Dux type S

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Dux

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Type S
Sales designation: also
Dux 17/50 hp
Production period: 1917-1926
Class : Upper class
Body versions : Touring car , limousine , landaulet , convertible
Engines: Petrol engines :
4.4 liters
(37 kW)
Length:
Width:
Height:
Wheelbase : 3500 mm
Empty weight : from 1720 kg
Previous model (see text)
successor Dux type R

The Dux Type S , also known as the Dux 17/50 PS , was a luxury- class passenger car model that was built from 1917 to 1926. The manufacturer was Dux-Automobil-Werke-AG , which was located in the Saxon community of Wahren or, after the incorporation in 1922, in Leipzig -Wahren. The Dux Type S had a four-cylinder engine with a displacement of 4.4 liters and followed three smaller four-cylinder models that Dux had already presented in 1912. In 1923, the roughly equal-sized Dux Type R six-cylinder model , also known as 17/60 hp , initially offered in parallel , followed.

backgrounds

The listed, now decaying former administration building of the Dux-Automobil-Werke Linkelstraße 59, formerly Bahnhofstraße, in Leipzig-Wahren in May 2016

In the last decade of the 19th and the first of the 20th century, Polyphon-Musikwerke successfully produced jukeboxes , music boxes , orchestrions and records in Wahren . As early as 1904 to 1908, a newly established automotive department had built the single-cylinder model Oldsmobile Curved Dash under license as the Polymobil Gazelle ; he had recently been given larger, self-designed Polymobil models. The company's new passenger cars had been branded Dux since 1909 . From 1912 onwards, the range consisted of the Dux type F 6 , type K 24 and type G 10 passenger car models with four cylinders and displacements between 1.6 and 2.6 liters. In addition, there were light to medium-sized trucks , which were produced in large numbers, especially during the First World War .

During the war, on September 19, 1916, the automobile construction department was made legally independent as Dux-Automobil-Werke-AG, and planning for future peacetime and a realignment of the model range began.

The model history

A Dux Type K 24 Landaulet , a four-cylinder with a good 2.1 liter displacement (1912–1918), which predated the larger Dux Type S in time

The Dux Type S (17/50 hp) was presented in 1917, during the First World War. However, the economic situation in the German Reich was bad due to the war and there was a shortage of materials. In this respect, it is doubtful whether the model was produced in any significant number by 1919. According to a contemporary source, the manufacturer presented the Type S to the general public for the first time at the Leipzig autumn fair in 1920. Against this background, other sources only mention 1920 as the start of production.

As a luxury model, the Dux Type S had no direct predecessor in the narrower sense. It followed three significantly smaller four-cylinder models that Dux had presented in 1912 and, as the G 10, had a displacement of maximum 2.6 liters; the last to be phased out in 1920 was the smallest type F 6 with a displacement of just under 1.6 liters.

At the same time, the Dux-Automobil-Werke-AG merged with the Presto works and the truck manufacturers Magirus and Vogtländische Maschinenfabrik (Vomag) to form the German automobile group (DAK) in 1918/19 . From now on, Dux was to concentrate on luxury cars. Dux obtained some of the bodywork for this from external bodywork companies .

According to one source, the large-volume four-cylinder model was built until 1926. Accordingly, it was created since 1923 in parallel to the roughly equally large, more modern, but also much more expensive six-cylinder model Type R , in the end possibly only from parts in stock. Other sources sometimes mention the end of production of the Type S as early as 1924 .

During the production time, there was no noteworthy further development of the upper-class model in technical terms. In advertisements at the time, Dux praised the sedan version of the types S and R via the German automobile group as “the spacious, durable and noiseless passenger car for city and travel”. Some advertisements were artistically designed; accordingly they were also published in periodicals for those interested in art. More detailed production figures are not known. Based on the response in the media and the production numbers of competing models, two to low three-digit numbers can be assumed. As far as is known, no Dux Type S has survived to this day.

Little is known about the history of the individual vehicles, namely their whereabouts and their respective owners. In 1931, the acquired firefighters in northern Saxony Wermsdorf a Dux Type S sedan as a used car and used it until 1952 as a motor mannschafts- and - device truck .

