History

History

Future with tradition.

Every success has a history

The spirit of Prof. Goldschmidt, the inventor of the Thermit® welding process, is still in our company today: the drive to do everything better, to improve existing processes and develop new ones. Yet this is how it all started…

The early years (1847 – 1900)

Historie 01

Business Development

  • 1847 Theodor Goldschmidt establishes the "Chemische Fabrik Th. Goldschmidt" in Berlin, Germany.
  • 1875 The company founder Theodor Goldschmidt passes away.
  • 1882 After receiving his PhD in chemistry Karl Goldschmidt takes on sole management responsibility for the time being of the Chemische Fabrik Th. Goldschmidt company.
  • 1888 For about 30 years the brothers Karl and Hans Goldschmidt share responsibility for the company – Karl Goldschmidt as entrepreneur and politician with a social conscience and Hans Goldschmidt as a chemist who promotes technical development.
  • 1889 Relocation of the "Chemische Fabrik Th. Goldschmidt" to Essen, Germany.
  • 1896 Implementation of a company health insurance fund.
  • 1897 Implementation of a staff pension fund.
  • 1900 The "Allgemeine Thermit-Gesellschaft" company is founded to market the thermite process. Registration of the THERMIT® trademark.

Product Development

  • 1895 The imperial patent no. 96317 marks the start of a real success story. Prof. Hans Goldschmidt develops the aluminothermic process – the basis for the Thermit® process for the continuous welding of railway tracks.
  • 1899 Goldschmidt is awarded the first patent in the area of track welding with patent DRP 116400 for aluminothermic butt welding. The first track welds with Thermit® are made for the Essen tramways.

The expansion years (1847 – 1900)

Historie 02

Business Development

  • 1902 The "Allgemeine Thermit-Gesellschaft" company has its own generous exhibition pavilion at the famous Düsseldorf industrial and commercial exhibition. The company receives a gold medal for the aluminothermic process.
  • 1904 Foundation of Thermit Ltd. in London, Great Britain and Goldschmidt Thermit Co. in New York, USA.
  • 1906 Société Anonyme de l'Aluminothermit founded in Paris, France, with C. Delachaux as the first managing director. In Jersey City, USA, Goldschmidt Thermit Co. sets up a factory to produce welding materials.
  • 1909 Australian Thermit Co. founded in Sydney, Australia.
  • 1911 The Chemische Fabrik Th. Goldschmidt becomes a joint stock company (AG).

Product Development

  • 1904 The first track welds with Thermit® are made on the Hungarian state railway in Budapest. These represent the first known welds carried out on railway tracks.
  • 1909 In Tokyo, Japan grooved rails used for trams are welded with the Thermit® process.
  • 1911 On the Seetalbahn tramway in Switzerland, a longer section of track with a length of about 1,000 m is welded for the first time. The welds prove a success and even in 1924 the welds still show no signs of wear.

World War I & Comeback (1918 – 1938)

Historie 03

Business Development

  • 1918 After the end of World War I, all of the companies abroad are lost.
  • 1919 Elektro-Thermit GmbH founded in Berlin, Germany.
  • 1922 Elektro Thermit GmbH is now completely owned by the Th. Goldschmidt AG company and the company is now based in the Colditzstraße in Berlin-Tempelhof. The Chemische Fabrik Buckau AG company is acquired and through this also the plant in Halle Ammendorf, Germany.
  • 1923 Theo Goldschmidt takes over the position of Chairman of the Board of the Goldschmidt AG from his father Karl Goldschmidt.
  • 1925 Establishment of switch construction by Elektro Thermit GmbH, which ended in 1989.
  • 1928 Th. Goldschmidt AG acquires an interest in Elektro-Schweißwerk Ing. P.C. Wagner in Vienna to make the first Thermit foreign investment after World War I.

Product Development

  • 1928 The Deutsche Reichsbahn approves the Thermit® welding process as a standard welding process for track.
  • 1935 In Argentina the Roca railway line is the first railway in South America where railway track is welded using the Thermit® welding process.

World War II & Return to world market (1939 – 1950)

Historie 04

Business Development

  • 1943 The Thermit facility in Essen is mainly destroyed in a bombing raid. To compensate for this in November of the year a new Thermit production facility is opened in Halle Ammendorf, Germany.
  • 1946 The plant at Halle Ammendorf in the Soviet occupied area of Germany is impounded by the authorities along with all of its Thermit production.
  • 1949 The Elektro-Thermit GmbH company is founded in Essen, West Germany. The existing Elektro-Thermit GmbH company in Berlin from now on concentrates exclusively on switch production and the business of rail welding in Berlin.
  • 1950 The Goldschmidt AG acquires an interest in Thermit Italiana in Milan, Italy. The Thermit process is used for the first time in Brazil within the scope of a license contract with Monas Ltda in Rio de Janeiro.

