WesWorld

Repository for data pertaining to the subject.

This firm was founded in 1881 in Plauen to undertake the manufacture of textile machinery and other machine tools; it was reorganised in 1895 as a joint stock corporation. Production of rotary printing and precision boring machines was begun in 1899. A plan of works expansion was put in place in 1902 and new workshops were constructed in Cranach, which have undergone constant expansion. The firm began the production of fully automatic textile machinery in 1910, which found wide acceptance both in the German and export markets, particularly in North America. In 1912 the firm constructed the first rotary offset printing machine.

During the Great War the firm undertook the manufacture of heavy motor lorries for the Imperial Army and also manufactured hand grenades, mortar shells and other munitions. Following the conclusion of hostilities the firm continued to manufacture motor vehicles and omnibuses for the civil market, establishing a reputation for quality and reliability. In 1921 the firm began production of fully automatic looms for the textile industry.

From the early 1930s the firm came to focus on its manufacture of heavy motor vehicles for both the civil and military markets. It was one of the firms selected by the Army Armaments Office to undertake the manufacture of standard cargo lorries for the Heer, and later it became involved in the manufacture of armoured vehicles and their components.

This firm was founded in 1906 as a licensor of the motor lorries originally designed by the firm of Adolph Saurer AG, of Arbon, in Switzerland. The Swiss firm retains a substantial shareholding in the firm. The works are located in Wien-Simmering and are presently engaged in the manufacture of commercial motor vehicles of its own design as well as executing contracts from the Army Armaments Office for the construction of military lorries of the Mercedes Benz LGF type under license. Production of the latter is presently proceeding at the rate of three hundred units per month.

In 1904 the brothers Franz, Heinrich and Carl Gräf obtained the financial backing of the entrepreneur Wilhelm Stift and founded a factory for the manufacture of motor cars in Wien-Döbling. The brothers had been hand-assembling motor cars in a small workshop since 1897, but the move to larger quarters and greater financial resources allowed them to undertake the manufacture of luxury motor cars which soon became a favourite among the Austro-Hungarian elite. They also manufactured omnibuses and commercial vehicles. The firm was able to survive the period of distress following the Great War but was forced to give up production of its own motor cars and concentrated on commercial vehicles.

The firm presently manufactures light and medium lorries and delivery vans of its own design, and has contracted with the Army Armaments Office to manufacture the Klockner 330 medium cargo lorry under license for delivery to the Deutsches Heer. Production is proceeding at a rate of two hundred units per month. The present workforce numbers in excess of 1,500.

This firm was created in 1909 by the Vienna industrialist Anton Fross, who in 1909 had married the daughter of Heinrich Büssing and received thereby a licence to manufacture the motor vehicles designed by the Büssing parent firm within the lands of the Hapsburg Monarchy. In the years before the Great War it manufactured commercial vehicles and omnibuses, and concentrated on the production of vehicles for the Imperial and Royal Army during the hostilities. In the postwar period the firm continued the production of Büssing-designed vehicles at its factory in Wien-Brigittenau, and, to retain its position in the former Hapsburg lands established in Prague, Czechoslovakia, a subsidiary for their assembly and sale.

The firm continues to manufacture Büssing designs for commercial sale and components for tracked vehicles. In 1939 it undertook to manufacture the Büssing 500 heavy cargo lorry for the Army Armaments Office, and is presently delivering these at the rate of two hundred units per month.


Subsidiaries of the firm include:

Tovarna na stroje Anton Fross-Büssinga Liberta, Prag (motor vehicle assembly and sale)

In 1907 changes in the customs regulations of the Austro-Hungarian Empire prompted the Italian FIAT concern to establish an assembly in Wien-Floridsdorf. In its early years it acted as an assembly facility for Italian manufactured vehicles, but by the outbreak of the Great War it had developed its own designs for passenger cars, motor lorries and omnibuses. During the hostilities it manufactured motor vehicles for the Imperial and Royal Army. In 1921 control of the firm passed to the Österreichische Creditanstalt. In 1935 it arranged with the Maschinenfabrik Augsburg-Nürnberg to manufacture that firm’s diesel engines, and the Nürnberg firm acquired a substantial block of shares in the ÖAF. In 1939 the firm contracted with the Army Armaments Office to construct the Klockner 145 heavy cargo lorry for the Deutsches Heer, and is presently producing that type at the rate of two hundred units per month, alongside commercial vehicles of its own design.