The Dux Type S found comparatively little response in foreign language publications . The British textbook author Baron Montagu of Beaulieu assessed the appearance of the upper-class model in 1969 as “ponderous” and “uninspired”; He mentions its “sheer bulk” as its greatest “asset”.

The model name

The six-cylinder successor model Dux Type R (17/60 hp) , here in an atypical sports version , with which the driver Kaul won the Sachsenfahrt in 1924

The model designation “17/50 PS” refers - as was widespread back then - to the performance . The indication "17 HP" stands for the tax horsepower , the indication "50 PS" for the actual engine power in horsepower .

On the other hand, the background for the model name "Type S" is unclear. The first Polymobile designed by Polyphon-Musikwerke in 1907 were given the designation "Type P". From 1909 the first Dux types followed as "D 12", "E 12" and "G 21", from 1912 the types "F 6", "G 10" and "K 24". For trucks, Dux used different type designations with the component "L" ( LI , LK , LO , LT and ALZ depending on the payload ).

It is rather unlikely that "S" refers to (Gustav) "S" chürmann, who is also head of the Dux works and chief designer; he had been working for the automobile manufacturer since 1908 and was responsible for all types from "D" onwards. A reference to Gustav “S” tresemann, the deputy chairman of the supervisory board of Dux-Werke and has meanwhile become a driving force behind the company, is more speculative .

It is unusual that the six-cylinder successor model of the "Type S" had the type designation "R". This could be an indication that the six-cylinder was planned before the large-volume four-cylinder, but was then put back. The cause could have been the problematic economic situation in the German Reich towards the end of the First World War; However, open technical questions also come into consideration with the partly innovative six-cylinder, for example with the planning for pistons made of light metal or a self-designed double carburetor .

The main people behind the Dux Type S

Gustav Stresemann - from 1916 to 1923 the entrepreneur and politician influenced the development and construction of the Dux Type S as a shareholder and deputy chairman of the supervisory board of Dux -Werke

Gustav Schürmann

One person who was significantly involved in the creation of the Dux Type S was the engineer Gustav Schürmann (1872–1962). Before 1908, he for the automotive department of polyphonic music works came, the in was Westphalia North Rhine- Isselhorst born Schürmann at the vehicle factory Eisenach AG operates, where the brand cars Dixi emerged. The Dux automobile works , he was plant manager, board member of the corporation and chief designer in particular to the type S . While working at Dux , he received a patent for “light metal pistons for internal combustion engines” (DRP 369200) in 1921 and an honorary doctorate in 1925 as “Dr.-Ing. E. h. ”By the University of Karlsruhe .

Gustav Stresemann

Another person close to the Dux automobile works and the post-war model Type S is connected, was Gustav Stresemann (1878-1929). The industrial representative , who had been a member of the Reichstag since 1907 and later made a political career as Reich Chancellor and Reich Minister for Foreign Affairs , was connected to Dux in several ways . At the end of the war he was a shareholder in Polyphon-Musikwerke (together with his party colleague Hermann Paasche and the banker Hans Arnhold ), a shareholder in Dux-Automobil-Werke (together with the banker Adolf Arnhold ) and there at the same time also deputy chairman of the supervisory board. About this position he took in 1916 influence on the realignment of the car manufacturer to the upper class segment and the design of the Type S . Through the Association of Saxon Industrialists he initiated , he was also able to conduct acquisitions for luxury cars. He ended his entrepreneurial involvement with Dux and others in 1923 when he was appointed Reich Chancellor.

The technology

In the development and production of the Dux Type S (17/50 HP) , the company relied on previous experience and knowledge from the construction of small to medium-sized trucks as well as previous passenger cars. In particular, the solid chassis and the new large-volume four-cylinder engine showed a structural similarity to the commercial vehicles built up to then.

The Dux Type S was a “stately” and “quite representative” passenger car, a “beautiful design characterized by loving care”, its “quality was generally recognized.” Compared to the competition, it was sold for 13,200 Reichsmarks for the touring car -Version comparatively cheap, especially in relation to the 22,000 RM for the six-cylinder successor model type R (17/60 hp) . However, due to the overall economic circumstances and the brand's lack of reputation, it sold only slowly.