Product Development

  • 1945 From 1945 the Thermit® welding process becomes the standard welding process for the tracks of nearly all railway organizations worldwide.

Internationalization (1951 – 1959)

Historie 05

Business Development

  • 1951 Goldschmidt AG participates in the founding of Thermit do Brasil, Rio de Janeiro and India Thermit Corp., India.
  • 1952 A subsidiary of Elektro-Thermit GmbH is founded in in Vienna, Austria.
  • 1953 The Elektro Thermit GmbH exhibits at the groundbreaking trade fair "Rail and road" in Munich. E.T. Argentina is founded in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
  • 1959 Thermit Welding founded in Rainham, United Kingdom.

Product Development

  • 1953 Patent for the ELLIRA® welding repair process.
  • 1955 Patent for the SmW fast Thermit® welding process.
  • 1957 The fast Thermit® welding process SmW becomes the standard welding process on the German railways.

Rise of a global player (1960 – 1979)

Historie 06

Business Development

  • 1960 Full acquisition of E.T. Argentina. Merger of P.C. Wagner KG and branch office of ElektroThermit GmbH to become P.C. Wagner Elektrothermit Schweißgesellschaft, Vienna, Austria.
  • 1967 Orgotherm Inc. founded in Chicago, USA.
  • 1975 After reacquisition of the Thermit brand rights in the USA and the acquisition of Thermex Metallurgical Inc. including all existing production locations, US Thermit Inc. is founded in Lakehurst, USA. For the time being Orgotherm Inc. remains independent.
  • 1976 Acquisition of Thermitrex in Johannesburg, South Africa by Thermit Welding.
  • 1978 The separate Thermit companies in Essen and Berlin are given a single management.

Product Development

  • 1960 Since 1945 approximately 19,900 km of rails have been joined using aluminothermic welding around the world.
  • 1961 Introduction of the SoW welding process.
  • 1970 Patent issued for the MT insulated joints. In the same year the hydraulic weld trimmer is introduced.
  • 1971 Patent for the SkV welding process and ETEKA5® welding repair process.
  • 1972 The SkV welding process becomes the standard welding process with the Deutsche Bundesbahn and many other railway organizations worldwide.
  • 1979 Patent of the RIFLEX® welding repair process.

Expansion of the group (1980 – 1989)

Historie 07

Business Development

  • 1981 In January, after a construction process of 18 months, the completely renovated production facility at Lakehurst starts operation.
  • 1983 Complete takeover of Orgotherm Inc. In Brazil a new Thermit production facility starts operation.
  • 1984 Orgotherm Inc. merges with US Thermit Inc. to become Orgo-Thermit Inc.
  • 1986 Thermit Australia founded. Thermit Australia acquires the existing Thermit business of Steel Mains Ltd. which goes back to the Goldschmidt company founded in Australia in 1909.

Product Development

  • 1982 Introduction of the ATS-ER automatic tapping thimble.

After the fall of the wall (1990 – 1999)

Historie 08

Business Development

  • 1990 Complete acquisition of the Thermit Italiana and Thermit Welding. OSG Oberbau Schweißgesellschaft (OSG) founded in Halle/Saale, Germany which on January 1, 1991 takes over and continues the existing Amotherm operations of the former VEB Plastwerke starting with 56 employees.
  • 1992 Complete takeover of Thermit do Brasil.
  • 1993 Form-Thermit founded in Brno, Czech Republic as a subsidiary of P.C. Wagner.
  • 1995 MAV-Thermit founded in Budapest, Hungary as a subsidiary of P.C. Wagner. Sale of E.T. Argentina to the Oppizzi family. Acquisition of Railway Maintenance Services by Thermit Australia.
  • 1996 The plant in Halle is enlarged to 50,000 m2 through the purchase of 20,000 m2. ElektroThermit Dienstleistungsgesellschaft mbH (ETDL) founded in Essen, Germany.
  • 1997 Winding up of the OSG company with assets transferred to Elektro Thermit GmbH.
  • 1998 Separation of all Thermit companies in Germany and abroad from the Goldschmidt AG and takeover by the assets management company "Erben Dr. Karl Goldschmidt GmbH, Essen (VVG)".

Product Development

  • 1998 Patent for the single use crucible.
  • 1999 Patent for the High Performance Weld (HPW).