The origins of the firm go back to the foundation of a casting workshop by Justus Christian Braun in Nürnberg in the year 1845. During the Nineteenth Century the firm pursued the development of fire-fighting equipment, but at the outset of the Great War it began the manufacture of motor lorries for the Prussian War Ministry. In 1918 the Braun firm amalgamated with the Fahrzeugfabrik Ansbach. In the 1920s the firm developed a range of municipal service vehicles and large lorries for road transport, as well as wheeled tractors for the towing of heavy loads; many of these were supplied to the Deutsches Reichsbahn. Between 1924 and 1928 the firm manufactured motor cars of its own designs, but abandoned such to concentrate on the market for commercial goods vehicles. The firm has also manufactured standardised light tactical trucks for supply to the Deutsches Heer.

In 1880 engineer Heinrich Kleyer founded a workshop for the manufacture of bicycles in the city of Frankfurt. Given the growing demand for bicycles, the workshop prospered, and Kleyer was quick to adapt to the appearance of motor-driven three-wheelers and Voiturettes, using engines of DeDion design. In 1901 Kleyer produced the firm’s first motorcycles, which were soon followed by proper automobiles of innovative design. The firm was organised on a joint-stock basis in 1902, adopting the current style.

Greater financial resources allowed the firm to integrate production – in 1904 the firm was the first German auto manufacturer to offer its own proprietary engines, gearboxes and other mechanical components. Adler was also a pioneer in the field of aviation, offering internal combustion engines for airships as early as 1907; by 1914, nearly twenty percent of all motor cars registered in Germany were of Adler manufacture. While pioneering these new fields the firm continued to manufacture bicycles and motorcycles, and, in 1910, had begun the manufacture of typewriters and other business equipment.

The firm greatly expanded during the Great War – at its height the firm operated more than fifteen factories and workshops, and employed more than ten thousand workers. With the coming of peace the firm went through a period of retrenchment and reorganisation, concentrating more on its business machines component. Serious manufacture of automobiles did not resume until 1925, at which point the firm introduced its “Standard” model which quickly became a best seller, to be followed by the innovative “Triumph” model.

The firm also sought to diversity its product line through acquisitions. In 1931 it purchased a factory in Bochum for the manufacture of dust extraction and control equipment, a growing field of endeavour. In 1934 it acquired the Mindener Karosserie coachworks and re-equipped it to expand automotive production capacity. The Herzstark Machine Works of Vienna were purchased in 1939 to strengthen the firm’s line of business machines.


Subsidiaries of the firm include:

Gesellschaft für Entstaubungs-Anlagen mbH, Bochum (dust control and environmental equipment)
Mindener Karosserie- und Fahrzeugbau GmbH, Minden (coachbuilding and automotive components)
Rechenmaschinenwerk Herzstark und Compagnie., Wien (business machines)

The core of this firm originates in the works of Carl Buz and Carl August Reichenbach, who in 1844 leased an engineering plant in the city of Augsburg, and purchased it outright in 1855. Reichenbach pursued production of flatbed letter-presses and in 1873 produced Germany’s first rotary press under the name Reichenbach'sche Maschinenfabrik. In the same plant Buz pursued the development of heavy engineering products like water turbines, pumps and engines under the name Maschinenfabrik Augsburg. In 1898 the firm adopted its current style when it merged with Maschinenbau AG Nürnberg, a firm with complementary mechanical and engineering expertise.

