life jackets. Due to the life jackets with buoyancy bodies evenly distributed all around and the human anatomy, unconscious sailors were turned into a prone position, with their faces under water. Jost Bernhardt recognized this grievance and looked for ways to remedy it.
For a large-scale series of tests, Bernhardt procured numerous different models of life jackets and examined their properties in the Thedestrasse indoor swimming pool in Altona . On the basis of these investigations, which he documented with measured values and photos, he created articles for specialist journals in 1958 and 1959. Two of the most important contributions were “On the problem of the life jacket” and “Man in the medium of water”. In doing so, Bernhardt established the concept of security against fainting, which keeps the mouth and nose above the surface of the water even in people who are unable to move. The result of the investigations was the first faint-proof life jacket that Bernhardt brought onto the market in 1958.
Among the various life jackets with which Bernhardt carried out his investigations, he discovered a test model of the German Navy from the Second World War, whose floats could be filled with compressed air. From this, Bernhardt developed the first inflatable life jacket that went into series production.
Secumar Bernhardt Apparatebau
In 1961 Bernhardt decided to get out of the diving and respiratory protection equipment business. He left the engineer Karl Bernhardt Apparatebau and founded the Secumar Bernhardt Apparatebau GmbH u. Co . The salvage company Harms participated as a partner. The new company was located in the Vorsetzen, very close to the old company. During the storm surge in February 1962 , the production facilities near the Elbe were destroyed.
Bernhardt and Secumar also became aware of Bernhardt and Secumar through his specialist contributions and training films, including Gerhard Junack , who founded and led the ship safety teaching group in Neustadt . The collaboration between Bernhardt and Junack led to many important new designs and standards for life jackets. In addition, this connection opened the way for Secumar to become an outfitter for the German Navy . From 1964, the Navy was equipped with the Secumar MRS-3 life jacket. In addition, the classic lifebuoys have been replaced by U-shaped lifebuoys with solid floats that had been developed by Secumar.
As a standard supplier to the German Navy , the company quickly enjoyed high recognition, and it soon became one of the most important suppliers for other navies as well as for merchant shipping. Today, many NATO countries use Secumar rescue technology in their naval forces. Even the United States Navy is equipping its ships with the rescue technology developed in Hamburg, thanks to the cooperation between Secumar and Stearns. In addition to ships, submarines and aircraft are also being equipped with Secumar rescue equipment in the various countries . The beginning was made at the end of the 1960s with the equipment of the F-104 Starfighter of the German Air Force. Even with land forces such as the pioneers or battle tanks with a large fording depth such. B. the leopard , life jackets are part of the equipment.
At the end of the 1960s, Bernhardt turned to inland shipping in addition to the navy and maritime shipping . There, the required freedom of movement on the river freighters is a major obstacle to the acceptance of the bulky life jackets, which is noticeable in a high number of fatal accidents. With the BS-8, Bernhardt developed an automatically inflating life jacket, which in normal condition can even be worn under a work jacket like a normal item of clothing. When it comes into contact with water, a CO 2 cartridge is activated, which automatically inflates the life jacket. The BS-8 received a high level of acceptance and found its way into recreational and water sports in the mid-1970s.
1972 the recovery company Harms rose again from the Secumar Bernhardt Apparatebau GmbH u. Co out. In 1974 Jan-Ulrich Bernhardt took over the management of the company from his father Jost, and the following year the company was relocated from the cramped old location, which was subject to building restrictions, to Wedel . Jost Bernhardt died in 1993 at the age of 70, the company was continued by his son Jan-Ulrich. In the same year Secumar entered into a cooperation with the American specialist for solid life jackets, Stearns . Since Secumar had meanwhile increasingly shifted to the area of inflatable vests, the product ranges of the two companies had little overlap. The competitive situation was correspondingly low, the addition correspondingly large. The cooperation made Secumar's access to the American market much easier. Stearns also gained easier access to European markets through Secumar for its solid vests products, which are marketed under the “Secumar by Stearns” label, as well as for inflatable paddle boats .
As a further specialty, Bernhardt developed special life jackets for sea rescue services such as the DGzRS from the mid-1990s . After the turn of the millennium, life rafts and protective and dry suits were also developed. This makes Secumar the only German manufacturer of life rafts in the water sports sector and self-righting life rafts.
Due to continuous growth, the company was spread over six locations in the early 2000s. In order to optimize the company's processes, new premises were moved into in Holm at Bredhornweg 39 in 2004 and all activities were concentrated in a single location. In 2009 Benjamin Bernhardt joined the management as the fourth generation.
Products and inventions
The life jacket MRS-3 (marine life jacket) was an inflatable life jacket with two separate chambers. The vest thus had a high level of security due to the redundancy . In addition, the two chambers were connected by push buttons and could be separated from each other in an emergency and used for two people.
The life jacket BS-8 with Secumatic 8 was an inflatable life jacket developed for inland shipping with an automatic release mechanism. A spring pretensioned bolt was fixed by a cellulose ether locking device that decomposed in a short time when it came into contact with water. The unlocked bolt then pierced the cap of a CO 2 cartridge, inflating the life jacket without human intervention. The BS-8 was the archetype of the self-inflating life jackets from Secumar, which are constantly being further developed and are an important product of the company.
The top product since the mid-2000s has been the Secumar Tetra life jacket, which has a floating body that unfolds far forward. As a result, a person is reliably turned into a faint-proof position even if unfavorable air pockets act against it through heavy work or weather protection clothing. In addition, a hood with a clear field of vision protects the facial area from waves and spray, making breathing easier even in heavy seas.
The DGzRS Mod . 4 life jacket was developed in the mid-1990s especially for the needs of emergency rescue services . The vest with a very strong buoyancy of 290 N has a solid body, an automatically inflating and a manually inflatable floating body. The rescue system is supplemented by a sturdy harness with six securing points, which should prevent the vest from slipping or slipping off even in heavy seas.
As a complementary product to the life jackets, the Secumar-Island life raft is part of the company program, which was developed and manufactured together with the German rubber boat factory DSB. Thanks to a barrel roof construction, the life raft is self-righting even when fully occupied. In a comparison test carried out by YACHT magazine in 2001, the life raft received the best possible rating.
As additional protection against the cold, the Secumar OTS-600 dry suit was developed in the early 2000s, which meets the strict requirements for aviation certification by CAA and for marine certification according to SOLAS and IMO . Protected by the dry suit, a person can survive several hours in 5 ° C cold water without damage.
The importance of Secumar products is documented by their exhibition in the Deutsches Museum in Munich , where they are exhibited in the permanent rescue equipment exhibition in the aerospace department.
Individual evidence
- ↑ This figure was based on the template: Inflation was determined, has been rounded to the nearest thousand and relates to the previous January.
Web links
- www.secumar.com Official website
Coordinates: 53 ° 37 ′ 34.6 " N , 9 ° 41 ′ 12.1" E