Dürkopp Adler

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Dürkopp Adler AG

logo
legal form Corporation
founding 1860
Seat Bielefeld , Germany
management Michael Kilian, CEO
Ying Zheng, CFO
Number of employees 1321 (December 31, 2015)
sales 142 million euros (2015)
Branch Industrial sewing machines
Website www.duerkopp-adler.com

The Dürkopp Adler AG is a manufacturer of industrial sewing machines . It is named after one of the company's founders, Nikolaus Dürkopp , and the Adler sewing machine brand for models made by Wheeler & Wilson .

The subsidiary Dürkopp Fördertechnik GmbH used to manufacture conveyor systems for the textile and automotive industries. This branch of business has belonged to the Austrian Knapp AG since mid-2010 .

Founding as a sewing machine factory

ADLER saddlery sewing machine series "30" (around 1940)
The Gate 1 building is considered to be the nucleus of the Dürkopp works

The two locksmiths Carl Baer and Heinrich Koch founded the first sewing machine factory in Bielefeld in 1860 . From 1865 they employed the sewing machine mechanic Nikolaus Dürkopp and the master Carl Schmidt under the name Koch & Co. Dürkopp had designed his first sewing machine as early as 1861 and on October 22, 1867 he went into business with Schmidt as Dürkopp & Schmidt . The Dürkopp company only made its breakthrough as an industrial company after Ferdinand Kaselowsky , director of the Ravensberger spinning mill and at that time one of the richest men in Bielefeld, became his business partner. Carl Schmidt left with a substantial severance payment, with which he founded the Anker factory .

In 1880, 19 companies were active in the industry and Bielefeld has developed into one of the most important locations for sewing machine production in Germany .

Bicycles and cycling

Track bike 1930s
Dürkopp track bike (1952), converted to a road racing bike

Following the departure of Schmidt in 1876 was firm in Dürkopp & Co. changed. In the 1880s there was a crisis and Nikolaus Dürkopp was looking for new sales markets. In 1885, Dürkopp was the first German company to start series production of bicycles. Soon Koch & Co. and others will follow ; A new, successful branch of industry developed in Bielefeld.

Share of Kochs Adlernähmaschinen Werke AG from March 1922

The company Koch & Co., on the other hand, traded under the name Kochs Adler Sewing Machines AG from 1920 , discontinued its own bicycle production and concentrated on the production of sewing machines.

In 1930 the Dürkopp cycling team first took part in the races of the industrial ring for professional road cycling (Ibus), to which five of the largest bicycle factories were affiliated: Brennabor , Diamant , Opel , Dürkopp and Mifa . Dürkopp's list of successes was unprecedented and so it came about that a German production bike also won the first tour of Germany after several stage wins, namely the Dürkopp model "Diana 215". For the Dürkopp stable, among others, Unger, Arndt, Nitzschke, Renold, Günther, Hertwig, Geyer, Bulla, Gottwald, Sieronski, Klass, Buse, Korge, M. Kohl and the manager Dobbrack. The successful streak of the Dürkopp racing team led to the advertising slogan whoever takes Dürkopp will win.

Bicycles under the name Dürkopp were manufactured and sold by the Saxon Biria AG until 2006 .

Automobiles

Dürkopp from 1901:
two-cylinder engine with 7 hp
Dürkopp motorcycle (1905)
Dürkopp from 1908
Dürkopp fire engine (1908)

From 1897 the company also produced automobiles, based on the model of Panhard & Levassor vehicles . They had a two-cylinder front engine that drove the rear wheels via chains. The front and rear wheels were different sizes. Another source gives a rear engine for this model - different from the original. A smaller model followed in 1899, the engine of which was mounted in the rear and developed 6  hp . Two surviving two-cylinder models are known from 1901, one of which is specified with a 7 hp engine and the other, depending on the source, with an 8 hp or 10 hp engine. In 1903 the range consisted of two-cylinder models with 8 and 10 hp, a three-cylinder model with 15 hp and four-cylinder models with 20 and 30 hp. Later, six- and eight-cylinder engines of their own design which will, however, partly the prototype stage not exceed came. Motorcycles were also created. The company was also very successful in motor racing. Dürkopp models took second place twice in the Monte Carlo Rally (1911/1912). Hans Stuck occasionally drove Dürkopp racing cars . Dürkopp built one of the first cars with a cardan drive . These and other innovations flowed directly into the series. According to contemporary witnesses , Nikolaus Dürkopp often insisted on driving the first few meters with newly produced cars himself.