The vehicle model is occasionally assigned to the upper middle class , but the dimensions, the available equipment and the engine speak for an assignment to the upper class.

The chassis

The separate chassis and the chassis of the Dux Type S were conventional for that time. The foot brake acted purely mechanically on the cardan shaft alone , a solution that was still common at the time; The model, however, dispensed with service brakes on the front or rear wheels. Artillery wheels with wooden spokes were standard, while individual vehicles with special bodies have wire- spoke wheels .

The wheelbase was 3500 millimeters, the front track 1420 millimeters and the rear 1400 millimeters.

The drive

The Dux type S had a water-cooled four-cylinder in- line engine with side-mounted valves ( SV valve control ). A cylinder bore of 100 millimeters and a piston stroke of 140 millimeters results in a displacement of 4396 cubic centimeters. The engine developed 50 hp (37  kW ) at a typical moderate 1800 revolutions per minute. The power was passed on via a manual four-speed gearbox ; Dux had already used one of these instead of the three-speed gearbox that had been common up until then in the G 21 type , a four-cylinder with a displacement of over 2.0 liters, which was manufactured from 1910 to 1913 . The gearshift lever was on the inside right next to the driver's seat on the right, as was still common at the time. Since it interfered with entry there, a door in the front right was usually dispensed with; the driver got on from the front left, which is why the front passenger seat on the left is sometimes designed as a folding or folding seat. The gear change was made via a coupling that - yet typical of this time - as leather - cone was. A cardan shaft drove the rear wheels . The upper-class model reached a top speed of 100 kilometers per hour. An unusual detail from today's perspective, but one that was quite common at the time, was the fuel supply using the exhaust gas pressure.

A source deviates from this and mentions an even larger four-cylinder engine with 4.7 liters displacement; However, this may not be the actual displacement, but the one that was technically maximally possible in the class of 17 taxable horsepower. Other sources indicate a displacement of 4.6 liters or 4860 cubic centimeters, but this also does not fit the traditional cylinder dimensions.

At the International Motor Show in the Netherlands The Hague in 1921 presented Dux the Type S with an engine-driven Pneupumpe; the special and innovative equipment feature made it possible to inflate the tires with air while on the move. In 1920, the “Carburetor Competition” run by the Saxon Automobile Club under the supervision of the Institute for Automotive Engineering at the Technical University of Dresden attracted sustained media attention . In this consumption test in mountainous terrain with six occupants, the Dux Type S won first prize for the lowest fuel consumption among 39 vehicles with 9.24 kilograms of fuel per 100 kilometers.

The body

The Dux Type S was available with different bodies according to the wishes and ideas of the buyers. The fashionable pointed cooler was typical of the time (the right and left sides of the vertical cooler were inclined to one another). Much, if not all, of the superstructures came from external, often smaller, coachbuilders. Some superstructures showed a fashionable two-tone paintwork. The simplest and lightest version was an open four-seater touring car ; so the curb weight was 1720 kilograms. In addition, various three and four-door special bodies with four to seven seats have been handed down:

The August Zschau bodyworks from Leipzig also regularly clad Dux chassis between 1913 and around 1924 , including at least one copy of the six-cylinder Type S successor as a Dux Type R touring car. Against this background, it seems reasonable to assume that Zschau also manufactured superstructures for the upper-class model Type S (17/50 hp) .

The bodyworks Ludwig Kathe & Sohn from Halle (Saale) in what is now Saxony-Anhalt also worked with Dux , as did the Ernst Dietzsch bodywork in Glauchau in Saxony . These two companies could therefore also have clad the Dux Type S chassis .