In the years prior to the Great War the firm pioneered the development and wide-scale application of diesel engines to marine and industrial use. The firm licenced its technology to many firms abroad, thereby avoiding the heavy investment in manufacturing facilities in foreign countries. It also continued to produce a wide range of industrial equipment and retained its interest in the manufacture of printing equipment. Following the Great War the firm would diversify into the production of direct-injection diesel engines for use in motor vehicles, and also undertook to manufacture commercial vehicles of its own design.

In 1921 the firm undertook an exchange of share with the Gutehoffnungshütte Aktienverein für Bergbau und Hüttenbetrieb of Oberhausen, a major Ruhr steelmaker. By this exchange it gained access to raw materials and widened its metallurgical research base. It also marked a change in growth strategy, as it marked the first of the firm’s acquisitions that would increase during the following years.

In 1923 is acquired the automotive transmission-manufacturing enterprise of Johannes Renk, one of Germany’s leading specialists in this developing technology – one which meshed well with the firm’s own expertise. The following year the firm acquired the assets of the Deggendorfer Werft und Eisenbau, a builder of river freighters located on the Danube, converting its yard from using inefficient steam engines to modern diesel engines.

The Fritz Winter Eisengießerei was acquired in 1930 to obtain expanded plant facilities and the manufacture of printing presses was transferred thence in 1931. In 1933 the Maschinen und Waggonbau Fabriks Simmering was merged into the firm
The Österreichische Fahrzeugbau GmbH was organised in 1934 to undertake the assembly and progressive manufacture of MAN designed motor vehicles at its works at Salzburg, and in 1936 the Karosseriewerke Joseph Hebmüller of Wuppertal was acquired for the same purpose, principally to meet demand from the Heer.


Subsidiary companies of the firm include:

Maschinenfabrik Augsburg-Nürnberg AG, Lastkraftwagenwerke, Augsburg (motor vehicles)
Maschinenfabrik Augsburg-Nürnberg AG, Stammwerke, Augsburg (diesel engines, general engineering)
Maschinenfabrik Augsburg-Nürnberg AG, Werke Nürnberg (diesel engines, general engineering)
Maschinenfabrik Augsburg-Nürnberg AG, Werke Simmering (diesel engines)
Maschinenfabrik Augsburg-Nürnberg AG, Werke Stadtallendorf, Stadtallendorf (printing equipment)
Maschinenfabrik Augsburg-Nürnberg AG, Werke Wuppertal (motor vehicles)

Deggendorfer Werft und Eisenbau GmbH, Deggendorf (shipbuilding)
Gutehoffnungshütte Aktienverein für Bergbau und Hüttenbetrieb, Oberhausen (iron and steel)
Österreichische Fahrzeugbau GmbH, Salzburg (motor vehicles)
Zahnräderfabrik Renk AG, Augsburg (transmissions)

The present firm Auto Union came into being in 1932 through the amalgamation of four long-established auto manufacturers located in the Saxon industrial region - Audiwerke AG, of Zwickau; DKW AG, of Zschopau; Horch Motorwagenwerke AG, of Zwickau; and Wanderer Werke AG, Siegmar. Their union marked the creation of an automobile manufacturing combine capable of matching the German subsidiaries of the major American auto manufacturers in terms of production and price. During the early 1930s the Auto Union firm won a substantial share of the German domestic market for automobiles and made strong showings in the export of its cars – particularly the economy models of the DKW marque – to Europe and even further abroad.

Auto Union maintained its own in-house racing team. The development of Auto Union racing cars began 1933 by specialists of Horch works. The first cars ran in the winter 1933/34, on the Nürburgring, AVUS and Monza. Auto Union pioneered the use of telemetry recording devices to record data such as engine revolutions while the car was being tested, allowing the engineers to study the collected data at a later date. Auto Union was among the first large German auto manufacturers to develop vehicles for the Heer, including all wheel drive personnel cars and light motor trucks.

