Theben AG 1921 to 2011: Discover 90 years of high-tech "Made in Germany".
It all started in 1921 with the first swivel time switch for staircases, which the company founder Paul Schwenk developed to stop lights in staircases being on all the time: The first Theben energy-saving product was born and this led to the development of the successful ELPA automatic time switch. The start of an incredible success story...
With over 30 million devices sold, the ELPA has become synonymous with staircase time switches. A lot of rumours have grown up around this name since then...
Is "ELPA" derived from the initials of his two children Ellen and Paul? Or is it the abbreviation for "Electrical Pendulum Automatic device"? Whatever the answer: With over 30 million devices sold, the ELPA has become synonymous with staircase time switches.