KSB America Corporation history

One year later, in a hostile takeover, the company gained a majority stake in Nuremberg-based Armaturen- und Maschinenfabrik, vormals S.A. Hilpert (AMAG), a major competitor roughly the size of KSB and founded in 1854.

In 1870 he introduced his own design for a boiler feed apparatus which was first installed at a brewery in Frankenthal, a small town 60 miles South of Frankfurt/Main.

Greater efficiency was the goal of Johannes Klein when he designed his boiler feed apparatus in 1871.

The stock market crash in Vienna in May 1873 triggered a wave of bankruptcies throughout Europe.

Still, Klein's workforce had grown to 40 by 1874.

The workforce had grown from about 500 in 1893 to 1,200 at the turn of the century.

Johannes Klein had financed Jacob's mechanical engineering studies and had named him the company's director in 1894.

1909: A presence in London is established.

After Germany's defeat in 1918, the country's currency collapsed under the heavy load of war bonds and reparation obligations.

1924: Production subsidiary is established in Homburg/Saar.

In mid-October 1929, just before the onset of the Great Depression, KSB acquired machine manufacturer Maschinenfabrik Oddesse GmbH in Oschersleben, west of the city Magdeburg.

When Kühborth took over as CEO in 1931, the Great Depression was nearing its peak in Germany.

1939: Jacob Klein gains a majority stake in KSB.

In March 1945, when American troops occupied the region, Jacob Klein was killed in an accident.

In 1947 a small subsidiary was established in Luxembourg, through which the company expanded into Belgium and the Netherlands.

Between then and 1959 KSB sales offices sprung up in France, Italy, England, Switzerland, Austria, Greece and Spain.

By 1970 KSB's export business accounted for 37 percent of the company's total sales of DM 385 million.

Beginning in 1983, the two companies mutually supplemented their product ranges to compete against other pump manufacturers from overseas.

1986: KSB acquires a majority share in French pump manufacturer Pompes Guinard S.A.

Since 1993, Wolfgang Kühborth's two sons, Klaus and Gerd, had headed Klein-Pumpen GmbH, the financial holding company for the KSB group.