In 1935 it acquired the firm Vidal und Sohn Tempo-Werk GmbH of Harburg, a manufacturer of motorcycles, which strengthened the firm’s product line in that sector. The following year it entered the farm equipment sector through the acquisition of Landmaschinenfabrik Franz Richter AG of Döbeln. Auto Union entered the aircraft engine manufacturing sector in 1937 through creation of a subsidiary, the Mitteldeutsche Motorenwerke. In 1938 ground was broken for a new factory in the town of Wolfsburg, in Lower Saxony, where Auto Union would eventually build its new Type 60 low-price economy car. The firm established Mechanische Werke Cottbus as a subsidiary to specialise in production of defence equipment.


Subsidiary companies of the firm include:

Auto Union AG, Tempo Werke, Harburg (motorcycle manufacture)
Auto Union AG, Union-Werke, Mittweida (automobile components)
Auto Union AG, Volkswagen-Werke, Wolfsburg (automobile manufacture)
Auto Union AG, Werk Spandau, Berlin (defence equipment)
Auto Union AG, Werke Audi, Zwickau (automobile manufacture)
Auto Union AG, Werke DKW, Zschopau (automobile manufacture)
Auto Union AG, Werke Horch, Zwickau (automobile manufacture)
Auto Union AG, Werke Wanderer, Siegmar (automobile manufacture)
Landmaschinenfabrik Franz Richter AG, Döbeln (agricultural equipment)
Mechanische Werke Cottbus GmbH, Cottbus (defence equipment)
Mitteldeutsche Motorenwerke GmbH, Taucha (aircraft engines)


Affiliated companies of the firm include:

In Germany

Eisenacher Karosseriewerke Assman, Eisenach (metal fabrication)
Gläser-Karosserie GmbH, Dresden (metal fabrication)
Karosseriewerk August Nowack AG, Bautzen (metal fabrication)
Karosseriewerke August Zschau, Leipzig (metal fabrication)
Zwickauer Maschinenfabrik AG, Zwickau (machine tools and equipment)


Abroad

Auto-Union Argentinas S.A., Santa Rosa, Argentina (auto assembly and sales)

Created in 1934 this enterprise, one of the largest manufacturing concerns in the Austrian provinces, represents the union of three long-established Austrian industrial companies – the Steyr Werke of Steyr, the Puch Werke of Graz and the Austro-Daimler Werke of Wiener Neustadt.

In 1830 Leopold Werndl opened a rifle works in Oberletten/Steyr; his son, Josef Werndl, established the firm of Josef und Franz Werndl und Compagnie in 1864 to operate a modern small arms factory; in 1869 the firm was renamed the Oesterreichische Waffenfabriks Gesellschaft. The firm became a primary supplier of rifles and other munitions to the Imperial and Royal Army as well as exporting a large proportion of its production abroad. From 1894 the firm also manufactured bicycles, and in 1918 it manufactured its first automobile. In 1926 it adopted the style of Steyr Werke AG, and separated its small arms manufacturing activities as Steyr Mannlicher AG.

Johann Puchs opened his workshop for the manufacture of bicycles in 1893, in the city of Graz. In 1901 a new works, now known as the Einser-Werk, was opened on the manufacture of motorcycles and motor cars begun. By the year 1912 Puchs employed more than one thousand workers to produce nearly sixteen thousand bicycles and more than eight hundred motor vehicles annually. In 1928 the Puchs firm joined with the Austro-Daimler concern to form the Austro-Daimler-Puchwerke AG.

The Austro-Daimler Works in Wiener Neustadt had been founded in 1899 as a subsidiary of the Daimler Motoren Gesellschaft of Cannstatt to manufacture automobiles and automotive equipment within the customs frontier of the Hapsburg Monarchy. In the years prior to the Great War this firm had shown itself an innovator – in 1903 it had demonstrated the first armoured car to the staff of the Imperial and Royal Army, and in 1905 it had produced a motor lorry with all wheel drive. By 1907 it employed more than eight hundred workers and had begun the manufacture of aero engines. It was heavily involved in the manufacture of munitions during the Great War, but in 1918 had returned to the manufacture of automobiles and other motor vehicles. In 1923 it had entered into a strategic partnership with the Puchs works of Graz and in 1928 the two had agreed to amalgamate their complementary interests.

