History of the German commercial vehicle industry from 1895 to 1945
The commercial vehicle industry is an economically important branch of the economy. The history of the German commercial vehicle industry began with the development of motorized commercial vehicles in 1895. After a rapid expansion, this branch of industry collapsed half a century later due to destruction in the Second World War and the economic collapse in 1945 .
This article covers the period from the beginnings of the German commercial vehicle industry to World War II. Further developments are presented in the articles History of the West German Commercial Vehicle Industry from 1945 to 1990 , History of the East German Commercial Vehicle Industry from 1945 to 1990 and History of the German Commercial Vehicle Industry from 1990 to Today .
The beginnings of the commercial vehicle industry up to the First World War
Inventions and technical progress
The industrial production of motorized commercial vehicles began at the end of the 19th century. In Great Britain , attempts were initially made to use steam power to power vehicles. Pioneering work in propulsion and commercial vehicle technology was later carried out in Germany , France and the USA in particular .
In 1895 Carl Benz ( Benz & Cie. ) Built the first commercial vehicle with a combustion engine . This first bus had eight seats on a reinforced car - chassis . Because of its great resemblance to the carriage of the same name , it was called " Landauer ". The engine generated an output of 5 HP (3.7 kW), which was sufficient for an average speed of 15 kilometers per hour. The bus was first tested on March 18, 1895 in regular service between Siegen and Netphen . However, due to the inadequate suspension, the uncomfortable solid rubber tires and the very poor condition of the roads and paths at the time, operations were discontinued in the same year.
The first truck with a combustion engine was designed in 1896 as a kind of " carriage without a drawbar" by Wilhelm Maybach and built in the Gottlieb Daimler factory ( Daimler (DMG) ). It was a vehicle with a payload of 1.5 tonnes, built as a front control arm with a standing two-cylinder substructure engine installed at the rear . With this payload, the vehicle - measured by today's standards - would be more of a transporter, but it can still be counted as a truck. The truck had iron-tyred spoke wheels , 4 hp (2.94 kW) and a displacement of 1.06 liters . This enabled it to reach a top speed of up to 12 km / h. Such trucks were offered for sale at the time for 4600 RM. In the same year, Daimler built other types of trucks with a payload of 1.5 to 5 tons and four different engines with outputs between 4 and 10 hp (2.9 to 7.4 kW).
In collaboration with the Ludwig Lohner & Co. car factory in Vienna, Ferdinand Porsche developed the Lohner-Porsche electric vehicle in 1899 , also known as the "Lohner Porsche". The electric motors , each with 2.5 HP (1.8 kW), operated by rechargeable batteries , were located in the front wheel hubs. The presentation of the “Lohner Porsche” at the Paris World Exhibition in 1900 had a great response. Porsche later also developed vehicles with all-wheel drive and the Mixte car with hybrid drive , i.e. an additional gasoline engine for charging the battery. The wheel hub drive was used by 20 truck manufacturers until 1920, including the Nuremberg factory from 1906 . Braun (from 1918 Faun ) further developed as a commercial vehicle for municipal companies.
Simultaneously with the development of the “Lohner Porsche”, Siemens & Halske also built an electrically powered “Duo-Bus” or “ O-Bus ” in 1899 . The accumulators were charged through the electric overhead line with grinding bars ( trolley ). The trolleybus was successfully used as a tram omnibus for the first time in line transport in Berlin. As early as April 29, 1882, a trolleybus called " Elektromote " was built and tested in operation, but the bus line was discontinued because of the poor roads. The duo bus was powered by a battery and four electric motors, each with 7.5 HP (5.5 kW). The motors were connected in series for starting and in parallel for driving so that the 80-cell battery was sufficient for a distance of 35 km. From 1905 Siemens & Halske had also manufactured trucks and buses with a gasoline-electric drive. After taking over the Protos works in 1908, Siemens & Halske stopped building trucks and buses. The electric drive in the commercial vehicle was at the time also by companies such as wavy grain , Hagen , BEF , Henschel , Daimler , Hercules , Scheele , Schiemann and contactors used as an alternative to the combustion engine as a truck driving.