The following is a list of the vehicle types from 1907 or 1908 from a guide for car buyers from 1908. Model names have not survived.

cylinder Bore
mm		 Stroke
mm		 Cubic capacity
cm³		 Tax PS Power
hp 		Superstructures
2 100 100 01,571 06th 10-12 Two-seater, four-seater
4th 080 100 02.011 07.6 12-14 Four-seater, cab
4th 100 100 03,142 12 18-12 Double phaeton, landaulet, limousine with removable attachment
6th 100 100 04,712 18th 28-30 Double phaeton, landaulet, limousine with removable attachment
3 100 130 03,063 11.7 15-18 Phaeton, Landaulet, Coupé, Phaeton with detachable Coupé attachment, cab
4th 094 130 03,609 13.8 20-22 Phaeton, Coupé, Sedan, Landaulet, Phaeton with removable Coupé attachment
4th 100 130 04,084 15.6 24-26 Phaeton, Coupé, Sedan, Landaulet, Phaeton with removable Coupé attachment
4th 110 130 04,942 18.9 30-35 Phaeton, Coupé, Sedan, Landaulet, Phaeton with removable Coupé attachment
4th 120 150 06,786 25.9 40-45 Phaeton, sedan, landaulet, Phaeton with removable coupé attachment
4th 150 150 10,603 40.5 60 Phaeton, sedan, landaulet, Phaeton with removable coupé attachment

The series-produced cars from 1908 are summarized here:

Type Construction period cylinder Bore
mm		 Stroke
mm		 Cubic capacity
cm³		 Power
hp		 Power
kW		 Top speed
km / h		 source
DG (18/45 HP) 1908-1913 4 row 105 130 04,520 045 33 085
DG 31 (30/70 hp) 1908-1913 4 row 130 150 08,000 070 51 090
Knipperdolling (8/12 HP) 1909-1912 4 row 100 100 02,100 014th 10.3 070
KW (6/14 PS) 1909-1914 4 row 070.7 100 01,560 014th 10.3 060
NG (10/30 PS) 1912-1914 4 row 080 130 02,612 030th 22nd 080
DG (25/60 HP) 1912-1914 4 row 117 150 06,340 060 44 090
DG (40/100 HP) 1912-1914 4 row 150 185 13,000 100 74 090
EK 6 Knipper Dolling 1913-1920 4 row 070.7 100 01,540 012 08.8 070
P 10 (10/30 hp) 1914-1922 4 row 091 100 02,540 032 23.5 085
P 16 (16/45 hp) 1917-1922 4 row 101 130 04.164 045 33 080
P 24 (24/70 hp) 1919-1922 6 row 101 130 06,246 070 51 100
P 8 (8/24 hp) 1919-1924 4 row 081.5 100 02,090 024 17.6 070
P 12 (12/45 hp) 1923-1926 6 row 081.5 100 03.130 045 33 080
P 8 A (8/32 HP) 1924-1927 4 row 081.5 100 02,090 032 23.5 075
P 8 B sports car 1925-1927 4 row 079.7 100 01.995 060 44 140
P 8 C (8/40 hp) 1926 4 row 074.5 120 02,100 040 29 075

In addition to the car emerged after the First World War and trucks , namely in the branch Berlin - Reinickendorf of, the former factory Oryx Motor Werke AG in the colony road. In 1906 the first truck with a cardan drive was presented. Trucks with a payload of 3 to 5 tons were still being manufactured during the First World War and remained in production even after the end of the war. There were new designs in 1923/24. However, due to the limited number of vehicles sold, it was not possible to achieve sufficient profitability . The automotive division was kept alive by the profits from the bicycle and sewing machine manufacturing. Therefore, in 1927 car construction and in 1929 truck construction were given up in favor of the other branches of production due to the global economic crisis.

