Toby – Swiss quality since 1957

Wo Tradition und Innovation sich begegnen, entsteht Einzigartiges. Seit 1957 ist Toby mit hochwertigen Produkten aus Schweizer Produktion auf dem Markt. Was einst mit der Herstellung von Schlössern und Bändern begann, hat sich im Laufe der Jahrzehnte zu einem umfassenden Produkte- und Dienstleistungsangebot entwickelt. Heute präsentiert sich Toby als international renommierter Lösungspartner.

The right product at the right time.

The name TOBY is world famous in specialized circles. TOBY products enjoy an excellent reputation throughout all five continents. It may, therefore, appear all the
more curious that comparatively few people know very much at all about the TOBY parent firm, Messrs. V. Glutz-Blotzheim (Successors) & Co. in Solothurn, Switzerland (VGB). It is the purpose of this publication to acquaint you more closely with this firm, its activities and its products.
VGB's history goes back a hundred years. In 1863, Viktor Glutz-Blotzheim, a merchant son of an old Patrician family, founded a lock-making business. A few years previously, this enterprising personage had already taken over a parquet-flooring concern complete with mechanized joiner's shop wh ich, before long, was executing large orders for customers all over Switzerland. Difficulties in obtaining locks and lock furniture was the reason for the foundation of the new firm wh ich later included a metal foundry and a galvanizing plant.
On the whole, those days of free trade were aperiod of economic prosperity du ring which the Glutz-Blotzheim lock factory flourished; on the death of its founder in 1878 it had become an outwardly modest but inwardly solid enterprise. At first the firm was administered as a special partnership until, in 1890, it was changed into the limited liability company of V. Glutz-Blotzheim (Successors) & Co. which we know today. This comparatively small but, from a technical and a social point of view, extremely progressive enterprise - responsible for a great deal of varied pioneer work - gradually became the leading lock and lock furniture factory in Switzerland. It has retained this position up till the present day, especially with regard to quality. The grave crisis of the 'thirties and the reduced building activites of the Second World War years, however, retarded the firm 's growth and brought with them other grave difficulties. Round about 1950 when a building boom in Switzerland finally set in, the first thing to make itself, unpleasantly feit was the supply of goods at far lower prices by foreign competitors. This was not the least
of the reasons why the firm , now under new management, set out to build up a department for the construction of apparatus.
With the opening of this new branch of business, an entirely new epoch dawned for VGB. The lock-making activities had been aimed at the home market, but the apparatus constructing department had, on the contrary, to adapt itself mainly to export from the start in view of the Iimited home requirements. The additional production programme - oil controls and single stove accessories - was not chosen purely by chance. The new director, Mr. E. Gerber, engineer, had been employed by a Swiss firm which numbered among the pion eers in the field of European single stove construction prior to his arrival at VGB's.
In 1957, after years of research and laboratory work, the first se ries of TOBY oil controls was released in the construction of which new methods had been applied in many respects : ball in let valve, two-stage bimetal spring for temperature compensation, anti-overheating safety device, single-chamber two-float system etc. The sharply rising curve shown by the production and sales of TOBY controls proves that the extensive period of preparatory work was worthwhile and that the innovations justified themselves (the production and sales of 1965 were eighty times those of 1958).
For a long time now, TOBY products have not all been manufactured in Solothurn.  In 1959, the French firm of Sodery S. A. in Charleville (now in Montcy-St.-Pierre in the Ardennes) took up the manufacture under license of TOBY controls and since 1963, TOBY Ud. in Merdingen/Western Germany (previously in Lehen) has also been producing TOBY apparatus under license. Inspite of the fact that TOBY has become an international concern enjoying a leading position today on the European market and to a certain extent also on that of other countries, the endeavours of the firm continue to be focused on the promotion and maintenance by their products of the acknowledged reputation of Swiss quality.

The right partner at the right time.

Our most important asset is the confidence and trust of our customers. For this reason, we rely on long-term business relationships, fair and transparent conditions, as well as a comprehensive consulting service. Whether you are a developer, contractor, architect or home owner, as far as we are concerned our ambition is simply to provide you with the best solution.