The grooved ball bearing from Sachs (1903), the improved spark plug and high-voltage magneto ignition from Robert Bosch (1902), the pneumatic tires from Dunlop (USA, 1902) for light trucks and the honeycomb cooler from Wilhelm Maybach (1899) and the drum brake from Nesseldorfer Waggon construction (1907) were important prerequisites for the further development of truck construction. Designers of various later truck manufacturers, such as SAF-Gaggenau , Dixi , Hering , Dürkopp , Hercules , Magirus , Nacke , Erhardt , Kaelble , Horch , NAG , Stoewer , Büssing , Renault , Peugeot (France), Leyland (England) , Fiat (Italy), Saurer (Switzerland), Berliet (France), Scania (Sweden) and Mack (USA) were interested in the "motorized carriage" or built the commercial vehicle truck shortly after 1900 .
In 1903, the NAG (National Automobile Society) built the first truck in the world, i.e. a truck with a trailer , as a forward control . The Deutz gas engine factory started building fire fighting vehicles with the Grether company in 1903 . Over time, however, the engine with the radiator was relocated in front of the driver's seat in all trucks and the drive power was transferred to the rear wheels with chains. The previously central steering crank was replaced over time by an inclined steering wheel, which was first installed in the "right" side of the vehicle. Block brakes with cable pull were common. The commercial vehicles of the time had a foot brake and an external hand brake, which usually acted on the main transmission shaft. Büssing was building trucks with U-profile frames as early as 1903 and used the first gear group transmission (2 × 3 gears), two years later the first differential lock .
In 1904 the first solid rubber tires on wooden spoked wheels were introduced and from 1906 Büssing developed and tested the pneumatic truck tire with Continental .
In the early days of truck construction, there was no need for front glazing ( windshield ) due to the low speeds of only 20 kilometers per hour. In 1905 Heinrich von Prussia (brother of Kaiser Wilhelm II ) applied for a patent for a hand-operated windscreen wiper . The first large-capacity bus with 52 seats was launched in 1905 by the Süddeutsche Automobil-Fabrik (SAF) in Gaggenau, initially for the Berliner Stadtwerke. Then SAF built its first "gasoline automobile" fire engine. From 1907 onwards, SAF was already building small trucks weighing up to 750 kg with pneumatic tires.
The engines of the commercial vehicles of that time could alternatively process different fuel liquids with the respective carburettors, in particular gasoline, alcohol or kerosene. The engine and transmission were still installed separately on the chassis. The gears mounted in front of the rear axle drove the wheels with chains. and Dürkopp first used a cardan drive in Bielefeld in 1906 .
As early as 1910, Büssing built a truck with a trailer (semitrailer) for long material. In the same year, the body manufacturer Kässbohrer built a "combination bus" in Ulm, which could also be used as a truck by folding away the rows of seats that were attached lengthways and which was granted a patent. In addition, Kässbohrer built the first bus in which the driver could sit in a closed cabin with a large wooden body on a chassis . The chassis was supplied by the truck manufacturer Saurer from Arbon in Switzerland . In 1910 the first hydraulic Lentze transmission was interlocked with the rear axle of the bus . Mack, a manufacturer of commercial vehicles in the USA, built its first fire service truck there in 1910 .
From 1913 onwards, all trucks in the German Reich had rubber tires because iron tires were banned in the new motor vehicle traffic regulations from April 25th, in order to curb the increasing road damage due to the higher weight of cargo transports. From now on, pneumatic tires were increasingly tested and improved, which led to a rapid upswing in the rubber industry.
Economic and legal framework
Although the 16 manufacturers in Europe had produced a total of only 39 trucks in 1901, an extensive commercial vehicle industry quickly developed, similar to that in passenger car production.
Many companies that had previously been involved in precision mechanics , mechanical engineering or electrical engineering are now investing in commercial vehicle or truck production. Even then, the supplier companies had a large share in vehicle production. B. the coachbuilder glasses . The trade in automotive parts and accessories for commercial vehicle construction also began to establish itself.
