Company History
Teddy bears and valves
| 1847 | Margarete Steiff was born on 24 July in Giengen an der Brenz, near Ulm. At the age of 1½ she contracts polio and is bound to a wheelchair for the rest of life. In spite of all difficulties, she trains to become a dress-maker. |  |
| 1877 | Founding of a felt clothes shop, where Margarete Steiff sells hand-sewn clothing and household articles. |  |
| 1880 | The year of the official founding of the Margarete Steiff GmbH. The appearance of the first Steiff animal – an elephant made of felt, to be used as a pin cushion. The elephant is the first soft, stuffed, textile toy animal which very quickly becomes popular with children as a toy. |  |
| 1909 | Margarete Steiff died on 9 May surrounded by her family. Her nephews carry on with the firm. | |
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| 1919 | Available capacity in the metal turning shop at Margarete Steiff GmbH is used to produce bicycle valves. Consequential cost management and quality awareness help to win the German tire industry as a customer. In particular, the cooperation with Continental in Hannover brings substantial impulses. | |
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| 1921 | The ALLIGATOR Ventilfabrik is organisationally separated and appears independently on the market. Valve cores, bicycle valves, car and motorbike valves are produced. Under the responsible direction of Richard Steiff, the range of products is constantly expanded. Despite the worldwide economic crisis, innovation and quality provide for increasing sales. |  |
| 1926 | The trademark ALLIGARO is registered. |  |
| 1930 | The patented ALLIGARO-valve pin ‘Easy pump’ for bicycles appears on the market. It is the forerunner of the ALLIGARO-Blitzventil, valued today by millions of cyclists all over the world. |   |
| 1931 | The ‘Erste Hanauer Präzisions Schrauben- und Fassondreherei’ is founded in Hanau. The already long-existent concept of producing tire valves is realized and the foundation stone for the manufacturing of tire-valves is laid. |  |
| 1939 | It is decided to relocate to Mühlheim. | |
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| 1948 | ALLIGATOR started running its own vulcanization section department for the production of rubber-based valves. Elastomer processing know-how develops. At the beginning of the 1950’s, the development and production of Snap-In valves for tubeless tires commences. |  |
| 1955 | 1955 brings the first drawings for Snap-In production, the norm proposal from Phoenix AG, the first molding drawings and the emergence of a standard specifications sheet. Likewise, in | |
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| 1955 | The company “Erste Hanauer Präzisionsschraubenfabrik Wilhelm Fritz KG“ is recorded in the Commercial Registry. | |
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| 1956 | The first Snap-In valves are designed and produced at the EHA Ventilfabrik Technicians and rubber specialists devise a rubber-coating process, unique at that time. The brass parts are rubberized without using a bonding agent. The rubber mixture used and the newly developed galvanic (chemical) pre-treatment method provide excellent conditions for the attainment of a good rubber-metal bonding. |  |
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| 1959 | The EHA Ventilfabrik Wilhelm Fritz KG is recorded in the Commercial Registry. |  |
| 1964 | The ALLIGATOR Ventilfabrik GmbH becomes legally independent. | |
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| 1966 | The proportion of exports amounts to 45%. At this point the valve business is already very international. | |
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| 1968 | Foundation of the valve manufacturer STOMIL in Sroda Wielkopolska near Poznan (Poland). |  |
| 1975 | The proportion of exports at EHA Ventilfabrik reaches 70% in 60 countries. | |
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1989
1997 | Start of the development of components for tire-pressure control systems.
Minority stake in the valve manufacturer STOMIL in Poland. |  |
| 1997 | Start of the development of residual pressure valves for air suspension systems in cars and SUVs. |  |
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| 1998 | ALLIGATOR acquires EHA-Ventilfabrik Wilhelm Fritz GmbH & Co. KG. | |
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| 2000 | Total take over of STOMIL. | |
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| 2003 | Merger of EHA Ventilfabrik with ALLIGATOR Ventilfabrik GmbH. | |
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2005 | The purchase of a new production plant in Nekla, Poland provides space for further growth. |
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