More on Caig and Cramolin or R. Shafer+ Co. and ???

Cramolin Red, was almost universally regarded as one of the best contact restorers, then DISTRIBUTED by Caig.
The product Caig now sells is a "different" product, called Deoxit. Someone has reportedly test both old Cramolin Red
and R5 with mass spectrometers, and are "different" products.
The product the Cramolin Company sells now is Contaclean, the replacement for Cramolin Red.
I don't know if Cramolin ever marketed the undiluted product it sold to Caig.

Cramolin today should not be associated with Caig in any way, from what I can tell
only in that they used to sell something universally approved called Cramolin which is
still available in the form of Contaclean
I still find many distributors putting Cramolin in the same sentence, or description, as Deoxit.

The big coverup??

She says, he says, they say..................???????????????

Many things can be found in the Google Archieves

Regardless of some of the arguments, I think its true most people beleived Caig
manufactured Cramolin. They didn't, which also seemed to annoy the German company, as well as me.
They only repackaged the concentrate.. They even added propellant ingredients to it for the spray cans,
which by the story told by Caig and heard through the archieves,
said they had to reformulate the ingredients to comply with govt. standards.

The other question! On the web, there are numurous mentions of Caig and Cramolin. Was,
or is "Cramolin" a Caig trademark?? Simce Cramolin now exists as a foreign company, how does that stack up???
There are many distributor web sites that mention Caig/Cramolin. (Well I guess letter below answers that question!)

Cramolin may have had a bad ingredient, but they also reformulated the original, not creating
a new product like Caig did as Deoxit. But they changed the name now to Contaclean.
I often got confused when Caig said the R100 little vial contained a refridgerant??
Deoxit is the new stuff Caig markets and apparently makes. Was also called Electricall
which had a more concentrated 10%.
I like the 10% version better, not available anymore.
I still have a little vial of Cramolin R-100 which the full strength version seems to have benifits.
Caig also sells what seems like a full strength version vial of Deoxit.
I first caught this in one of the audio magazines, then on usenet. I am also posting from an Email I received.......

------------------------------------
Cramolin is the original and only trademark holder for Cramolin. See below. HISTORY OF CRAMOLIN
CRAMOLIN-RED and BLUE have always been manufactured by Cramolin Chemisch-technische
of Muhlacker, Germany ( formerly R.Shafer + Co. owned by Mrs. Mainberger). Prior to 1991, Caig Labs
was allowed to sell CRAMOLIN in the USA and Canada under a licensing agreement from liquid
concentrate supplied by Germany thereby acting as a distributor. In 1978, Caig was promoting and telling
users that they were the producers of CRAMOLIN and at that time, Mrs. Mainberger requested that
Caig stop abusing the CRAMOLIN trademark and trade name. While ignoring our request, Caig
continued to mislead users that CRAMOLIN was not allowed to be imported due to environmental reasons
and high import restrictions and duties, this was completely false. In fact, CRAMOLIN has led the way to
re-formulate our products to be environmentally safe to the world. During this time 1978-1991, we believe that
Caig decided to copy and distribute other solvents, lubricants similar to our CRAMOLIN product line. Therefore
in 1994, Caig was no longer allowed to be a distributor or use our trademark. H-Dieter Schlindwein,
John Berry and Richard Shaffert were formerly with CRC and in 1991 purchased the previous owned
35-year-old chemical specialty company, CRAMOLIN, changing the packaging, designs and broaden
its product line.In 1995, CRAMOLIN expanded its World to the United States and to the Pacific Rim area
establishing offices and distribution for our fine products. Our pricing is at the same level or below
competitors for a higher quality product and excellent in product performance. Keep in mind our product is
packaged in a net milliliter content fill container compared to an US net fluid ounce-filled container.
Our CRAMOLIN service products are a broad base line of chemical specialty products and can be sold
to OEM, Direct Industrial Outlets or Mass Retailers. We offer a High Performance and a High Quality
chemical specialty product which in return offers High Profit Margins and are very Profitable to those
who sell our products.

CRAMOLIN USA
z. Hd. Mr. Richard Schaffert
2916 Paprika Road Doylestown PA 18901 / USA
Tel 001 215 794 3567
Fax 001 215 794 9169
cramolin@aol.com
------------------------------------

I would contact the above to obtain Cramolin products

Now, a word from the other side..............................

From Mark Lohkemper, CAIG Laboratories, Inc.

