Mankenberg GmbH is a manufacturer of industrial valves and supplies to various industries worldwide. The company's headquarters are located in Lübeck (Schleswig-Holstein, Germany). The German company focuses on the production of self-acting control valves (pressure and level control) and, in addition to standard products, specialises in customised solutions. Axel Weidner, great-grandson of the company founder, and Dr. Stefan Nehlsen are jointly responsible for the management. History The founder Gustav Mankenberg was born on August 12, 1857, in the town of Wittstock on the river Dosse/Germany as eighth child to the self-employed master blacksmith Johann Friedrich Mankenberg. He learnt the trade of a metal craftsman in Berlin, i.e. a craftsman processing metal objects of any kind by shaping, casting, turning and other processing methods. On May 1, 1885, Gustav Mankenberg took over the workshop of the brass founder master Wallen in the town of Heide in Schleswig-Holstein and founded the company Gustav Mankenberg. Mr. Mankenberg quickly realised the development of the local market and changed the product line to reducing valves for air and carbonic acid tanks, air pumps etc. and additionally opened a samples stock and a sales warehouse at the Roedingsmarkt avenue in Hamburg. Owing to non-payments caused by an economical slump in the building industry, Gustav Mankenberg was forced to bring a partner from Hamburg to the company in Heide in 1891. However, the co-operation failed. While the company's building hardware division remained in Heide, in May 1895 - ten years after the company had been founded - Gustav Mankenberg started valve production in the Hanseatic city of Szczecin. The city is conveniently placed at the mouth of the river Oder as regards transport facilities with good connection to Berlin via the Finow Canal and later the Oder-Havel Canal. That location proved successful as well as the demand from factories and shipyards such as the renowned shipyard Vulcan Werft. In 1904 Mankenberg had the Niagara patented: a steam trap with a closed ball float made of steel that was welded by means of the autogeneous welding procedure. Today the steam trap is still in the product range of Mankenberg GmbH. The name "Niagara" was intended to indicate the unusually large quantities of water that the new device could discharge. Due to the increased requirement for space, Mankenberg relocated to the newly erected factory on the Wiekenberg road no. 12 in Szczecin in October 1910. Later, the adjoining properties