data sheet

The Dux logo
model Dux type S (17/50 hp)
construction time 1917-1926
Superstructures Touring cars, sedans,
landaulets, convertibles
each with 3–4 doors and 4–7 seats
engine 4 cylinder in line (4-stroke)
Valves standing sideways (SV)
Bore × stroke 100 mm × 140 mm
Displacement 4396 cc
power 50 hp (37 kW) at 1800 rpm
transmission 4-speed
circuit right inside
coupling Leather cone
Foot brake mechanically on cardan shaft
Top speed 100 km / h
Empty weight 1720 kg (touring car) and more
length depending on the structure
width depending on the structure
height depending on the structure
wheelbase 3500 mm
Front / rear track 1420 mm / 1400 mm
price 13,200 Reichsmarks (touring cars)

Automobile-historical importance of the Dux Type S and its competitors

The type S was the first upper-class model of the Dux brand , also the first new Dux model after the legal independence as Dux-Automobil-Werke-AG in 1916 and one of the first together with the competing upper-class model Dürkopp type P 16 (16/45 hp) new passenger car models in Germany for the post-war period. It was one of the last upper-class models from German production with a large-volume four- cylinder instead of six or eight-cylinder engine . It was also the penultimate Dux model before it was taken over by the Presto works in 1926.

In terms of sales and maintenance, Dux was primarily geared towards Saxony and neighboring regions such as Thuringia , Brandenburg and Upper Silesia . There the Dux Type S competed with the somewhat smaller, weaker upper-class models Mercedes 16/45 PS with pusher engine , the Benz 18/45 PS , the Dürkopp Type P 16 (16/45 PS) and finally from 1920 also the phenomenon 16/45 PS . The Elite E 18 , the Hansa-Lloyd Treff-Aß and from 1921 the Adler 18/60 hp were slightly more powerful or larger . Of these, Hansa-Lloyd alone had a longer wheelbase. The Dux has a cylinder bore of 100 millimeters in common with most of these other models; only the phenomenon remained below with 97 millimeters, only the Dürkopp and the Hansa-Lloyd in the version from 1923 to 1925 with 101 and 105 millimeters respectively (with a lower piston stroke of "only" 130 millimeters). The Benz , Elite and Adler alone used an even larger piston stroke of 150 millimeters.

In view of the economic development in the German Reich up to the mid-1920s, the decision of the Dux brand to focus and limit itself to luxury cars after the First World War proved , in retrospect, to be a mistake. The type S , which was technically backward towards the end of production , contributed significantly to the demise of Dux as an independent automobile brand.

