ABOUT KROMER
COMPANY HISTORY KROMER
Man's striving for security for property and life gave rise to the desire for locks to protect himself and hisproperty. Centuries, yes one can say millennia of development - wooden locking devices were already known in ancient Egypt, later they were always made better from metal-have contributed to the currentstate of theart in this field. The development is not complete, it is constantly progressing. The lock was made by hand until around the middle of the 19th century. Each individual piece received its own security features and a special appearance. Many security locks from ancient times, especially the Gothic and the Renaissance, have not only a technical, but also an artistic value. With the rapid advancement ofcivilization, the desire for security also increased. In the 19th century the security locks were mass-producedand the first lock factories were built.
It was necessary to achieve great variation possibilities for the only lock type. Efforts were made to create a lock that could be described as unlockable. In England and Italy, locks were developed almost simultaneously that contained new types of brackets to achieve this goal. The American Alfred Charles Hobbs succeeded in unlocking these locks at the lock exhibition in Chicago in 1851 using a special method he had invented, so new improvements were necessary to render this "Hobbs's Method" ineffective. Carl Kromer and his brother Theodor founded a company in Neustadt in the Black Forest in 1868. They developed and manufactured devices for watchmaking and security locks. Theodor Kromer was born on October 21, 1839 in Neustadt. His knowledge and ideas gave the young company ground breaking impulses.
In 1878 the entries in the Freiburg court register show the Schloss Fabrik as the "Brothers Kromer" with owner Theodor Kromer and his brother Carl.
Carl Kromer also dealt with the manufacture of screw bung. He left the company in 1889, makingTheodor Kromer the sole owner.
The designations "patent cash register lock factory" and "factory for safe locks" (artificial security locks andfittings) indicate the character of theproducts.
A basic requirement for the economic existence and the progress of the company has always been theredesign and further development of products which had to show considerable progress compared to theexisting ones. Theodor Kromer endeavored to create locks that were characterized by the following properties: Unbreakable - compulsory function, i.e. as springless as possible to achieve maximum security.