After the death of its founder in 1918, the company operated under Dürkoppwerke AG . Under this name, it developed the first conveyor systems for the textile industry .

Arms production during National Socialism

Newspaper advertisement; Advertising for sewing machines and bicycles

Sewing machine production continued to decline until 1930 and was taken over by Kochs Adler. Dürkopp workforce shrank therefore to 700 employees . The Dürkoppwerke were involved in armaments production for the armament of the Wehrmacht from an early stage . In the mid-1930s, the workforce at Dürkoppwerke grew again to over 2000 people. Among other things, side guns , needle bearings and roller bearings for tanks , machine guns , grenades , anti-aircraft guns , light guns , anti-tank guns , on-board mountings for aircraft and fuses were produced . Due to the upswing from 1933, due to the production of armaments, the company made profits again from 1934. In 1933 a branch was set up in Künsebeck near Halle (Westphalia) , with a weapons production facility and over 2000 jobs. In the same year the Barthel family (Kommerzienrat Herrmann Barthel) took over the majority of the shares. The Reichswehr Ministry supplied Dürkopp with machines free of charge to stimulate arms production. In 1944 Dürkopp was the most important producer of rolling bearings for German tanks.

The National Socialists appointed Dürkopp board member Wulfert as military economic leader . In 1941 the German Labor Front named the Dürkoppwerke as a National Socialist model company ; In 1943 the Dürkoppwerke were recognized as a war model company . At times, Dürkopp had over 3000 forced laborers and prisoners of war , mostly from the Soviet Union , as well as women. During heavy bombing raids on Bielefeld in 1944 the company was destroyed and shut down on March 31, 1945. The factory premises were only rebuilt after the end of the war, sponsored by Georg Barthel.

Motorcycles and scooters

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  • Dürkopp MD 200 (1952) Ibbenbüren motorcycle museum

  • Dürkopp MD 150 (1953) in the Neckarsulm two-wheeler museum

  • Dürkopp MD 150 Sport (1954)

  • Dürkopp MD 150 (1953)

The Dürkoppwerke were limited after the Second World War, primarily on the production of industrial sewing machines, bicycles and conveyors. In 1949 the production of motorized two-wheelers was resumed and continued until 1961. The successful models of the post-war period included motorcycles such as the Dürkopp MF 100, MF 125, the Fratz and Dianette models as well as the Diana , Diana Sport , Diana TS and TSE scooters , which, in keeping with the spirit of the times, were successful on the wave of Vespas and Heinkel scooters were sold across Europe.

In the beginning, motors from ILO or Fichtel & Sachs were also installed at Dürkopp and, from 1952, components were supplied for Ardie in Nuremberg .

The Dürkopp MD 200 was a motorcycle with a two-stroke engine, three-speed gearbox with foot shift and a welded tubular frame, which the Dürkoppwerke built from 1952. The engine was designed by Fritz Gosslau , the chief designer at Dürkopp at the time; it was short-stroke with a 61 mm stroke and 64 mm bore. It had a flat piston and developed 10.2 hp (7.5 kW) at 5500 rpm. The top speed was 96 km / h. As soon as the kick starter is actuated, the transmission automatically disengages - both when starting as well as while driving - a neutral gear that can be actuated with the lower leg , so to speak . A hydraulic telescopic front fork with 14 cm of spring travel was another Dürkopp in-house development that, according to advertising, guaranteed “excellent driving characteristics”. The rear of the motorcycle had straight telescopic suspension. The brake hubs also came from Dürkopp - “powerfully gripping 150 mm inner shoe brakes with aluminum cooling fins”, as the advertising said. The MD models had 19-inch wheels.

