History > Foundation
nd 100 years ago:
Art Nouveau - The Era of the "New Course" - The Era of the Company’s Foundation!
Rudolf Rafflenbeul counts amongst the many "founders" of that era, assisted significantly by his wife, Minna Rafflenbeul (nee Lepperhoff), who as a 32 year old, laid the foundations of today’s firm. First of all he went into partnership with Wilhelm Hedtmann, being registered in 1902 as "Hedtmann and Rafflenbeul, Hagen-in-Westphalia - Eilpe". The firm, then on Felsen Strasse, near today’s Eilpe Rundturnhalle, produces in the main "Federringe", that is to say, spring lock washers. These were originally invented in England in 1878, and patented there under the name of "Grower Rings".
