NORRES Group - History

1946-1947

War damage repaired and commodities to meet daily needs manufactured from existing stocks. Parallel to this, intensive efforts are made to persuade the British occupation authorities to license the production of electric fuses.

1939-1945

Production during the Second World War is restricted to electric fuses for quarries and for the coal, salt and ore mining industries. The war situation puts a stop to manufacturing activities in March 1945. Production of all electric fuse lighters is banned by the authorities.

1935-1936

Introduction of the first test procedures for detonator wires with insulation made from thermoplastic polymers.

1926

Joseph Norres’ fuse factory in Gelsenkirchen granted an official trading license to erect a manufacturing facility for electric fuses on the Freiligrathstr. 30 site in Schalke (Gelsenkirchen).

2.11.1926

Death of Wilhelm Norres on November 2, 1918. The firm has already been run by his eldest son, Albert, for some time. Albert’s brother, Joseph Norres, who worked there too for a while, establishes his own fuse manufacturing company – Joseph Norres, Zünderfabrik – between 1923 and 1925.

1889

Wilhelm Norres, a former miner, is employed as an accountant and mining official at the Consolidation pit in Schalke (Westphalia) following a mine accident. He sets to work on the development of a “mechanical safety fuse for detonations” (in the form of a friction igniter) that is protected by German and international patents.
The first patent application is submitted in 1890. By 1897, the consumption of Norres fuses has climbed to 1.1 million.