The enterprise manufactures a wide variety of products, principally motorcycles, automobiles and motor lorries for both the civil and military markets; sporting and military small arms; tracked vehicles and equipment for the Deutsches Heer; and bearings.


The enterprise’s factories include:

Steyr-Daimler-Puch AG, Einser-Werk, Graz-Thondorf (motorcycles and automobiles)
Steyr-Daimler-Puch AG, Hauptwerk, Steyr-Münichholz (motor vehicles)
Steyr-Daimler-Puch AG, Zweier-Werk, Graz-Thondorf (motor vehicles)
Steyr-Daimler-Puch AG. Daimler-werk, Wiener-Neustadt (motor vehicles)


The enterprise’s subsidiaries include:

Steyr Kugellagerfabrik AG, Steyr-Münichholz (ball and roller bearings)
Steyr Mannlicher AG, Letten bei Steyr (military and civil small arms)


The enterprise’s affiliates include:

Schmid-Werk AG, St.Pölten- Wilhelmsburg (armoured vehicle components)
Werkzeug und Metallwerke Kromag AG, Hirtenberg (armoured vehicle components)
Wiener Kettenfabrik AG, Wien-Leopoldstadt (tracked vehicle components)

The origins of this firm date from 1866 when Joseph Rosenbauer founded the Erste Oberösterreichische Feuerwehr-Ausrüstungs-Geschäft in Linz, as a wholesaler and retailer of fire service equipment including hemp bags, hand pressure pumps of different manufacturers, helmets, buttons, etc. His son, Konrad Rosenbauer, succeeded to the direction of the firm in 1888, at which time it began to manufacture fire safety and fire-fighting equipment of its own design. In 1905 the firm relocated to larger facilities in the city of Linz and became known as Rosenbauer und Kneitschel, Fabrik für Lösch- und Wehrgerät und Metallwaren. The firm introduced its first petrol-driven pump in 1906, and in 1918 it introduced its first motorised fire tender, which was delivered to the Wien Fire Brigade. By 1926 the firm, by then known as Automobilspritzengesellschaft Lohner und Rosenbauer, was exporting its products as far away as China. The firm adopted its current corporate style in 1934.

The firm began production of its own two-stoke engines for pumps in 1932, and the following year introduced a Combined foam-water engine driven pump. Since its foundation the firm has grown to become one of the nation’s largest manufacturers of fire-fighting vehicles and equipment, which can be found in the hands of fire brigades around Europe.

The history of this firm begins with Adam Opel, son of a master locksmith in the town of Rüsselsheim. In 1868 he founded a factory for the production of sewing machines, Nähmaschinen Fabrik von Adam Opel, which rapidly achieved success, producing some twenty thousand units in the period up to 1880. In 1898 the firm, then employing twelve hundred workers, manufactured more than twenty-five thousand sewing machines and fifteen thousand bicycles. Following the death of the founded in that year his widow and sons formed a limited partnership to carry on the business of manufacturing bicycles but ceased to manufacture sewing machines, embarking upon the manufacture of motor cars.

In 1899, to support its ventures in automobile manufacture, the firm bought the Anhaltische Motorwagenfabrik, of Dessau, chiefly to obtain the technical expertise of its staff and its chief designer, Friedrich Lutzmann. In 1902 the Opel firm entered into a technical exchange agreement with the French motor car manufacturer Darracq, marketing its product under the name Opel-Darracq. By 1912 the factory at Rüsselsheim had grown to cover an area in excess of 73,000 square metres, and its three thousand workers produced more than thirty thousand bicycles and three thousand automobiles.

In the years following the Great War the firm was the first German automobile manufacturer to introduce a moving assembly line, a step completed in 1924. By 1928 the firm was employing more than nine thousand workers and produced more than forty-two thousand automobiles, making it Germany’s largest manufacturer at that time. It had also begun the manufacture of commercial goods vehicles of the Schnellastwagen type – derived from light automobile chassis.

