Benutzer-Werkzeuge

Webseiten-Werkzeuge


en:plath

C. Plath GmbH, Hamburg

Plath GmbH is a company specialised in the development of radio reconnaissance and direction finding systems, and is primarily active in the maritime sector. Several Plath direction finding systems were used by the Swiss Army.

Company history

PLATH GmbH was „founded“ in 1954 by the German pioneer of radio direction finding technology, Dr Maximilian Wächtler. However, the origins of the company go back to 1837, when David Filby, an instrument maker from Husum, founded a trading company for nautical instruments and maps in Hamburg, which was taken over by Carl Christian Plath from Hamburg in 1862. This was followed by further name changes and shareholdings, such as Cassens & Bennecke, which from 1909 sold navigational instruments in Bremerhaven under the name Cassens & Plath, until C. Plath KG was founded in 1937. In the early post-war period, Plath initially equipped fishing trawlers with DF devices made from Allied surplus.

In 1950, C. Plath KG set up a department for the development of radio navigation equipment in its so-called „compass house“, which had been part of the image of Hamburg harbour for decades. This department was headed by Dr Maximilian Wächtler, who was a pioneer in the field of radiolocation and radio and telecommunications reconnaissance and held more than 60 patents in this field. In 1954, the C. Plath GmbH or today's PLATH GmbH was finally founded from this department, incorporating parts of the signalling company founded in Kiel in 1911.

In addition to the original Plath KG, Atlas Werke Bremen and the founder Maximilian Wächtler held shares in the Plath Group; the latter invested his private assets several times in costly developments in order to contribute them to the company if they were successful.

After M. Wächtler's death in 1988, the majority of the shares were transferred to the Hamburg trading company Scharfe in 1996, with Jürgen Wächtler, the former managing director, continuing to hold a minority stake. C. Plath KG finally became LITEF GmbH, which is now called Northrop Grumman LITEF GmbH.

Further information

en/plath.txt · Zuletzt geändert: 2024/01/07 09:11 von mb