In 1907, the labeling of motor vehicles was standardized in the 26 countries of the German Empire . At the instigation of the military administrations, standard dimensions for truck parts were issued in 1908, including a. also regulations for pedals (brake, clutch and gas). Endeavoring to win government contracts, the companies Benz, Büssing, Daimler (DMG) and NAG manufactured their trucks as early as 1907 according to the standards prescribed by the military. Also, MAN produced in Nuremberg to license Saurer some trucks for the military. Finally, the Reich government set up a "Standard Committee" for the commercial vehicle industry, which later became the "Technical Standards Committee of the Motor Vehicle Industry" (FAKRA).
At that time, the German Reich reimbursed 20% of the truck purchase price if a military-grade commercial vehicle was bought and maintained. From 1908 onwards, the subsidy programs launched for the procurement of war materials in the commercial vehicle industry brought a considerable increase in production through the purchase of many new trucks, which continued into the war years. Truck manufacturers such as Daimler (DMG), Büssing , NAG, Benz, Mannesmann-MULAG , NAMAG (Lloyd), Dixi , Adler , Hering , Dürkopp , Opel , Nacke , Podeus , Erhardt , DAAG , Stoewer , Argus and Ansbach benefited from this . The Argus z. As an aircraft engine builder, B. had also manufactured trucks from 1906 and, in collaboration with Horch, installed the first six-cylinder engine in a truck. Because of the still existing vulnerability and the high prices of the trucks that were available at the time, many conservative transport companies were still deterred from buying them, especially since there was also the risk that the truck would be confiscated in the event of war.
The trucks were also tested for suitability for war. That's why the commercial vehicle industry was very creative and made a lot of new developments. SAF-Gaggenau got bogged down with too wide a product range or the innovation of new developments. However, only small numbers were produced, so that the financial ceiling was used up after a short time. Under pressure from the banks, Benz took over management of the company in 1907, and the takeover agreement was signed on October 31, 1910. At Magirus , 1500 trailers with the so-called goulash cannon ( field kitchen ) were built for the war effort . In 1913 there were 5,400 trucks in Germany, 825 of which had a payload of over five tons. On April 1, 1913, the subsidy regulations were tightened and only trucks with a payload of up to 3.5 tons and 35 hp were allowed to be built. A standardization of the truck equipment was prescribed, e.g. B. Trailer hitch, electric starter and the same drive chain. Shortly before the First World War, the annual production of the commercial vehicle industry totaled 2,239 trucks.
The time of the First World War
The First World War encouraged the development of the truck because of its military importance. It was the first war in which motorized commercial vehicles were of strategic importance. At the beginning of the war (August 1, 1914), the German army command had about 5,000 trucks under the subsidy guidelines.
At the end of 1914, the army command was still not satisfied with the number of trucks available, although a total of 9,739 trucks were already available in the German Reich - France only had around 6,000 vehicles.
During the First World War, Deutz, with 3,400 employees at the time, also built trucks with a five-ton payload according to plans by Josef Volmer and subsidy trucks and the “Deutz Trekker” as an artillery tractor . The quality of the Magirus field kitchens was so good that, at the urging of the army command, the company was commissioned to develop trucks as well. Accordingly, Magirus built 1,015 trucks from 1916 until the end of the war or the first post-war year. Hansa Automobile in Varel and NAMAG (Lloyd) in Bremen merged to form Hansa-Lloyd in 1914 to build express trucks .
Between 1900 and 1914, 60 commercial vehicle manufacturers were involved in the construction of trucks. Goodyear had in the United States in 1916, truck tire corduroy carcass offered. Daimler (DMG) built medical trucks with which the wounded in the war could be brought out of the combat area and on behalf of Krupp a total of 1130 particularly robust, all-terrain, all-wheel-drive heavy artillery tractors with 100 hp and a total weight of 15 tons were built.
As a result of the war, front glazing was now used as a windshield in all trucks ; however, side windows were still largely dispensed with. In particular, the road dust from trucks in front when driving in convoy made the drivers harder. This made it possible to provide the side openings with celluloid discs or to close them with curtains in bad weather . The driver's seat moved to the left.
