The history of the company dates back to the 19th century when the Hamburg chemist Dr. Richard Sthamer decided to set up his own business for the production of technical chemical and pharmaceutical products.

In January 1886 he founded Fabrik chemischer Präparate at  Billwärder an the river Bille, an the same site in the Billbrook industrial estate where the company is still located.

In the twenties of the last century, the company started producng saponines whose numerous fields of application included cough mixtures, foam Stabilisation for soft drinks and galvano-technology. In addition, initial attempts were made to use saponine as a foam former in the fire extinguishing sector which then resulted in the company entering a new manufacturing line where it is now of high international esteem - the production of fire  extinguishing foam concentrates.

Only a few years later Erich Sthamer, a son of the founder of the company, was leading the development of protein air foam concentrate The patent for this dates back to the year 1936 In the following years there were numerous  new developments with patent applications.

At the beginning of the fifties when. with Jürgen Sthamer, the third generation entered the company, it succeeded in developing a synthetic, alcohol resistant, gel film forming foam compound for the first time, whereby a completely new foam concentrate generation was born further developments in the synthetic and protein foam agent sector followed in the sixties. In the course of the seventies, fluorine additives in particular, were combined with protein foam concentrates.

Oswald and Henning Sthamer entered the company at the  beginning/end of 1980 This time was particularly characterised by the extremely fast growing and strong environmental awareness within the company Thanks to new developments, modified production processes and raw materials, the company succeeded in developing more environment compatible foam concentrates which led to a further patent in 1995.

A large number of customers throughout the world now place their trust in the quality of the products, the competence and reliability of Dr Sthamer - Hamburg who, in their 4th generation, have now entered the 21st century.

Intensive research and development activities will continue to be a top priority at Dr Sthamer.

Our aim: Development and Production of high quality Fire Fighting Foam Concentrates to protect not only against all types of fire, but also to protect the environment for the benefit of our children and their children.