In 1928 the firm was converted into a joint stock company and the heirs of Adam Opel sold eighty percent of the firm’s stock to the American firm General Motors, for a sum exceeding thirty-three million dollars. The American firm would acquire the remaining stock by 1931 and operate as a stand-alone subsidiary of the American firm. The injection of American capital and automotive expertise allowed the firm to continue to lead the German automotive industry. In 1935 the firm established a factory in Brandenburg an der Havel for the mass production of motor lorries for the Deutsches Heer and for commercial sale.

This firm, founded in 1872 by the entrepreneur Max Carl Gritzner, is a manufacturer of sewing machines, bicycles and motorcycles based in Durlach, near Karlsruhe. In the 1870s the firm was one of the largest manufacturers of sewing machines in Europe, but in 1886, when it adopted the joint-stock form of ownership, bicycles had become a significant portion of its production. Motorcycles were first constructed in 1903. In 1931 it acquired the assets of the Pfälzischen Nähmaschinen und Fahrradfabrik vormals Gebrüder Kayser AG of Kaiserslautern, and maintained a second factory there for the fabrication of automotive and aviation parts under subcontract. In 1937 it merged with the Motorradwerke Mars, maintaining that prestigious marque as a separate identity.

In 1893 Karl Heinrich Kässbohrer of Ulm founded a workshop for the manufacture of steam wagons, the Wagenfabrik Kässbohrer. By 1904 the firm had come to specialise in the manufacture of coachwork for chassis made by other motor manufacturers, principally for commercial vehicles. In 1922 the firm received a patent for the first motor omnibus intended for carriage of both passengers and goods; in that same year, upon the death of the founder, management passed to his sons, Karl und Otto Kässbohrer. In 1928 the firm acquired the rival works of Karosseriefabrik Neuer und Thieme, and introduced the first panoramic coaches, with sunroof and full glazing of the roof. In 1934 the firm absorbed another rival, Anhänger und Transportgerätefabrik A. Mattes, a large-scale manufacturer of trailer and transport equipment, and opened new facilities in Peter-Schmid-Straße. It presently is one of Germanys largest manufacturers of motor omnibuses and commercial transport equipment, employing more than 2,300 workers at its four facilities in the vicinity of Ulm.

The roots of the firm lie in a textile machinery works founded in 1873 by Christian Schmidt and Heinrich Stoll in the town of Riedlingen, which in 1880 was relocated to Neckarsulm. In April 1884 the partnership between Schmidt and Stoll was converted into a joint stock company as the Neckarsulmer Strickmaschinen-Fabrik AG. At that time the firm manufactured spinning and weaving equipment, and specialised in the manufacture of knitting machines.

In 1886 the firm began the production of bicycles under the brand name “Germania”, and so successful was the sales of bicycles that in 1897 the company was renamed the Neckarsulmer Fahrradwerke AG, while the textile machinery business was reorganised as an affiliated firm, H. Stoll und Compagnie, Strickmaschinenfabrik, which returned to the former works in Riedlingen. Success in the manufacture of bicycles brought the firm to the production of motorcycles in the year 1901, and to the production of three-wheel cycle cars but a few years thereafter. In 1913 it adopted the style Neckarsulmer Fahrzeugwerke AG to reflect its now primary business.

The period immediately before the Great War saw the firm’s motorcycles widely exported to Scandinavia, to the Balkans and to South America. Progress was interrupted by the hostilities, and the firm concentrated on the manufacture of standard motorcycles for military use and also undertook the manufacture of cargo trucks. Following the Great War the firm moved forward in the automotive field, establishing a new factory at Heilbronn for the manufacture of automobiles while retaining the Neckarsulm works for the manufacture of motorcycles. In 1926 it acquired the Berlin coachbuilding firm of Karosseriewerke Schebera and in 1927 the Deutschen Industriewerke AG of Berlin-Spandau, another manufacturer of motorcycles. The firm adopted its current style in 1930 to reflect its diverse automotive interests.

