Station: [31] L – Laboratory Glass: Syringes, Volume Measuring Gauges

Sprecherin

During the 1950s Wertheim recorded an enormous economic upswing. The reason was the local glass industry’s decision to specialise in the production and processing of technical laboratory glass. This industry still exists today. The foundation of „Wertheim Glassworks“ in 1949 was an important milestone. With this, five businessmen from Thuringia who specialised in glass secured their source of raw materials. These gentlemen were: Rudolf Brand, Dr. Fritz Friedrichs, Josef Friedrichs, Dr. Hans Löber and Carl Zitzmann. Today Wertheim is the second largest centre of the German laboratory glass industry after Mainz and above Ilmenau in Thuringia.

Sprecher

One of the first Thuringian companies to settle in Wertheim was „Walter Graf und Co.“. 100 years ago glass syringes were a „bestseller,“ whether for humans or animals. Demand was enormous and required then, as it does today, great craftsmanship. This was a challenge for Walter Graf, when he founded his company of the same name „Walter Graf und Co,“ on 1st July 1923 in Schmiedefeld on the Rennsteig in Thuringia. From 1927 Graf headed the company alone and mainly exported his syringes to the USA. In 1950 he moved to Wertheim and bought the first mass production machines just one year later.

Sprecherin

The introduction of the brand-new glass tube calibration technique in tolerances of 0.001 mm was a revolution and it enabled the production of interchangeable flask and cylinder systems. Interchangeable is written on our large syringe for animals. In 2000 the company joined forces with the English company John Poulten Ltd. and became „Poulten & Graf GmbH“ in Wertheim and „Poulten & Graf Ltd.“ in London. Today they both offer a wide range of glass volume measuring gauges, manual and automatic dosing units for liquids and as ever, the good old glass syringe.