At the same time, the MD 150 model appeared with a 150 cc two-stroke engine with 7.5 hp (5.5 kW) at 5200 rpm and a top speed of 90 km / h. In many respects, the design went back to a prototype with the designation M 12 from 1938, which was not allowed to be built due to the type limitation by the Schell Plan .

Many racing successes contributed to the good reputation of these MD150 / 200 models. The contemporary press and Dürkopp self-promotion celebrated these motorcycles as the "fastest machines in their class".

At the end of 1954, Dürkopp stopped production of the MD series. About 10,000 of the MD 200 were built between 1952 and 1954, and around 17,890 of the MD 150.

From 1955 the Nürnberger Ardie Werke belonged to Dürkopp. The motorcycles of both plants were already similar before, or the plants cooperated in this area. An example of this is the Fratz and, from 1956, the Dianette and the BD 175 from Ardie was also the inspiration for the MD200 .

In the 1950s, in addition to the two-cylinder two-stroke model BZ 350, Ardie brought the single-cylinder models Ardie BD 176 and Ardie BD 201 onto the market. From 1955, Dürkopp built his own engines into these models and called them MD 176 and MD 201 and sold them under his own brand until the end of 1960.

Detail of the lettering
Dürkopp Diana (1955) Lower Rhine Motorcycle Museum

The new Dürkopp Diana scooter was presented at IFMA in 1953 , and it was mass-produced from 1954. The model was built around 17,800 times, the TS version exactly 888 times, the Sport version around 5000 times. The TSE version was built in small series from 1959, the number of which is probably included in the amount of standard built . The Diana series is to be seen as an example of a classic scooter based on the Italian model. The name Diana was chosen to be associated with the goddess of the hunt. The hunting or goddess motif can also be found in the Diana advertising of the time. About 110 Dianas are currently still approved in Germany. Every year there is a Diana meeting of Dürkopp scooter drivers.

In 1961, as a result of falling sales, the end of two-wheeler production at Dürkopp, also in favor of the other branches of production. It was a decision that arose from the desire of the masses for cars instead of motorcycles at that time. In the entire German motorcycle industry at that time, a sales problem for these "butter and bread" motorcycles became apparent.

Takeover by FAG

In 1962, the majority of shares in Dürkoppwerke Aktiengesellschaft (1889–1967) were taken over by FAG Kugelfischer AG . In 1967 - the year of the 100th anniversary of the Dürkoppwerke - the company was converted into a limited liability company . It was a German manufacturer of sewing machines , bicycles , motorcycles , automobiles , conveyor systems and ball bearings based in Bielefeld . In 1987 FAG also took over the majority of shares in Kochs Adler AG . The two sewing machine factories merged in 1990 to form today's Dürkopp Adler AG , based in Bielefeld- Oldentrup .

In 2002, FAG was taken over by INA Holding . After that, Dürkopp Adler was to be sold relatively quickly; but the negotiations dragged on.

Takeover by SGSB

In mid-2005, the Chinese company SGSB Group (formerly “ShangGong”) bought the FAG share package. The new main owners took over 94.98% of the shares. In 2010 the warehouse logistics and automation division was spun off and sold as Dürkopp Fördertechnik GmbH to the Austrian company Knapp AG.

An extraordinary general meeting of Dürkopp Adler AG on March 20, 2018 approved the transfer of the shares of the minority shareholders to the main shareholder, DAP Industrial AG, based in Bielefeld, in return for an appropriate cash settlement of EUR 35.81. DAP Industrial AG is a 100% subsidiary of the ShangGong Group Co., Ltd. based in Shanghai, People's Republic of China. A total of 96.64% of the represented share capital of Dürkopp Adler AG voted for the measure.

