Andreas Maria Schwaiger has acted in many crime dramas and medical series. In real life, he is an enthusiastic inventor. Large corporations use his invention, which is designed to slow down collisions.
Television audiences know actor Andreas Maria Schwaiger from many smaller appearances, for example on “Tatort”, “SOKO München” or “Forsthaus Falkenau” – but he is also a successful inventor. The Munich native has patented a post that is flexible and moves back when a vehicle starts to ram into it. At the same time, the obstacle rings to immediately warn the person behind the wheel.
“I’ve loved tinkering all my life,” says Schwaiger. “It started when I was 14, when I put together my first stereo system, then I started tuning mopeds and I’m still doing it today when I tune cars.” In addition to his work in television (“Hello, Uncle Doc!”) and film (“The True Story of Men and Women”), the Allgäu native studied economics and is active as an entrepreneur.
The 55-year-old now also holds a patent for the bell post. “I came up with the idea because a friend told me about the billions of dollars worth of damage caused by forklifts in logistics warehouses every year. Rigid barriers are ripped out of the ground by the forklifts and the goods are still damaged. Light barriers fail because of the power supply or are sabotaged.”
The idea of a bell post came to him while hiking in the Allgäu. “As I was heading towards a mountain pasture, I was delighted by the sound of the cowbells and thought that it was nice to be warned.” The rest was a matter of tinkering with technology with his friends.
Schwaiger’s company has already sold more than 3,000 bell posts, he says. “A mechanical collision protection device with an angle of up to 60 percent and an acoustic signal has not yet existed.” Customers include large car companies, a shipping company and an armaments company. Companies from Belgium, Switzerland, Austria – such as Vienna Airport – and Poland are now also ordering the bell posts. Schwaiger now wants to conquer the US market. But he also continues to appear in front of the camera, most recently for the ARD early evening series “Watzmann ermittelt”.
Source: Stern
I am an author and journalist who has worked in the entertainment industry for over a decade. I currently work as a news editor at a major news website, and my focus is on covering the latest trends in entertainment. I also write occasional pieces for other outlets, and have authored two books about the entertainment industry.
