Austrian Arms Factory Company
The Österreichische Waffenfabriks-Gesellschaft (ÖWG) was the successor to the company founded in 1864 by Josef Werndl in Steyr , Upper Austria under the name Josef and Franz Werndl & Comp., Waffenfabrik und Sägemühle , which became internationally known in 1867 with the invention of the tabernacle lock . The ÖWG was renamed Steyr-Werke AG in 1926 .
history
The company emerged from the sawmill in Oberletten near Sierning, which the father Leopold Werndl had acquired in 1844.
Josef and Franz Werndl & Comp., Weapons factory and saw mill was then established in Steyrdorf-Wehrgraben in 1864 , where it gradually spread across the many trades and adjacent areas located there on the Wehrgraben . Werndl & Comp. was converted into the ÖWG Aktiengesellschaft in 1869 with the support of the Bodencreditanstalt . Josef Werndl and the ÖWG made a name for themselves through their extraordinary social commitment to the employees and through their pioneering role in the electrification of public spaces .
The collaboration with the inventor of the tabernacle lock Karl Holub and the railway engineer Ferdinand Mannlicher made the Austrian weapons factory into a weapons manufacturer, with over 6 million weapons of various sizes produced between 1869 and 1913. In 1886 the invention of Ferdinand Mannlicher ( multi-loading rifle ) was registered for a patent, and by produced by the arms factory company. The weapon became the standard rifle of the Austro-Hungarian Army . With over 15,000 employees at times, the ÖWG was the largest arms factory in Europe.
In addition to activities related to military rifles and pistols (for example, a repeating rifle and in 1905 a self-loading pistol were developed and built for the Austro-Hungarian army, which were also sold worldwide and reproduced under license), the production of hunting weapons was also in demand.
In 1912/14 the factory was relocated to the Plattner Grounds in Steyrdorf , and the area that is now called Steyr-Werke was also produced in Münichholz-Hammer from 1922 .
The ÖWG was renamed in 1926 in Steyr-Werke AG, which in 1934 merged with Austro-Daimler-Puchwerke AG (Vienna, Wiener Neustadt, Graz) to form Steyr-Daimler-Puch AG (part of the Göring-Werke during World War II ). From 1919 a chassis for omnibuses (Steyr type III) was presented to the post office for an extensive test drive, and delivery of which began in 1921 was ordered. From 1920, Steyr also built passenger cars (type II and IV) and so-called express trucks up to 3 t (designer: Hans Ledwinka ). After the Second World War , the production of tractors and larger trucks began. The tradition of weapons production continues with Steyr Mannlicher GmbH & CO.KG. Parts of the company are now part of Steyr-Daimler-Puch Spezialfahrzeug GmbH , the manufacturer of the Pandur armored vehicle . In 1998 Steyr-Daimler-Puch AG was sold to the Magna Group , only the Graz plant, which houses the Magna Steyr company, was taken over .
The following production divisions were outsourced: trucks ( MAN Nutzfahrzeuge AG ), roller bearings ( Svenska Kullagerfabriken , SKF), transmissions ( ZF Friedrichshafen ), tractors ( CNH ), engines ( Steyr Motors ), weapons ( Steyr Mannlicher ).
literature
- Martin Pfundner: Austro-Daimler and Steyr - rivals until the merger. ISBN 978-3205776390
- Hans Stögmüller, Josef Werndl and the weapons factory in Steyr, Ennsthaler-Verlag, Steyr 2010, ISBN 978-3-85068-860-4
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Chronicle 1926 Upper Austria Province (accessed December 4, 2019).
- ↑ a b For an overview see Heinz Kern: Fabriks- u. Residential properties Josef Werndls. Lecture notes, 2011 (pdf, on steyrerpioniere.files.wordpress.com, accessed September 14, 2018).
- ↑ Steyr Mannlicher - The history of a company. buechsenmacherverlag.de, PDF ( Memento from December 24, 2012 in the Internet Archive ).