Because of the large numbers of three and four-ton trucks required by the army, the factories increasingly switched to large-scale production and replaceable commercial vehicle parts. This meant that repairs could also be carried out faster and more cost-effectively. The "Royal Prussian Manufacturing Office" in Berlin-Spandau and the "Transport Technical Inspection Commission of the Feldkraftwagen AG" ("Feldag"), which were set up by the army, took care of the rationalization of production. A subdivision was the "Normalien -ommission" which (permanent from 1916) for the mass production as well as the standardization of the commercial vehicle components (e.g. gears, wheel sizes, chains, valves, screws and spark plugs) as well as for the uniform designation of the vehicle Parts provided.
During the war, the commercial vehicle companies were only able to produce with difficulty, because they lacked material because they had cut off from the international market. The "Zahnradfabrik Friedrichshafen" had started in 1915 under "von Soden" with the manufacture of gears and transmissions, especially for airships. In the truck factories, women and children were increasingly used for production due to a lack of skilled workers and personnel. During the war years, the commercial vehicle industry produced more than 40,000 motor vehicles. U. deserved the designation truck. A total of around 40 commercial vehicle manufacturers were used for armaments production during the war. Many truck and commercial vehicle companies owe their existence to the First World War. The number of commercial vehicle producers was around 115 in 1918. The First World War thus turned into a truck or commercial vehicle material battle and the iron-sheathed truck armor of the Allies (so-called tanks ) was one of the decisive factors for the end of the War that ended on November 11, 1918 with the signing of the armistice.
At the end of the war, truck production partially came to a standstill because there was a lack of important materials such as iron, gasoline and tires. In the factory halls of the commercial vehicle industry, thousands of trucks were still standing on wooden trestles with only the wheels and many important little things missing. At the end of the war, the German army had around 25,000 trucks available, around 5,000 of which were to be handed over to the Allies as "reparations". The commercial vehicle factories in Ansbach and Nuremberg merged in 1918 under the name Faun . Faun Nürnberg was already producing very modern 2-ton municipal vehicles with gasoline-electric drives as early as 1918. In addition, these trucks were also manufactured as in-wheel motor electric utility vehicles that had both front and rear wheel drive.
The development and construction phase
The industrial production was on the ground after the First World War , z. B. because machines and manufacturing plants were dismantled or made unusable by the victorious powers , so that the economy had sunk to 38% of the volume of 1913. Trucks that were still usable were returned from the war zones, while trucks under construction could often not be completed due to a lack of material. The partly half-finished commercial vehicles that were in the dump were placed under the Reichsverwertungsamt ( Vaubil ), which organized the export. Commercial vehicle plants had to sell some of their surplus trucks well below the price. On behalf of the Reichsverwertungsamt, many subsidy trucks were converted by bodywork and metal construction companies into municipal vehicles, which were then distributed cheaply to municipalities in the German Reich.
In the inter-war period, the commercial vehicle market in Europe consolidated: in line with the passenger car sector, many small manufacturers disappeared from the market, while others organized themselves more successfully in distribution cartels in order to purchase, sell, etc. a. of remaining stocks, to standardize maintenance and advertising. In 1919 the “ Association of German Automobile Manufacturers ” (GDA) was founded, to which the companies Hansa-Lloyd , Brennabor and NAG belonged. Shortly afterwards the companies Dux , Magirus , Presto and Vomag followed , which founded the German automobile group (DAK). The plants that were not affiliated with the cartels were either already so large or had so many branches that they could survive on their own, had certain niche products on which they lived, or they had to merge, sell or close. Many commercial vehicle manufacturers still in existence began in the 1920s to attach company logos , coats of arms and hood ornaments to their products in order to differentiate themselves more clearly from one another.
- The truck manufacturer FBW in Switzerland built its first truck in 1919.
- An amendment to the Motor Vehicle Act in 1919 limited the total weight for 2-axle vehicles to 9 tons.
- In 1920 gasoline rationing was lifted.
- The commercial vehicle manufacturers and truck manufacturers began to specialize more and more and tried to please every customer.
- The coachbuilders and wheelwrighters were still irreplaceable; H. much was still done by hand. Series production was limited to the engine and essential parts of the chassis .
- With a few exceptions, chain drives were still used for the drive .
- Removable cylinder heads were installed in many engines.
