A fiery soul

J.C.H. Ellehammer, the founder of Ellehammer, was born in Denmark in 1871 and is regarded as one of the founders of motorised flight in Europe. Already as a child he had a burning interest in flying. With his brothers and sisters he built kites and flew them against the wind. The inquisitive little inventor hung a rope ladder from the largest kites so he could crawl high into the sky and feel the rush of the wind.

He trained as a clockmaker, took an apprenticeship as a mechanic, and ended up a famous inventor with 300-400 international patents for new inventions.

When he was 27, he founded his own company where he carried out a large number of experiments that led to many inventions and constructions. Amongst other things, he created a film projector, a motorcycle, an aeroplane, an electric car and a helicopter.

But he never rested on his successes, nor did he try to turn them into goldmines - instead, he continued to devise and test new inventions right up to his death in 1946.

Among other things, he invented a motor-driven fire pump, which his son, Hans Ellehammer, later developed into the emergency fire pump that is one of ELLEHAMMER's greatest export successes and is used today by the maritime sector all over the world.