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Many companies
have made safety in seafaring their area of work. However, hardly
any of them have approached the subject with such high demands
and with such sound scientific knowledge as Bernhardt Apparatebau
GmbH u.Co from Holm by Hamburg, Germany. For almost 50 years now,
this company which manufactures and sells lifesaving equipment
under the brand name of SECUMAR has stood for innovative products.
Logically consisent research and demands for top quality have
helped Bernhardt Apparatebau attain one of the leading positions
in the world in this field.
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| The training sailing ship Pamir |
The starting
point for this unique development was the foundation research
carried out by the founder of the company, Jost Bernhardt. Since
his father Karl Bernhardt had been manufacturing diving equipment
as from 1926, Jost Bernhardt turned to the area of emergency sea
rescue equipment after the war.
The tragic
loss of the training sailing ship "Pamir", which cost the
lives of 80 men, some of whom were wearing lifejackets having
left its mark on him, in 1957 Jost Bernhardt intensified
his research into the physics of the principle of floating. His
publications "Zur Problematik der Schwimmweste" and "Der Mensch
im Medium Wasser" (1958/1959) analysed the technique known at
that time, uncovered its weaknesses and formed the basis for the
construction of far more effective lifesaving equipment. The first
milestone came already in 1958 with the introduction of a lifejacket
which protects its wearer from drowning although he or she is
unconscious.
There followed
a period of research and development which was just as consistent
as it was continuous and which led to constantly improved and
innovative products. In 1964 there was a significant thrust forward
when the German Navy decided on the SECUMAR MRS 3 as their standard
lifejacket. The confidence of the German Army and the Naval Forces
of many other nations in SECUMAR-lifejackets has been a standard
feature since then.
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| The SECUMAR BS 8: first fully automatic
life jacket |
Likewise the
research efforts. One consequence and a further event of outstanding
significance was the licensing of the SECUMAR BS 8, a compact,
fully automatically inflatable lifejacket which was activated
through contact with the water. Initially developed for inland
navigation, this concept also lead to a breakthrough in water
sports.
As a result,
the technology of the lifejackets has become more and more refined:
the construction fo the automatic release mechanisms, already
in their fourth generation today, has become more robust and by
means of a traffic-light technique increasingly "fool-proof; the
buoyancy chambers have become more durable due to new materials
and processes and their airtight properties are more reliable;
the complete lifejackets have become more efficient because of
shape and wearing design as well as additional components like,
for example, emergency beacons and Spray hoods.
The enterprise
which has ISO attestation, a team of 80 specialists and an annual
turnover of over 10 million Euros, has through its cooperation
with the German Sea Rescue Service (DGzRS) not only an intense
view of present practice, but also it places great demands for
the future on research, development and design of all product
components.
For it is
the company's philosophy to continuously develop tailormade solutions
in the field of lifesaving equipment technology; solutions which
are, at the same time, compatible with other systems, so that
existing and future customer requirements for equipment to protect
them from drowning can be fulfilled in any given situation.
There
is never a 100 percent guarantee when one is exposed to the powers
of nature. However, Bernhardt Apparatebau is on its way to obtaining
the closest possible proximity to this 100 percent target.
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