Oerlikon Leybold Vacuum

Oerlikon Leybold Vacuum GmbH
Native name
 Oerlikon Leybold Vacuum GmbH
Limited
Industry engine building, vacuum technology
Headquarters Cologne, Germany
Key people
 Martin Füllenbach, CEO
Products product overview
Revenue 400 Mio CHF
Website www.oerlikon.com

Oerlikon Leybold Vacuum GmbH, based in Cologne, is one of four divisions of the Swiss technology group OC Oerlikon AG. The company’s core competencies are based on the development of components and systems for the generation of vacuum and gas management engineering.

History: In 1850, the merchant Martin Kothe founded the trading company Kothe, but passed away a year later. With the introduction of the manager Ernst Leybold in 1851, the company Leybold & Kothe was formed, focusing on the distribution of pharmaceutical and physical-technical equipment and apparatus. In 1863, Ernst Leybold took over the company completely, but resold it in 1870. The company name lived on for some time, however, as E. Leybold’s Nachfolger (E. Leybold’s Successor).

The company divested the pharmaceutical sector to focus on propaedeutic and teaching materials, initiating the serial production of vacuum pumps as of 1906. The collaboration with Wolfgang Gaede resulted in the development of the molecular pump (1911),[1] the mercury diffusion pump (1913),[2] and the invention of the gas ballast design, which allows vapors to be pumped with rotary vacuum pumps (1935).[3]

The company was reformed as a public limited company in 1922, and was converted into a limited partnership in 1936. In 1948 and 1955 respectively, the Metallgesellschaft AG and Degussa placed their first investments in E. Leybold’s Nachfolger.

1967 saw the merger of E. Leybold’s Nachfolger with Heraeus Hochvakuum GmbH. The Degussa AG, the Metallgesellschaft AG and the W.C. Heraeus GmbH were equal shareholders in the newly created Leybold Heraeus GmbH.

After Metallgesellschaft and W.C. Heraeus sold their shares in 1987, Leybold Heraeus GmbH became Leybold AG and its headquarters were moved from Cologne to Hanau.

In 1994, Degussa sold Leybold to the Swiss Oerlikon Bührle Group, which combined Leybold with the Balzers AG, which was already in their possession, to form the Balzers and Leybold Group. The merger of these companies resulted in the world’s largest vacuum and surface technology company with around 6 500 employees, generating sales of DEM 1.8 billion in 1995.

In 2000, Degussa sold the remaining propaedeutic and teaching materials division, which today – after bankruptcy in 2008 – operates under the company name LD Didactic and has its headquarters near Cologne.

In 2006, Leybold Vacuum GmbH was renamed to Oerlikon Leybold Vacuum as part of a group-wide renaming of all Group Segments.[4] In the business areas of process industry, information technology, methods and instruments of analysis, and research and development, Oerlikon Leybold Vacuum ranks among the top five global players in vacuum technology. The company has production sites, service centers and business offices in Germany, Switzerland, France, the United Kingdom, Italy, the Netherlands, Belgium, Sweden, Spain, the USA, Brazil, China, Japan, Taiwan, Korea, Singapore and India. With more than 80 distributors and agents worldwide, Oerlikon Leybold Vacuum has one of the largest sales and service networks in the industry.

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References

  1. ↑ Hinrich Henning: Renaissance einer Hundertjährigen. Die Molekularpumpe von Wolfgang Gaede. In: Vakuum in Forschung und Praxis. Bd. 21, Nr. 4, 2009, ISSN 0947-076X, S. 19–22, doi:10.1002/vipr.200900392.
  2. ↑ Wolfgang Gaede: Die Diffusion der Gase durch Quecksilberdampf bei niederen Drucken und die Diffusionsluftpumpe. In: Annalen der Physik. Bd. 351, Nr. 3, 1915, S. 357–392, doi:10.1002/andp.19153510304.
  3. ↑ Wolfgang Gaede: Gasballastpumpen. In: Zeitschrift für Naturforschung. A, Bd. 2, 1947, ISSN 0044-3166, S. 233–238.
  4. ↑ "Oerlikon Leybold Vacuum in Russland". Retrieved 2013-12-26.

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