Expansion of the firm continued through acquisition. In 1931 it acquired the Karosseriebau Autenrieth in Darmstadt, in 1933 the Stuttgart firm of Wilhelm Weckerle, and in 1934 the Presswerke Mollberg. Having established a solid position in the manufacture of motorcycles, motor cars and coachbuilding the firm expanded into the production of agricultural machinery in 1937 through the acquisition of the Ursus Tractor Works of Wiesbaden.


Subsidiary companies of the firm include:

Deutschen Industriewerke AG, Berlin-Spandau (motorcycles)
Karosseriebau Autenrieth AG, Darmstadt (coachbuilding)
Karosseriewerke Schebera GmbH, Berlin-Templehof (coachbuilding)
Neckarsulmer Fahrzeugwerke AG, Neckarsulm (motorcycles)
NSU-Automobil AG, Heilbronn (automobiles)
Presswerke Mollberg AG, Hofgeismar bei Kassel (metal stamping)
Süddeutsche Maschinen und Metallwarenfabrik GmbH, Stuttgart-Zuffenhausen (metal stamping)
Ursus Traktorenwerk AG, Wiesbaden (agricultural machinery)


Affiliated companies of the firm include:

H. Stoll und Compagnie Strickmaschinenfabrik GmbH, Riedlingen (textile machinery)

The firm of Knorr-Bremse was established in 1905 by Georg Knorr, inventor of a new type of single-chamber brake system for use on railway wagons and coaches. Contracts with the Prussian State Railways assured the firm of a market and it rapidly expanded its production facilities in Berlin-Lichtenberg. During the Great War the firm produced components for artillery recoil systems at the direction of the War Ministry. In 1922 the firm adapted its expertise in braking systems to introduce a pneumatic brake system for commercial road vehicles. Knorr-Bremse was the first European company to introduce such equipment, which allowed the application of the brakes to all wheels of a motor truck as well as its trailer. This was a significant contribution to road safety.

In the later 1920s the firm began a programme of diversification. The subsidiary firm Süddeutsche Bremsen AG was organised in Munich to build Knorr-Bremse brake systems and other equipment for the automotive and aviation industries. In 1928 Knorr-Bremse acquired the Berlin-Spandau factory of the Berliner Maschinenbau AG to expand its production capacity for brake systems. In 1932 the firm purchased the Dresden-Leipziger Schnellpressenfabrik of Leipzig-Mockau and the Krone Pressweke of Berlin. The following year it acquired the shares of Werkzeugmaschinenfabrik Hasse und Wrede, a manufacturer of industrial plant equipment, and followed that with the purchase of the Märkischer Metallbau in Oranienburg in 1934.

With the growth of the defence industry Knorr-Bremse undertook to build and manage the works of Norddeutsche Motorenbau at Rostock, which undertook to build engines for armoured vehicles. Production of tank engines began there in 1938. In the same year it organised Pommersche Industrie Werke to manufacture components for military motor vehicles. In 1939 the firm acquired a majority of the shares of the long-established railway equipment manufacturer Waggon und Maschinenbau AG. To assure a supply of specialty metal castings the firm purchased the shares of Eisen und Stahlwerke Walter Peyinghaus in the Ruhr.


Subsidiary companies of the firm include:

In Germany

Berliner Maschinenbau AG, Berlin-Spandau (machine components and equipment)
Dresden-Leipziger Schnellpressenfabrik AG, Leipzig-Mockau (metal stamping and fabrication)
Eisen und Stahlwerke Walter Peyinghaus AG, Egge bei Wetter-Volmarstein (steel castings)
Krone Presswerke GmbH, Berlin-Spandau (metal stamping and fabrication)
Märkischer Metallbau AG, Berlin-Oranienburg (metal fabrication)
Norddeutsche Motorenbau GmbH, Rostock (engines for armoured vehicles)
Pommersche Industrie Werke GmbH, Barth (defence equipment)
Süddeutsche Bremsen AG, München (brake systems, diesel motors and industrial equipment)
Waggon und Maschinenbau AG, Görlitz (railway equipment)
Werkzeugmaschinenfabrik Hasse und Wrede GmbH, Berlin-Charlottenburg (machine building)