Inventive spirit and Innovation (2000 – 2009)

Historie 09

Business Development

  • 2001 Acquisition of the Elaugen Group with locations in Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Czech Republic and Belgium.
  • 2003 Thermit GmbH founded as Finance and Management Holding of the Goldschmidt Thermit Group RO-Thermit founded in Rumania as a subsidiary of MÁV-Thermit.
  • 2004 Thermit China Co. Ltd. founded as a subsidiary of Goldschmidt Thermit GmbH. Relocation of the head office of Goldschmidt Thermit GmbH from Essen, Germany to Leipzig, Germany.
  • 2005 Relocation of Elektro-Thermit GmbH & Co. KG to Halle/Saale, Germany and start of the new Thermit production in Halle/Saale, Germany.
  • 2006 Goldschmidt Thermit Railservice GmbH founded from ETDL and Elaugen Essen, Germany Goldschmidt Thermit Railservice (Österreich) Ges. m.b.H founded in Austria from P.C. Wagner Elektro-Thermit and Elaugen in Vienna.

Product Development

  • 2004 SoW-5 welding process approval acc.to EN 14730-1. Introduction of different measuring devices such as RAILSCAN, RAILSTRAIGHTS, TRACKSCAN and temperature measuring devices.
  • 2005 Introduction of different measuring services such asstress free temperature measurement and geometrical measuring services.
  • 2006 Homologation of SkV-Elite welding process acc. to EN 14730-1. Stress-free temperature acceptance inspection with the RAILSCAN measuring device on the French TGV high-speed line "LGV Est européenne" before opening of the line and the TGV speed record.
  • 2007 Long-term rail stress measurements up to 2009 using DMS technology in the Citytunnel Leipzig, Germany.

A success story of over 120 years (2010 – 2015)

Historie 10

Business Development

  • 2010 Goldschmidt-Thermit Japan Co., Ltd. founded in Japan.
  • 2011 OOO GT-ATS founded in Russia.
  • 2013 Acquisition of PortaCo, Inc., Moorhead, Minnesota, USA.
  • 2014 New construction of the molding shop of Elektro-Thermit GmbH & Co. KG in Halle/Saale, Germany. Technology Innovation Center founded in Leipzig, Germany.
  • 2015 120-year jubilee of the Thermit® process patented by Prof. Hans Goldschmidt in 1895.

Product Development

  • 2010 Homologation of SkV-Elite L25 welding process acc. to EN 14730-1. First measurement of the Eurotunnel with the RAILSCAN measuring device. Delivery of components for the Thermit welding process with the Gautrain line extension for the soccer world cup in South Africa.
  • 2011 Measurement of approx. 1,000 track kilometers of the high-speed line of the Turkish railways TCDD with the RAILSCAN measuring device.
  • 2012 Approval/release for users for RAILSTRAIGHT measuring devices with the German railways, DB Netz AG.
  • 2013 Supply of components for the Thermit welding process and training and support for welding specialists with the Marmaray historic tunnel project in Istanbul, Turkey where the railway networks of Asia and Europe were connected. Supply of weld-tempered rails, welding consumables and training for welding specialists for the new Ring Line tram system in Doha Education City, Qatar. Execution of Thermit welds for the extension of the railway network for the 2014 Winter Olympic Games in Sotschi, Russia.
  • 2014Introduction of the RAILSTRAIGHT APP.
    Introduction of the SMARTWELD SPARK.
    Introduction of the Goldschmidt Tools.
  • 2015 Supply of components for the Thermit welding process for the new high speed intercity connection between Erfurt and Leipzig/Halle. The new section is part of the new and extended railway connection from Nuremberg to Berlin within the German reunification 8 project and is a part of the trans-European transport network from Northern Italy to Scandinavia.

Modern and visionary (2016 – 2019)

historie11

Business Development

  • 2016 Goldschmidt Thermit Polska founded in Poland.
  • 2016 Acquisition of SRS Sjölanders AB, Osby, Sweden.
  • 2017 Acquisition of GRAW Sp. z o.o., Gliwice, Poland.
  • 2018 Acquisition of Prüftechnik Linke & Rühe GmbH, Magdeburg, Germany.
  • 2018 Introduction of different measuring devices such as Trackgauge Digital, Trackgauge Solar and Trackscan Compact.
  • 2018 Introduction of the database solution Dari.

Product Development

  • 2016Introduction of the GOLDSCHMIDT DIGITAL APP
    Introduction of the SMARTWELD JET.
    Introduction of the SMARTWELD RECORD.

The new Goldschmidt (2020 – now)

Nové logo Goldschmidt

Business Development

  • 2020 Introduction of the new global brand Goldschmidt.

Contacts

We are at your service: in the Czech Republic, Europe and all around the world.

We are at your service: in Germany, Europe and all around the world. Are you interested in our range of products and services or have a question? Please contact us. We are ready to help you.

Form-Thermit, spol. s.r.o.
A GOLDSCHMIDT COMPANY

Gromešova 6a
621 00 Brno
Czech Republic

Phone: +420 541 226 329
Fax: +420 541 321 515
ft@goldschmidt.com
www.formthermit.cz

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