Business figures

year Sales (€ million) Employees approx. As of
December 31
1995 308 1092
2000 198 2402
2005 102 1622
2010 76 1150
2015 142 1321

literature

  • Robert Cohen: Cars from Bielefeld. The development of the Dürkopp company 1897–1930 , 86th annual report of the historical association for the County of Ravensberg, year 2000
  • Harald H. Linz, Halwart Schrader : The International Automobile Encyclopedia . United Soft Media Verlag, Munich 2008, ISBN 978-3-8032-9876-8 , chapter Dürkopp.
  • George Nick Georgano (Editor-in-Chief): The Beaulieu Encyclopedia of the Automobile. Volume 1: A – F. Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers, Chicago 2001, ISBN 1-57958-293-1 , p. 470. (English)
  • Werner Oswald : German cars. 1920-1945. Motorbuch-Verlag, Stuttgart 1990, ISBN 3-87943-519-7 , pp. 104-106.
  • Thomas Reinwald: Ardie and Dürkopp motorcycles . Johann Kleine Vennekate, Lemgo 2003, ISBN 3-935517-10-6 .
  • Halwart Schrader: German cars. Volume 1. 1885-1920. Motorbuch-Verlag, Stuttgart 2002, ISBN 3-613-02211-7 , pp. 161-168.

Web links

Commons : Dürkopp  - Collection of Images

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Annual Report 2015 (PDF)
  2. ↑ Accompanying the 10th year! In: Illustrated cycling sport . Born 10. 1930, ZDB -ID 600083-6 .
  3. ↑ a b c George Nick Georgano (Editor-in-Chief): The Beaulieu Encyclopedia of the Automobile. Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers, Chicago 2001, ISBN 1-57958-293-1 , p. 470. (English)
  4. ↑ Harald H. Linz, Halwart Schrader : The International Automobile Encyclopedia . United Soft Media Verlag, Munich 2008, ISBN 978-3-8032-9876-8 , chapter Dürkopp.
  5. ↑ Autotechnikus: Buying a car. Advice before buying and an overview of the types of automobiles built and traded in Germany and Austria-Hungary, along with prices. Richard Carl Schmidt & Co., Berlin 1908, reprint 1989, ISBN 3-7463-0110-6 , pp. 63-66.
  6. ↑ a b c d e f g h i Halwart Schrader: German cars. Volume 1. 1885-1920. Motorbuch-Verlag, Stuttgart 2002, ISBN 3-613-02211-7 , pp. 161-168.
  7. ↑ a b c d e f g h i Werner Oswald: German cars. 1920-1945. Motorbuch-Verlag, Stuttgart 1990, ISBN 3-87943-519-7 , pp. 104-106.
  8. ↑ Terry Gander, Peter Chamberlain: Encyclopedia of German Weapons 1939-1945 . 2nd Edition. Special edition. Motorbuchverlag, Stuttgart 2006, ISBN 3-613-02481-0
  9. ↑ Joachim Engelmann: The book of the artillery. 1939-1945. License issue. Edition Dörfler in Nebel-Verlag, Eggolsheim 2004, ISBN 3-89555-179-1 ( Dörfler Zeitgeschichte )
  10. ^ Hans-Jörg Kühne: spoils of war work. The "deployment of foreign workers" in the Bielefeld economy 1939–1945 (= Bielefeld contributions to city and regional history. Vol. 17). Publishing house for regional history, Bielefeld 2002, ISBN 3-89534-444-3 , p. 99ff.
  11. ^ Hans-Jörg Kühne: spoils of war work. The "deployment of foreign workers" in the Bielefeld economy 1939–1945 (= Bielefeld contributions to city and regional history. Vol. 17). Publishing house for regional history, Bielefeld 2002, ISBN 3-89534-444-3 , p. 46
  12. ↑ a b Chronicle of Dürkopp Adler. duerkopp-adler.com, accessed on December 21, 2017 .
  13. ↑ a b Source: Company's annual reports; Hoppenstedt share leader

Coordinates: 52 ° 0 ′ 22 ″  N , 8 ° 36 ′ 14 ″  E