literature

  • Werner Oswald : German Cars, Volume 2, 1920–1945 . 2nd Edition. Motorbuch Verlag, Stuttgart 2005, ISBN 978-3-613-02170-9 , p. 107 .
  • Paul Gränz, Peter Kirchberg: Ancestors of our cars - a technical history documentation . 1st edition. Transpress VEB Verlag for Transport, (East) Berlin 1975, p. 81-85 .
  • NN: Type list: Dux Automobile (1909–1926). In: Automobil und Motorrad Chronik (magazine), edition: 10/1973, history of Dux automobiles, pp. 22–26.
  • GTÜ Society for Technical Supervision mbH: Technical data sheet D000447 Dux 17/50 hp Type S . Online version , accessed June 2, 2017.
  • Richard von Frankenberg , Marco Matteucci: History of the Automobile . 1st edition. Sigloch Service Edition, Künzelsau 1973, p. 196 f .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j Werner Oswald: Deutsche Autos, Volume 2, 1920–1945. 2nd Edition. Motorbuch Verlag, Stuttgart 2005, ISBN 978-3-613-02170-9 , p. 107.
  2. ↑ a b c d e Paul Gränz, Peter Kirchberg: Ancestors of our cars - a technical-historical documentation. 1st edition. Transpress VEB Verlag for Transport, (East) Berlin 1975, pp. 81–85.
  3. ↑ a b c d The automobile brand Dux on the web portal industrie-kultur-ost.de , accessed on June 2, 2017.
  4. ↑ a b c The Dux automobile brand on the Mercedesnadeln web portal , report from April 30, 2016 , accessed on May 31, 2017.
  5. ↑ Allgemeine Automobil-Zeitung (magazine), Volume 21, Part 2, Delius-Klasing 1920, p. 20 (vehicle presentation and driving report).
  6. ↑ a b c d GTÜ Society for Technical Supervision mbH: Technical data sheet D000447 Dux 17/50 hp Type S . Online version , accessed June 2, 2017.
  7. ^ Das Kunstblatt (magazine), edition 7, Krause Reprint 1978, p. 63 (advertisement from 1922 for the Dux Type S Phaeton ).
  8. ↑ Eckart Säuberlich: 800 years of Wermsdorf 1206–2006. 1st edition. Sax-Verlag, Markkleeberg 2006, ISBN 978-3-934544-93-2 , p. 326.
  9. ^ A b c Baron Edward John Barrington Douglas-Scott-Montagu Montagu of Beaulieu: Lost Causes of Motoring: Europe, Volume 1. 1. Edition. A. S. Barnes, South Brunswick, New Jersey, United States 1969, ISBN 978-0-498-07475-2 , p. 111 (English).
  10. ^ Hans Christoph Graf von Seherr-Thoß:  Schürmann, Gustav. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 23, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 2007, ISBN 978-3-428-11204-3 , p. 646 f. ( Digitized version ).
  11. ^ Karl Heinrich Pohl: Gustav Stresemann: Biography of a border commuter . Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2015, ISBN 978-3-525-30082-4 , pp. 155 f .
  12. ^ A b Richard von Frankenberg, Marco Matteucci: History of the automobile. 1st edition. Sigloch Service Edition, Künzelsau 1973, p. 196 f.
  13. ↑ Das Echo - Das Blatt der Deutschen im Auslands - Weekly newspaper for politics, literature, economics and technology , Volume 40, Issue 2, J. H. Schorer 1921/1984, pp. 2316 f.
  14. ↑ Automobiltechnische Zeitschrift , Volume 23, Automobiltechnischer Verlag 1920, p. 688.
  15. ^ Das Echo - with supplement German Export Revue - weekly newspaper for politics, literature, export and import , Volume 40, February 3, 1921, p. 409.
  16. ↑ Illustrirte (sic!) Zeitung , Volume 156, No. 4039, Verlag J. J. Weber 1921, p. 8.
  17. ↑ A Dux Type S (17/50 PS) with a Landaulet body from Seegers , Leipzig from 1921 on the coachbuild.com web portal , accessed on May 30, 2017 (English).
  18. ↑ A Dux Type S (17/50 PS) with a sedan body from 1921 and one with a Phaeton body from 1923 from the body building company Schlesienwerk , Liegnitz on the coachbuild.com web portal , accessed on May 30, 2017 (English).
  19. ↑ A Dux Type S (17/50 hp) with a Phaeton body by Zander from 1923 on the coachbuild.com web portal , accessed on May 30, 2017 (English).
  20. ↑ Allgemeine Automobil-Zeitung (magazine), Volume 24, Delius-Klasing 1923, p. 26.
  21. ↑ A Dux Type S (17/50 HP) with limousine body by Hornig , Meerane around 1923 (photos 2 and 4) on the coachbuild.com web portal , accessed on May 30, 2017 (English).
  22. ↑ A Dux Type S (17/50 PS) with a Landaulet body from Kruck , Frankfurt am Main / Wiesbaden from 1924 (Fig. 2) on the coachbuild.com web portal , accessed on May 30, 2017 (English).
  23. ↑ Dux passenger cars with superstructures from Zschau , Leipzig from the years 1913 to around 1924 on the coachbuild.com web portal , accessed on May 30, 2017 (English).
  24. ↑ One of Kathe karossierter Dux on the web portal coachbuild.com , accessed on May 30, 2017 (English).
  25. ↑ One of Dietzsch karossierter Dux on the web portal coachbuild.com , accessed on May 30, 2017 (English).
  26. ↑ Werner Oswald: Deutsche Autos, Volume 2, 1920-1945. 2nd Edition. Motorbuch Verlag, Stuttgart 2005, ISBN 978-3-613-02170-9 , pp. 10, 51, 105, 109, 145, 211 and 335.

Remarks

  1. ↑ At that time, fuel consumption was mostly not given in the volume unit “liter”, but in the mass unit “kilogram” (per 100 kilometers), as is still the case in some parts of motorsport today.