WesWorld

This firm, one of the foremost manufacturers of bicycles in Germany, was founded in 1907 by the entrepreneur Emil Schütze and the bicycle specialist Emil Hesse. Together they established a workshop in Sangerhausen, Saxony-Anhalt, to undertake production of bicycles to Hesse’s design. By 1914 the firm had modernised its factory and was already an important manufacturer; in the years following the Great War, when many other firms moved into the manufacture of motorcycles, it continued to concentrate on its cycles, maintaining its own team of competitive cyclists since 1924. Since re-entering the competition, German cyclists in the Tour de France have all used racing bicycles manufactured by Mitteldeutsche Fahrradwerke.

In 1885 the brothers Friedrich and Wilhelm Nevoigt opened a mechanical workshop in Reichenbrand bei Chemnitz, registering their establishment as Gebrüder Nevoigt. Among the first products manufactured by the firm were knitting accessories for the thriving Saxon textile industry, but the brothers soon began production of bicycles, which found a ready market. In 1907 the partnership between the two brothers was converted to a joint stock company as Gebrüder Nevoigt AG. By 1912 the production of bicycles had become such a major part of the firm’s business that it was renamed Diamant Werke Gebrüder Nevoigt AG, recognising the marque under which it marketed its bicycles. Like many German firms, it was drawn into munitions production during the Great War, employing more than one thousand workers in 1916. In the postwar period it continued to manufacture bicycles of innovative design, incorporating the use of light alloys. It also diversified into the manufacture of knitting machines, complementing its original lines of knitting accessories. The current corporate style was adopted in 1920.

In 1896 the Panther Fahrrad Werke was founded in the city of Magdeburg to undertake the manufacture of bicycles; it soon diversified into the manufacture of strollers for children and light motor-bicycles. In 1907 in acquired the shares of the Braunschweíger Fahrradwerken. Its bicycles were marketed under the names Panther and Brunsviga. From 1910 the firm also undertook the manufacture of sewing machines. In 1925 the firm began a period of expansion, acquiring the Fahrradwerke Schminke of Bad Wildungen that year, the Görickewerke of Bielefeld in 1932 and the Rapier Fahrradwerke of Löhne in 1933. The combined output of the firm exceeds three thousand bicycles per day, and its products are widely marketed across Europe; presently its employs more than one thousand workers in its several facilities.

This enterprise was established in 1915 by Ferdinand von Zeppelin, to produce gears for Zeppelins and other airships. Following the end of the Great War the firm shifted into the automotive market, patenting its Soden pre-selector transmission in 1920. In 1929 it introduced the helical Aphon transmission for automobiles and commercial vehicles. The manufacture of steering systems commenced in 1932. To meet increasing demand for its products the firm established in 1934 a branch factory in Passau especially for the production of tank transmissions.

The firm is a major manufacturer of transmission and steering systems for automobiles, motor lorries, tanks and armoured vehicles, and has licensed its designs to numerous other firms at home and abroad.

In 1900 Gustav Drauz, a wheelwright of Heilbronn, opened a carriage-making workshop in the city, which soon prospered. In 1904 the shop received its first order for coachwork for automobiles from the Neckarsulmer Fahrzeugwerke. By 1914 the company had nearly two hundred employees. During the Great War the factory concentrated on the manufacture of ambulances and field kitchens for the military.

In the post-war period the company returned to the production of automobile coachwork, providing bodywork to Adler, Ford, and Opel, as well as bespoke work for individual customers. The firm constructed its first all-steel truck body in 1929, and this soon became a principal line of business, supplying many truck bodies to Magrius-Deutz as well as specialist bodies for the Heer. It also developed many specialist trailers for the military, and in 1933 opened a second factory dedicated to this purpose.

The origins of the firm go back to 1902 when engineer August Koch founded a workshop for dairy machinery in Kirschenallee in Darmstadt-Nord, which employed ten workmen. Two years later Koch went into partnership with master locksmith Johann Gräb to found the Molkereimaschinen- und Motorenfabrik Koch und Gräb. By 1904 the company was manufacturing four types of horizontal engines, the most powerful of which produced 10 horsepower, and employed as many as fifty workers. In August 1906 the partnership of Koch und Gräb was converted into the joint stock company Motorenfabrik Darmstadt, with the merchant Friedrich May providing additional capital and succeeding to the directorship of the company.

From 1908 the firm produced internal combustion engines of Solos design under license, as well as its own diesel engines of the ‘hot-bulb’ type. Sales would continue to expand in the years before the Great War and the company became a leading manufacturer of industrial locomotives, petrol and diesel engines for the automotive industry, as well as stationary engines for industrial use. During the war the demand for two-stroke diesel engines greatly expanded and new manufacturing facilities were built adjacent to the original factory in Kirschenallee.

Diesel engines became the most successful product of the company: This included the "RB" series, which it launched in 1925. With simple handling, the engines provided high performance with low fuel consumption and were used in particular as ship propulsion. The firm’s marine diesel engines found particular application in fishing trawlers, small naval auxiliaries, and from the middle 1940s, amphibious craft of the Kriegsmarine. Licenses for marine diesel engines were granted to firms in France, Poland, Italy, and Yugoslavia.

Agricultural tractors were also produced. During the Great War the company had developed its first model in 1916, based on locomotive principles. It was powered by a 20-horsepower single-cylinder petrol engine, which brought the vehicle to 2.5 or 5.5 kph. A much improved model was launched in 1924 under the name "Modag 1". This tractor was powered by a water-cooled, two-cylinder diesel engine of 16-horsepower, which brought the vehicle to a top speed of 8 kph. A third model, introduced in 1927, marketed as the "Modag 2", powered by a 20-horsepower diesel engine. The firm ceased development of its tractor line in 1931 to concentrate on diesel engine production.