Fritz Kleemann

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Fritz Kleemann (born June 24, 1901 in Bad Homburg vor der Höhe ; † January 1, 1975 there ) was an engine and motorcycle manufacturer.

His parents were Friedrich Kleemann (1878–1949) and Maria, geb. Zeuner (1875-1959). After the death of Jean Emil Leonhardt (* 1853; † August 24, 1918), who founded the Rex-Konservenglas-OHG , his father took over the majority of the shares and, in 1920, the majority of shares in Columbus-Motorenbau AG , which was owned by Motorenfabrik Oberursel AG was founded.

Fritz returned to Bad Homburg in 1920 after a stay abroad (internship at Ford in Detroit?), Worked at Opel , in the Griesheim-Elektron chemical factory and then in the administration of his father's canned glass factory.

When Columbus 1921 by Edward Freise advanced 68-cm³- bike - auxiliary motor Gnome brought out, started to assemble these bicycles to and distribute Fritz Kleemann. In 1922 he brought out his first Horex , with a 250 cm³ engine from Columbus and a frame from the Stein machine factory in Frankfurt am Main , which produced the Dolf motorcycle from 1922 to 1925 . In the following year he founded the Horex-Fahrzeugbau AG Bad Homburg with his father's help and soon employed 20 people. He made his brand known with victories in 55 races, including in 1935 by Karl Braun .

From 1928 he built the Sturmey-Archer sports engine under license, the 350 cm³ version of which he also supplied to Victoria . It engaged Hermann Reeb (1901-1990), the ascent to the designer and 1932, the first parallel - two-cylinder - four cycle engine to 600 and 800 cc capacity with chain drive of the overhead camshaft developed.

After the liability premiums for motorcycles with a displacement of more than 250 cm³ were increased by 85 percent by pressure from the insurance companies around 1955, sales collapsed. Friedel Münch , who worked briefly at Horex in 1955, acquired the manufacturing equipment for the engine production of the 400 twin-cylinder Imperator in the following year. When in 1959 sales had dropped to a quarter of 1953, Kleemann sold his plant to Daimler-Benz . In 1960 he built his last motorcycles.

Fritz Kleemann married Käthe Schüler (* 1901). Her son Fritz-Lothar (* 1927) became the purchasing manager and her son-in-law Wolf Fischer-Jene (* 1921) was the technical manager of the Horex works, since 1960 head of the materials department and plant manager of the Daimler-Benz plant in Bad Homburg.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Hans Christoph Graf von Seherr-Thoß:  Kleemann, Fritz. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 11, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1977, ISBN 3-428-00192-3 , p. 729 f. ( Digitized version ).
  2. ^ Baeumerth, Kliem, guard houses: The century in the Taunus ; P. 66
  3. ↑ Dolf Motorcycle Photo 199 cc 8-Chanel 2 Stroke 1922–1925 ( Memento from August 4, 2012 in the web archive archive.today )
  4. ^ Karl Braun in the Stadtwiki Karlsruhe
  5. ↑  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / stud.unileoben.ac.at
  6. ↑ Motorcycles / motor vehicles: The wind brides are rolling . In: Der Spiegel . No. 39 , 1955 ( online - 21 September 1955 ).
personal data
SURNAME Kleemann, Fritz
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German engine and motorcycle manufacturer
DATE OF BIRTH June 24, 1901
PLACE OF BIRTH Bad Homburg vor der Höhe
DATE OF DEATH 1st January 1975
Place of death Bad Homburg vor der Höhe