Moped production in Skuderløse 1949 - 1960

The company’s moped production expanded quite fantastically which entailed that the factory also needed to evolve rapidly within a short period of time. In the picture from 1953 the old briquette factory can be seen in themiddle of the picture.The low building behind the briquette factory was where the moped production started. The building at the back is where the iron and steel foundry began, which later became so very important for the valve

production. Already in 1954 the factory employed over 700 people and was therefore the greatest employment wise success in the company’s history.

BRDR. CHRISTENSENC R E A T I N G Q U A L I T Y V A L V E S W O R L D W I D E

From a modest start to worldwide export

Briquette production in Skuderløse 1942 - 1952

The peat and briquette production which was started on a very moderate scale in 1942 ended in 1952 with a yearly production of between 20 and 30,000 tons of briquettes. When Frede and Charles Christensen started digging peat and scrapping topsoil from rented bog areas, they had

no factory. But already a year later a briquette factory had been built, and during time was expanded to a substantial and an advanced facility. Briquette production gave a good income, which was reinvested to start new forms of production in Skuderløse – casting machines, mopeds, and even wooden ladders.

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Plug valve production in Skuderløse 1958 - now

In 1958 the ground stones, for the present day production of plug valves, were laid when Charles Christensen bought the rights from Poul Reimers Maskinfabrik to produce plug valves, and the trademark was born. Plug valves are some of the oldest opening and closing aggregates in the world and in the beginning where not thought of as being really interesting, although very robust they were not prophesied to have much of a future. This prophecy was quickly put to shame. Exactly because of the robust nature of the plug valves making them very well suited to a number of purposes. Thus the production has grown to its existing level of approximately 100 million Danish Kroner per year with an increasing export to more and more countries. Today the company exports approximately90% of its production to about 30 different countries. Since then the SEGURO rubber sealed gate valve has also become part of our production.

The company has developed to being a modern company encompassing administration, design/development, sales, pattern shop, foundry, material laboratory, machine shop, heat treatment shop, chemical nickel plant, assembly, test and coating facilities. Here we have all necessaryprocesses for the production of valves. The facilities are continually being updated and adjusted to suit our needs and today the factory at Skuderløse has approximately 85 employees.

BRDR. CHRISTENSEN ApS - BROKSØVEJ 79 - SKUDERLØSE - 4690 HASLEV - DENMARK - PHONE: +45 5636 3636 - FAX: +45 5636 3600 - MAIL: bch@bch.dk - www.bch.dk

BCBC

75 years

1942

1953

2017

BRDR. CHRISTENSENC R E A T I N G Q U A L I T Y V A L V E S W O R L D W I D E

BCBC

75 years

uring World War 2 when Christian Christensen cut the first peat in the bog of Giesegaard, he was hardly aware that this should form the beginning of his son’s industrial adventure, not in so much as Charles Christensen had inherited money to start his own production but more in the way that the possibilities were there during the second world war, so the idea was quite obvious. Charles and his brother Frede took up peat digging on the 6th April 1942, assisted by Jens Chr. Petersen, who later became their brother-in-law.

When the heavens and earth were as one, and when problems mounted up, when large projects should be carried out, or when production ran in highest gear, then Charles Christensen was in his ace. In the opposite case, he would get restless, irritable, started talking about retirement and closing the company, or talked in negative terms about the lack of human capabilities and the incompetence of the government. If in such a situation, however, somebody should be tempted to agree with him, he would change his attitude instantly, become optimistic, and only speak about the brighter sides of the hopeless situation. No one who has worked closely with Charles Christensen will question his dynamic qualities which he even at the age of 76 still possessed and which made it hard for his employees to keep up with him.

n the factory the air is full of peat dust and you cannot avoid breathing it in. The unloading of the peat litter takes place in a deep pit, from the pit it is taken by lift for the cleaning process, on the first floor. Here the coarse material is separated and is used for the boilers when drying, and the fine litter is blown to the second floor. Then it comes into the shafts and then to the compressors of which there are four. When the litters have passed through the compressors, the humidity has been removed and it reaches a very high temperature so that it is nearly impossible to put your hand in it. From the compressors the briquettes are led to the first floor again where they are carefully sorted based upon the shape of the briquette. In the shipping room there are shafts which when opened send the briquettes down into the waiting trucks.

