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| Company type | Kommanditgesellschaft auf Aktien withAktiengesellschaft aspartner with unlimited liability |
|---|---|
| FWB: DRW3 | |
| Industry | Engineering,medical technology |
| Founded | 1889 |
| Founder | J. Heinrich Dräger Carl Adolf Gerling |
| Headquarters | Lübeck,Germany |
Key people | Stefan Dräger(CEO and chairman of the executive board), Nikolaus Schweickart(Chairman of thesupervisory board) |
| Services | Diving equipment,rebreathers,SCBA,medical ventilators andmonitors,anaesthetic machines,neonatal incubators,gas detectors,breathalyzers,drug testing equipment |
| Revenue |  €3.37 billion(2023)[1] |
| €112.0 million(2023)[1] | |
| Total assets |  €3.09 billion(2023)[1] |
| Total equity | €1.41 billion(2023)[1] |
Number of employees | 16,329(2023)[1] |
| Website | www.draeger.com |
Dräger is a German company based inLübeck[2] which makes breathing and protection equipment, gas detection and analysis systems, and noninvasive patient monitoring technologies.[3] Customers include hospitals, fire departments and diving companies.
The company was founded in Lübeck in 1889 asDräger & Gerling byJ. Heinrich Dräger [de] and Carl Adolf Gerling.[2] The first patent was taken out for a reduction device for using carbon dioxide to dispense beer. In 1902 Heinrich Dräger's sonBernhard entered the management; from then on, the company was namedDrägerwerk Heinr. und Bernh. Dräger. Since 1970, Drägerwerk has been apublic limited company, orAktiengesellschaft (AG) in German.
In 2003, the aerospace division was sold toCobham plc. In July 2006, it was announced that Draeger Aerospace GmbH had been acquired byB/E Aerospace, Inc.[4]
As a result of theCOVID-19 pandemic, demand for the Draeger's ventilators significantly increased. In February 2020, the production capacity was doubled and was to be doubled again (as of March 2020). The German federal government commissioned the company with 10,000 devices, which were to be delivered in the course of 2020. Ultimately, only 1,557 devices were delivered, and the rest cancelled. A larger part of the production is sold abroad. In addition, the production of respiratory masks was doubled.[5]According to an article in New York Times,Xavier Becerra (who was selected by then-President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. as his nominee for the Secretary of Health and Human Services in the US), made the statement that they plan to order approximately 1 million medical ventilators for managing the Covid19 epidemic when he took office. In this statement, he named Dräger under the potential suppliers.[6]
Dräger Medical is a manufacturer of medical equipment. The company offers products and services including Emergency Care, Perioperative Care, Critical Care, Perinatal Careand Home Care. With headquarters in Lübeck, Germany, Dräger Medical employs nearly 14,000 people worldwide,[7] around half of whom work in customer sales & services. R&D and production are located in Lübeck, Germany;Richmond Hill, ON, Canada; Telford, PA, USA; Andover, MA, USA; and Shanghai, China. The company has sales and service subsidiaries in almost 50 countries and is represented in more than 190 countries.[citation needed]
Dräger Safety GmbH is a manufacturer of personal protection andgas detection technology, and a supplier of safety systems for industry, fire prevention, mining and other hazardous areas.[8] The products and services from Dräger Safety warn and protect people fromairborne pollutants and enable people to breathe reliably even in extreme situations.
Dräger claims to have longstanding experience, especially in the fields of gas management,gas flow control, gas monitoring and gas measurement. The current product range encompasses respiratory protective equipment for firefighters, miners and other industrial personnel as well as completeair filter andair supply systems, portable and fixed gas detection and warning systems, devices for on-site or laboratory contaminant analysis, and instruments to determine a person'sbreath-alcohol concentration.
Dräger combines the practical use of equipment with, for example, consultancy services, training, maintenance, service and commissioning. Represented in over 100 countries, the company has 40 subsidiaries and, with its 3,600 employees, achieved global sales of €557.8 million in 2005 (EBIT: €40.7 million).[citation needed] Dräger Safety operates production plants in Germany, Great Britain, USA, Sweden, South Africa and China.
Dräger Safety is in competition with other manufacturers of safety equipment such asRAE Systems,[9]WatchGas,Sensidyne, LP.,Mine Safety Appliances, andIndustrial Scientific Corporation.[citation needed]
Dräger supports the German Firefighting Sports Federation in the German firefighting fitness badge.[10]
Dräger was one of a few companies who were early pioneers ofcolorimetricgas detector tubes (also known as "detector tubes") used to measure the concentration of gases present. In a typical colorimetric gas detector tube a known volume of air is pumped through a tube using a pump. The tube typically has a layer which indicates the analyte by changing colour, depending on the amount of the gas which has passed through the tube the length of the zone which has changed colour will be different.[11][12] Today colorimetric gas detector tubes are used throughout industry as a low-cost and easy-to-use tool for detecting the presence of gases and are available from a wide range of manufacturers.