---------------------------------------
I have recently come across an editorial piece that was posted by a Mr.
Graham on June 02, 1999. As CEO and President of CAIG Laboratories,
Inc., I am unaware of Mr. Grahams historical authority to tell the CAIG
story, real or fabricated. The CAIG story is, in fact, quite interesting
and I will gladly share it with you. The facts that I present can be
historically verified.

Mr. Schafer, the owner of R. Schafer & Co. died in the late 1950s. His
daughter, Mrs. Mainberger, took over the business from him at the time.
Prior to Mr. Schafer's death, we at CAIG Laboratories had developed a
relationship with Mr. Schafer, his daughter and other chemical
companies. Subsequently, after Mrs. Mainberger divorced, her ex-husband
started his own company, Kontak. At this time the Schafer family wanted
Mrs. Mainberger to marry the chemist at R. Schafer & Co. He did not
marry her and moved to the United States. In the early 1960s, the
chemist who had immigrated contacted CAIG Laboratories to sell the
formulas he developed to us. Since we were loyal to R. Schafer & Co., we
declined. He subsequently worked with many larger chemical companies
developing many unique products during his long and successful career as a chemist.

During the 1980s, I had developed a strong relationship with the
Mainberger family and all seemed fine. We, CAIG, had developed our own
products as well as having marketed and sold Cramolin products. We also
developed unique applicators and dispensing products. As Mrs. Mainberger
was getting ready to retire we had discussed CAIG purchasing R. Schafer
& Co. She promised us we would have the first option to purchase the
company. Several months went by and we could not get in contact with
her. Her daughter finally called us and informed us that her mother sold
the company. From that time on, the prices of Cramolin products
continually kept going up. Finally after an increase of more than 300%,
it became a product that we could no longer sell. We could not raise our
prices 300% and justify that increase to our consumer.

Our mission was to provide high performance products at economical prices.
We began to look at our options.

Concurrently, the EPA had become increasingly more active in enforcing
the Montreal Protocol and environmental protocols for ozone depletion.
Many governmental and private industries were testing and evaluating
chemicals used in manufacturing and service. Concerning the solvents and
propellants that CAIG chose to formulate with the sprays, it was
recommended by R. Schafer & Co. to use the Freon TF solvent and
propane/butane propellant. We selected the Freon TF and Dymel 22
(non-flammable propellant). We kept in constant contact with R. Schafer
& Co. and they assured us they were not utilizing hazardous ingredients
in their chemical formulations. However, shortly thereafter, one
government agency contacted us regarding a hazardous ingredient found in
the Cramolin products. We contacted R. Schafer & Co. and they confirmed
that the ingredient was, in fact, used in the Cramolin product.
What were we to do at this juncture? We had three distinct
possibilities. 1) Sell the Cramolin products at 3 to 5 times the price
or more without much of a profit, not knowing whether or not they
contained hazardous ingredients, 2) discontinue selling them or 3)
develop our own products. We contacted the chemist who had immigrated
from Germany a couple of decades earlier. Between his expertise in our
product line and the knowledge he had acquired working with some of the
leading chemical companies in this country, he assured us he could
developed superior products. Since that time (1992) we developed our
DeoxIT and PreservIT which is similar to Cramolin Red and Cramolin
Special, without the use of hazardous ingredients. Additionally, we
developed many other exciting new products; ProGold, ProGold GXL,
CaiLube MCL, CaiShield S7, CaiKleen RBR, CaiLube 360 and more, all of
which have received rave reviews like the following:

"This service group here at RANE has found, to date, the CAIG CaiLube
MCL formula to be the most effective lubricant for preserving electrical
properties of potentiometers. CAIG developed this product, in part, by
researching samples that we provided from high-use commercial
applications. This thorough consideration of real world application
problems insures that the MCL product will be the standard for some time
to come. We here at RANE Corporation use CAIG products exclusively on
all our service units. We endorse and recommend using only CAIG products
in our production units." Rane Corporation.

Since the early 1990s, CAIG has also introduced many unique non-aerosol
applicators. Because of our commitment to environmentally safer
formulations we have branched out to offer alternative applicators in
addition to our aerosol sprays. CAIG has developed precision dispensers,
squeeze tubes, pens, wipes and non-aerosol PUMP sprays. Now our
customers have the ability to choose standard aerosol and non-flammable,
non-pressurized aerosols from CAIG. We ship worldwide without
restrictions - and use no hazardous ingredients!
I hope that his slice of CAIG lore has been helpful in setting the
record straight. We continue to develop more exciting new products
everyday. We invite you to visit our website at http://www.caig.com and
explore our unique and economical products.

Mark Lohkemper,
President
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