ADB HISTORY

ADB HISTORY

1920

ADB originally founded in by Mr Adrien de Backer – whose initials provided the company name – began its life as a manufacturer of electrical equipment for laboratories, mainly rheostats.

1925

ADB applied the rheostats and later on the RHEOTOR®   variable transformers to the dimming of light in theatres, music halls and cinemas. The company was, notably, responsible for producing the first light dimmer for the Malines City theatre in Belgium. This equipment served for over forty years.

1938

The first spotlights   were introduced and soon afterward lighting control became electromechanical and partially motorized with relay control.

1950

The start of a long period, of innovations, with for ex. dimmers based on Thyratrons  , on magnetic amplifiers and, since 1965, on Thyristors. And also, the first memory control desks based on punched cards, ferrites, magnetic tape, floppy disc, and finally in 1985 on microprocessors.

1987

ADB was acquired by the SIEMENS Group. At that time ADB was already strongly established as a worldwide broad line manufacturer of professional stage and studio lighting equipment  .

2002

Following a management buy-out, the ADB Group was restructured, the production streamlined and upgraded in order to make of ADB a lean and agile operation able to face new challenges.

  • Launch of WARP  , a revolutionary zoom profile spotlight with ring control and motorization of all functions
  • Launch of EURODIM TwinTech   with free combination of Thyristor and Sinewave dimming and the future proof DimSwitch technology with Solid State relay instead of mechanical.

2013

First all LED RGB cyclorama and floodlight unit ALC4  

2016

ADB is acquired by Clay Paky SpA, the Italian manufacturer of automated luminaires that is part of the OSRAM group.

  • Launch of KLEMANTIS  , the advanced, new asymmetric cyc light with state-of-the-art LED technology
  • Launch of ORKIS   the family of luminaires (fresnel and profile) featuring six-color HCR technology