How do you come to replace the metal clamping spring of a Christmas ball with a glass bracket? Very simple. One day Wilhelmina Koos (Alfred's wife) asked:“Alfred can't you invent anything to replace those metal clamping springs because it is the same problem every year. Either the feather is lost or it breaks down. That was just a word and Alfred created Christmas balls with a glass bracket so that the annual difficulties with the metal clamping feathers would be over. A goldmine was discovered. The money flowed in until he got his rage moments, listened to the wrong people, moved impulsively to Luxembourg and started his financial and human ruin.

• Belgian patents
• Luxembourg patents

When he left Hemiksem, competition from abroad increased. The industry had gradually recovered and the production of cheap Christmas balls started again without a glass eye but much cheaper, much thinner material and much less manual work. He therefore requested a catalogue from the competition, an example of which is given here. .

On YouTube you will find a lot of film material such as this 3 examples