An early limitation of detector tubes is that they were designed to detect a single known gas or vapor. Advancements in the design and capability of detector tubes came with the introduction of such tools as the HazMat kit. The specialty kits are designed for use by hazardous material response teams in determining what gases or vapors are present through using a "stack" of colorimetric material that change color based upon the presence of an organic or inorganic gas.
Dräger developed their first alcohol screening kit in 1953 when some employees came into work hungover following a party the night before. It was originally developed using silicon crystals, where a breath sample was passed through these silicon crystals, if there was alcohol in this breath sample, a chemical reaction would occur resulting in the crystals changing colour. This particular method is still used today to create "single use breathalyzers."
Dräger's first digital display Alcohol Screening Kit was developed in 1980. Later they developed abreathalyzer that uses a fuel sensor. Many of Drägers breathalyzers have United KingdomHome Office approval, which means they can be used by the police in a variety of countries, including the UK.
Drägerwerk manufactured heavy diving equipment in the early 20th century, including helmets and diver's air pumps.
In 1912 Drägerwerk developedstandard diving dress which did not need surface supplied breathing gas via adiver's umbilical, as it used a self contained gas supply came from a rebreather. The system used a copper diving helmet and standard heavy diving suit with a back-mounted set of cylinders and scrubber. Two versions were available, The DM20 for oxygen to 20 metres, and the DM40 for nitrox to 40 metres, using an oxygen cylinder and an air cylinder, and mixing the gas as it was used. The semi-closed breathing circuit used the injected gas to circulate the gas in the helmet through a scrubber, providing a very low work of breathing in comparison with most other rebreathers which used the lungs of the diver to circulate gas in the loop. TheModell 1915 bubikopf helmet was designed for use with this system. The rebreather loop hoses connected to the back of the helmet below the overhanging part, and led from there to the back-mounted scrubber.[13]
Since 1941Hans Hass used bag-on-back rebreathers for scuba diving, originally built by Dräger for self-rescue of submarine crews (Tauchretter; like theDavis Escape Set). The first Dräger-Tauchretter had been built in 1907. In 1926 theBade-Tauchretter was brought into service for rescuing drowning swimmers.[14]
Dräger manufactured the Atlantis, Ray and Dolphin lines of recreational diving semi-closed-circuitnitroxrebreathers. It also makes the LAR-5 and LAR-6 military oxygen rebreathers, and the LAV-7 military rebreather which is switchable between closed-circuit and semi-closed-circuit.[15][16]
TheDräger Dolphin, originallyAtlantis is a semi-closed circuit nitroxrebreather for recreationaldiving using a constant mass flow injection system.[17][18]
TheDräger Ray is a semi-closed circuitrecreationaldiving rebreather designed to use standardnitroxbreathing gas mixtures.
The soft harness has integrated over-the-shoulder counterlungs andbuoyancy compensator bladder. The harness also carries a moderate sized scrubber canister on the upper back, and a single transversely mountedcylinder on the lower back. The Ray delivers a constant mass flow of gas to the breathing circuit through a Dräger Shark regulator and a metering orifice which is chosen from a small range, and which must be matched to the chosen gas mixture.
The whole unit excepting cylinders is supplied in a carrying case.
The standard unit provides a simpledive/surface valve (DSV) with mouthpiece, but an optional DSV connects to the Dräger Panoramafull-face mask using the standard Dräger P-port connection system which is also used for the connections between the breathing hoses andcounterlungs, and between the counterlungs and scrubber canister. The back mounted scrubber has axial flow, and has an auxiliary P-port on the base, which can be used to connect an optional oxygen monitor cell.
Theautomatic diluent valve is combined with the metering orifice as a single unit which plugs into a counterlung using a standard P-port connection.
The standard cylinder supplied with the unit is a 4-litre 200 bar steel cylinder,[19] but it can also carry an 8-litre steel cylinder, which is about the same length but larger diameter. Standard open circuit bailout uses a Sharkdemand valve on the same first stage used for the metering and ADV. There is also a low pressure hose to supply the buoyancy compensator.
Recreational semi-closed circuit rebreather with constant mass flow dosage and demand gas supply, open circuit bailout on independent second stage.[19][20]
Dräger made the high-altitude oxygen sets used by the1952 Swiss Mount Everest expedition (the second (autumn) expedition), andJohn Hunt was able to have adaptors made so that the1953 British expedition could use oxygen from tanks the Swiss had left behind, particularly for theirbottled oxygen "sleeping sets".[21]
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