This firm was founded in the autumn of 1940 as a consortium of coachbuilders and metalworking firms in the area of Heilbronn. In addition to a growing demand for high-end automobiles the German coachbuilding industry was faced with large orders from the Heer and Luftwaffe for trucks, requiring both general purpose and specialist body work. Encouraged by the Defence Ministry several Heilbronn firms with interests in both the manufacture of automobile coach work and the provision of truck and ambulance bodywork banded together to streamline their activities. These included the long-established firms of Drögmöller, Kellner, Drauz and Weinsberg.

The financial syndicate which brought these firms together also encouraged outside firms to join the consortium. Chief of these was the machine works of Carl Metz, which specialises in the manufacture of coachbuilding equipment.


Subsidiaries of the firm include:

Drögmöller Karosserien GmbH, Heilbronn
Karosserie Alexis Kellner AG, Heilbronn
Karosseriewerke Drauz KG, Heilbronn
Karosseriewerke Weinsberg, Weinsberg
Maschinenfabrik Carl Metz AG, Heidelberg

The enterprise of Julius Behr is a major supplier of components to the automotive and aeronautical industry. Julius Behr joined the small Stuttgart workshop of Veigel und Zoller in 1905, becoming a partner in 1907 and, in 1909, the sole owner of the firm, which was renamed Süddeutsche Kühlerfabrik. The firm specialised in the manufacture of radiators for the emerging automotive industry and, as time progressed, for aircraft engines as well. Behr conducted a great deal of research into thermodynamics and the firm soon held many patents relating to cooling systems, establishing a world-wide reputation. In 1928, two years before the death of the founder, the firm was converted into a joint-stock company whose shares were in turn held by a family limited partnership, Behr und Compagnie KG.

Under the leadership of Manfred Behr, who took charge of the firm in 1931, an aggressive programme of research and internal expansion was undertaken, while at the same time the firm diversified into other sectors of the automotive industry. In 1932 the firm acquired the Eisenwerke Gaggenau, a supplier of engine castings and other foundry products. Moving further into the automotive field the concern purchased the assets of Friedrich Schmidt, a Frankfurt coachbuilder, in 1933 and two years later added the works of Reutter and Compagnie, a Stuttgart coachbuilder, as a subsidiary. In 1938 it took control of the prestigious Baur coachworks located in Stuttgart-Untertürkheim, supplier of high-end automobile bodies to the BMW firm.


Subsidiary companies of the firm include:

Baur Karosserie-und Fahrzeugbau AG, Stuttgart-Untertürkheim (coachbuilding)
Eisenwerk Gaggenau AG, Gaggenau, (automotive castings)
Frankfurter Karosserie und Fahrzeugwerke AG, Frankfurt-Dornbusch (coachbuilding and automotive components)
Stuttgarter Karosseriewerk AG, Stuttgart-Degerloch (coachbuilding and automotive components)
Süddeutsche Kühlerfabrik AG, Stuttgart- Feuerbach (radiators and cooling systems)

Engineer and inventor Carl Wilhelm Reichenbach established a factory for the manufacture of bicycles in 1894, selecting a location in the south Brandenburg district of Elsterwerda. Reichenbach’s factory concentrated on the production of simple, inexpensive bicycles for the masses, and, under the trade name Elfa, sold many of its machines to urban workers in and around the Berlin industrial area. By the time of the Great War the firm had secured a substantial portion of the national market for bicycles, though the Elfa marque never attained significant export markets prior to hostilities.

Surviving the war and its aftermath, the factory re-established the manufacture of bicycles at its works, and from the middle 1920s offered a light motor bicycle with a 200cc engine, competing with the likes of DKW. It has since maintained a respectable place among German cycle manufacturers, employing some eight hundred workers.