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Thyssen Aufzüge GmbH was the vertical transportation division of German steel manufacturer Thyssen AG which made elevators and escalators. The company merged with Krupp in 1999 and became ThyssenKrupp.

History

Thyssen was founded on September 29, 1891 by August Thyssen and his brother Joseph in Duisburg, Germany.

The company's role in the elevator industry began in 1973 when it acquired Rheinstahl AG[1][2][3], a Hamburg based manufacturing company which also manufactured elevators and escalators. Thyssen also adopted Rheinstahl's arc logo as its own. Manufacturing of elevators started in 1976 when Rheinstahl changed name to Thyssen Industrie AG and spits its elevator manufacturing business into Thyssen Aufzüge GmbH.

In the 1980s, Thyssen took over MAN's elevator division and later became Thyssen-MAN in 1984. At the same year they began entering the Spanish markets by acquiring Boettischer Elevadores, which became Thyssen Boettischer in 1985. Thyssen joined with several elevator companies such as Otis, Schindler, Kone, Mitsubishi, Hitachi, Johns & Waygood (later Johns Perry Lifts and then Boral Elevators) and Toshiba.

In 1993, Thyssen entered the North American elevator market with acquisition of Cubic Corporation's elevator division, known as U.S. Elevator Corp.

In 1995, Thyssen announced that it would merge with Krupp, and both companies eventually merged in 1999, becoming ThyssenKrupp. As part of merger, the 3 rings, a logo of Krupp, was added to Thyssen's arc logo. Its brand transition was completed in 2001. At the same year, Thyssen renamed their U.S. elevator and escalator division Dover Elevators from Thyssen Dover to the new ThyssenKrupp name.

Notable acquisitions

Year Company Country(s) Notes
1973 Rheinstahl AG West Germany
1974 Soretex France
1984 MAN Aufzugbau West Germany Became Thyssen-MAN for a while.
1984 Boetticher Elevadores con Ascensores S.A.[4] Spain Became Thyssen Boetticher[5]
1986 Northern Elevator Holdings Ltd. Canada
1987 De Reus Netherlands Became Thyssen De Reus until 2003.
1991 Gimsom & Co. Leichester Ltd. United Kingdom
1993 U.S. Elevator Corp. United States
1998 Tri-County Elevator Co. United States
1999 Dover Elevators United States Became Thyssen Dover until 2001.
1999 Hammond & Champness Dover
(H+C Dover)
United Kingdom
1999 Elevadores Sûr Brazil Became Thyssen Sûr until 2002.
Unknown Furse Lifts Ltd. United Kingdom [6]
Unknown Svenska Hiss AB Sweden Some elevators were branded as "Thyssen Svenska Hiss AB" for a while.
Unknown Macosa Elevaćion S.A. Spain

Elevator fixtures

Main article: List of Thyssen elevator fixtures

Notable installations

Main article: List of notable Thyssen elevator installations

Notable overseas distributors

Company Country(s) Notes
Bongear Engineering Hong Kong, China 1980s-2004
Acquired by ThyssenKrupp in 2004.
Boral Elevators Australia
New Zealand
1980s?-1990s
Escalators and moving walks branded as Thyssen Boral
General Electric Company (GEC)
Hong Kong
British Hong Kong 1980s?-1990s
Few escalators
Hanyang South Korea 1991-1998
Partnered with Hanyang Elevator, hence their elevators were branded as Hanyang-Thyssen.[7]. They are mainly found in high rise apartment buildings.
Isralift Industries Ltd. Israel 1990s
Marryat & Scott Ltd. United Kingdom
British Hong Kong
1970s-1980s
Escalators and moving walks
PT. Thysindo Griatama
(now Marico Gria)
Indonesia 1984-2001[8]
Later became a distributor of ThyssenKrupp products until 2005.[9]

Incidents

On December 12, 2015, an elevator at Tower 1 of Apartemen Taman Rasuna, Jakarta has fallen to the B3 floor. There were 5 people from the 5th floor then it caused a screeching sound (the brakes). This was right after the TK mod and the elevator affected was the big service elevator.

Trivia

  • The Thyssen logo actually originated from Rheinstahl AG. When Rheinstahl was sold to Thyssen in 1973, Thyssen decided to reintroduce Rheinstahl trademark by reusing the blue "arc". The yellow "RHEINSTAHL" name was replaced with a blue "THYSSEN" name[10].
  • When Thyssen acquires Dover in 1999, it was known as Thyssen Dover in the United States, but their products were branded as Dover until 2001, when it was simply known as ThyssenKrupp.
  • Even after the merger, the Thyssen name was still used in elevators installed in some countries in the early 2000s, and some of them would often carries the ThyssenKrupp logo. In Hong Kong, the name was used until around 2004[11], while in United Kingdom, the name ended in 2003 when it changed name into ThyssenKrupp Elevators (UK) Ltd.
  • Elevators modernized by Thyssen can be found in the United States, though they are very rare to find. It is unconfirmed if elevators installed by Thyssen can be found in the United States. However, Thyssen escalators can be found in the United States, though they are very rare to find.
  • When Thyssen absorbed Spanish elevator company Boetticher Elevadores con Ascensores S.A. in 1984, it became Thyssen Boetticher. This was probably Thyssen's first attempt of entering the Spanish elevator markets.

Gallery

Logos

Escalators

Others

See also

External links

Notes and references

Major elevator and escalator companies
Full list of companies List of elevator and escalator companies
Operating FujitecHitachiHyundaiKoneMitsubishi Electric (Shanghai Mitsubishi) • Otis (Otis ElectricSigma) • SchindlerTK ElevatorToshiba
Defunct Dover ElevatorsExpress LiftOrenstein & KoppelThyssenthyssenkruppWestinghouse
Other companies Third-party elevator maintenance companies
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