and Durofol KG, O. Brangs & Co were the only manufacturers of bakelite grips for the P38.
Mark, Gentlemen,
just recently I made a trademark search. As a bycatch, I hooked two fishes I wasn’t fishing for. No big fishes, but maybe interesting anyway for you and the Walther boys.
Both trademarks do contain the word “Durofol” and were applied/registered by Durofol-Kommanditgesellschaft J. Brangs & Co., Henckelstrasse 39, Solingen for a couple of goods, i. a. for “Teile von Schußwaffen” (parts for firearms).
German trademark # 545932 “Durofol” (word mark) was applied on 6th May 1939 , registred on 1st June 1942 and published in German “Warenzeichenblatt” (Trademark Gazette) 1942, page 1164.
German trademark # 667,663 “Durofol logo” was filed on 17. March 1942, but due to the war the trademark application was published after the war, i. e. on 17. July 1951, and it was registered on 15. June 1955. Shown is the publication of the application (the registration is the same, except for the trademark registration number not present on the publication of the application).
So, the info Mark was relying on (Darrin Weaver's book on the G/K43's called Hitler's Garand. Pgs. 166-168 discussing the Durofol handguards) is correct in the major points: maker is Durofol Kommanditgesellschaft J. Brangs & Co. (KG is the abbreviation of Kommanditgesellschaft = limited partnership). The only detail not correct: it’s
J. Brangs, not
O. Brangs. I made a further search for any info on J. Brangs, but I only found some patents and German Gebrauchsmuster, respectively, dealing with scissors of a Julius Brangs jr, Henckelstr. 39, Solingen. As the address is identical (Henckelstrasse 39, Solingen), I believe, Julius Brangs jr. is the man behind Durofol (which changed its name in the late 50s to Durofol Presswerk GmbH, but that’s an other story).
Regards
Martin
P.S: the list of goods (very long) of the Durofol “logo” trademark is the same as the one of the Durofol “word” trademark – I just shortened it a little bit.