Frede got the idea of putting a little outboard motor on the back of a bicycle during a visit to France in 1949. The story goes that the new motor was sketched on the back of a serviette during a dinner arrangement which Frede, Charles Christensen and the later acclaimed professor Vagn Aage Jeppessen attended. There was not far from idea to action and in the spring of 1950, 10 motors were presented at the Industrial Fair in Forum. The first day 2000 engines were sold. That is how it started.

A visitor was quoted to say – when he visited the factory in Skuderløse - “I expected that we were going into a big bright, parquet flooring room with neon light and electrical weighing machines, but I must say that I became disappointed. Because on our way we passed a lot of old boxes – everything in a complete mess – with all possible and strange inscriptions, a lot of front forks, and down in the opposite end of the department – quite a “haystack”. In the next department a tall man is very angry and was shouting all the time, “It’s impossible – it’s completely impossible to have these plugs screwed in the petrol tanks – let me have this Indian from Rødovre who has made the thread, and I’ll wring his neck”.

Charles Christensen’s Life Work in Skuderløse

Briquette production in 1946 Written by an eye witness

n 1953/1954 the company reached an employment level of 700 to 800 people in a smaller factory than the factory that came later. It is quite beyond comprehension as to how so many people could be recruited and how they found room for all these within the factory building.

A journalist wrote “At the start and end of the working day, it was like being in Detroit, except that here they were manufacturing mopeds and not cars.”

When the moped appeared in 1950 moped races were arranged all over the country. The photo shows 2 of the winners at Gentofte Stadion. The person in the middle is the deceased manager Frede Christensen. Many prizes were won with BFC mopeds. It is said that the machines managed a speed of 80 kilometers per hour –a dream for any young man.

75 exciting years...

BFC moped production

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Personnel from all of Zealand

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Moped Race

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BRDR. CHRISTENSENC R E A T I N G Q U A L I T Y V A L V E S W O R L D W I D E

BCBC

75 years

he production of lubricated plug valves started in 1958, where district heating systems rapidly evolved in the 1960’s in Northern Europe.The plug valves were cylindrical, which together with specially developed grease had a great advantage to the plug valves with conical plugs. Even at high temperatures and with large temperature variations the plugs did not lock. Because of that the Brdr. Christensen’s plug valves quickly became a huge success and are assembled in thousands of district heating systems and pumping stations even until this very day.The plug valves were further developed to cover many different configurations, pressure classes, and sizes – up to 1000mm in the flow passage. To compensate for the pressure surges in the large pipelines the PRG valve was developed, which due to the special shape of the plug and with the help of a two speed gear was able to be controlled during closure.

In the mid 70’s the production program was extended with the conical plug valve which has become the company’s most important product. The conical plug valve is better suited to the oil and gas industries than the cylindrical valve. It gives a 100% tight sealing also under high pres-sure when the media are oil or gas products due to the fact that the tolerances between the plug and the body are much smaller, and that the plug can be adjusted.

The conical plug valve is manufactured in a “pressure balanced design“ which means that the plug is always in axial balance and consequent-ly prevents the plug from locking. The design as such is not new but Brdr. Christensen have evolved and developed the concept and manufacture them today in a refined design, that can ensure fast, problem free, and 100% effective sealing. The valves are produced in all pressure classes up to API 10.000 with a working pressure of 690 bar.

Today, Brdr. Christensen is both API and PED ( ) certified for all pressure classes and sizes. Brdr. Christensen is also certified by a long list of important institutes and organisations within the

Brdr. Christensen Plug Valves

oil and gas industry. Apart from ordinary cast iron and cast steel, valves today are also cast in a range of different special alloys, including salt water resistant alloys for example, duplex, super duplex, and nickel alloys such as Inconel. The valves are also produced with special wear resistant and corrosion resistant surfaces on the seat of the plug and body. oday Brdr. Christensen deliver valves to all of the major oil and gas companies throughout most of the world, and the valves are used for both land sites and off shore as well as on the large gas transmission and compressor stations. With the ever increasing requirements to safety, Brdr. Christensen in collaboration with Exxon/Mobil

developed the “double block and bleed plug valve”. The exceptional thing with this valve is that it has two plugs, one each in its own seat, in the same body and with a drain in between the two plugs. The trick is to maintain the standard end-to-end dimension whilst at the same time avoiding an overpressure in the cavity between the two plugs which can be very dangerous. Both of these issues were elegantly solved by Brdr. Christensen.Today, this product contributes to approximately 40% of our production. Brdr. Christensen still manufactures the large gate valves, SEGURO, with soft sealing, which are mostly used for sewage water and drinking water. The dimensions of these valves can be very large. In the picture you can see a 48” SEGURO used in a Canadian facility.

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BRDR. CHRISTENSENC R E A T I N G Q U A L I T Y V A L V E S W O R L D W I D E

BCBC

75 years

Prepared for the future he company has since its infantile start in 1942 has always kept a lookout for new opportunities that may open up. The people behind the company have understood how to read the necessary signals and as such have managed to take action before an eventual crisis could endanger the company’s existence. The Christensen family has always had a special ability to see possibilities instead of limitations. Also after the death of Charles Christensen the company has been exposed to great challenges such as the financial crisis in 2008 and not least the fall in oil prices in 2014.But with a focused commitment the company, together with considerable help from loyal customers and highly competent employees, has managed to steer itself unscathed through these times of crisis. Today the company is owned and managed by Thomas Vennick Christensen, who is the 3rd generation of the Christensen family. He took over the compa-ny from his farther Kurt Bang Christensen at the end of 2016. Today the company focuses on two product lines; Lubricated plug valves and large rubber sealed gate valves. Lubricated plug valves are by far the most important and are produced in a large number of configurations. With these products Brdr. Christensen addresses the needs of theworldwide oil, gas and water industries.

Through a dedicated workforce with a focused experience and knowledge in the field of manufacturing plug valves the world’s best lubricated plug valve has been evolved. With the new management this message will be sent out to all stakeholders within the oil and gas industriesworldwide. To maintain Brdr. Christensen’s leading positionin the world market we follow 5 important parameters:

1. All criteria necessary for the delivery of a quality product must be accomplished at all times.

2. The employees must, at all times, be the most competent in the field of plug valves and similar products.

3. The customer’s expectations must, at all times, be fulfilled. Therefore a close contact is a necessity.

4. The ability to meet delivery schedules, including fast track deliveries, must always be in focus.

5. The company must be in an open anddynamic dialog with our customers.

Customers should experience, that Brdr. Christensen are the best on the market toensure delivery on time, the best on themarket to design and manufacture plug valves and special configurations especially in accordance with special customer wishes, and the best on the market to deliver high quality plug valves.

In relationship to our competitors, the compa-ny has a very strong position, but to maintain that position on the market there needs to be a close dialog between present and potential customers.There needs to be a “red thread” in everything that the company does in rela-tionship with the 5 parameters.

To meet the requirement for “closeness” Brdr. Christensen opened a new sales office in Dubai a few years ago. This office has the opportunity to service all of the Middle East.

Customer service is performed by an employee who knows the oil and gas industry in the Middle East well. The sales department in Denmark is responsible for supporting the office in Dubai in all aspects of sale but also especially focused on their own markets, including the Far East, where many projects for the Middle East are designed. The largest focus area will always be the Northern European countries that are located around the North Sea, in so much as many of these customers have traditionally contributed to the development of the company’s products and organisation.

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Company eligibility in 2017 and for the future

BRDR. CHRISTENSEN ApS - BROKSØVEJ 79 - SKUDERLØSE - 4690 HASLEV - DENMARK - PHONE: +45 5636 3636 - FAX: +45 5636 3600 - MAIL: bch@bch.dk - www.bch.dk