- Gear and rear shoe brakes were standard, trailers still had brakeman's cabins .
- The vehicle factories in Nuremberg and Ansbach were finally renamed Faun in 1920 after they had merged in 1918.
- In 1920 the aircraft engine factory Argus Motoren Gesellschaft took over the Horch Werke (2,200 employees), where there was already cooperation in engine construction from 1907. Horch stopped building trucks in 1923.
- From 1920 onwards, six-cylinder engines were used in most trucks and buses
- For the first time, Fulda Reifen provided deep " profile " cuts in solid rubber tires .
- The "cord tire" made it possible to have higher load capacities for pneumatic truck tires, but it was not until 1928 that they were used in all trucks.
First inflation period
The mark lost value and the commercial vehicle industry was hit. Exports of trucks had almost come to a standstill due to the high import duties of the European countries. Only with the Netherlands and the Soviet Union were there still profitable economic relationships in the commercial vehicle sector. As a result of the most-favored nation clause unilaterally enforced for foreign companies by the victorious powers, companies from the USA in particular had participated in the German commercial vehicle industry from 1921 onwards or had given German truck manufacturers cheap loans. In addition, the USA had started to export light trucks to the German Reich.
The government introduced a motor vehicle tax in the German Reich.
The truck manufacturer Büssing , who had been building a semitrailer since 1910, patented a semitrailer with a trailer on top in 1922. The first real known articulated lorry was built from 1922–1927 as the "Oekonom large area wagon" with a special fifth wheel system. From 1924, the truck and wagon manufacturer Wumag was allowed to install the patented coupling system from Thilo Kippings in semitrailers with a payload of 10 tons. As early as 1898, a four-tonne front-wheel tractor with a horizontal steam engine under the fifth wheel was built by the Englishman John I. Thornycroft. Benz, NAG, Krupp and the Fuchs Waggonfabrik also began building semitrailers for six to ten tons.
In 1921, the Hansa-Lloyd truck reached speeds of up to 50 km / h with pneumatic tires. In 1921, ZF had built a transmission that could later be shifted to the desired gear by presetting, just by pressing the clutch . Shifting and clutching gears was currently very difficult work or exertion, as was steering the truck.
In 1921 the Gothaer Waggon Factory (GWF) and Dixi had merged into "Die Gothas". Steyr in Austria also built trucks from 1922, and in the same year the first petrol station in the German Reich (at Raschplatz in Hanover) was opened by the mineral oil company Olex . The commercial vehicle industry had enormous difficulties getting its products paid for in gold marks because the money was worthless the next day, because 1 dollar cost around 4 trillion marks in 1923. On November 16, 1923, the stabilization of the currency was made possible by the introduction of the Rentenmark . The commercial vehicle industry could now produce and sell their vehicles for their monetary value again.
Technical progress
With the introduction of the four-wheel air brake from Knorr (1923), commercial vehicle construction for heavy trucks was able to develop better. With this Knorr patent for a “compressed air braking system for motor vehicles” from 1922, it was now possible for the first time to brake trucks on all four wheels simultaneously and also to decelerate the trailer.
Kenworth (USA) built trucks from 1923 onwards. Krupp in Essen (truck manufacturer from 1919) built a type L 5 s tractor unit with a semi-trailer for two 4200 liter milk tanks. Kässbohrer built his first tipper and in 1923 a special trailer for transporting logs, and Büssing brought the first "universal tipper " onto the market that could tilt by hydraulics , which Franz Xaver Meiller improved in 1925 as the hydraulic achievement of the three-way tipper . The Horch company let its trucking department run out because it a. not worth it because of small numbers.
A special process for a commercial vehicle fueled with wood gas was developed by Georges Imbert for practical use in the truck sector from 1923. The first system was installed in an Opel. From 1923, Büssing built a large three-axle truck for better axle distribution for heavy loads and DAAG brought the first modern 2-ton express truck with pneumatic tires. The first high-speed diesel engines ("oil engines") were made in 1923 by MAN (direct injection), Benz & Cie. (Pre-chamber) and Daimler (DMG) (compressed air injection) tested in everyday use. At the IAA 1924, these three first diesel truck were presented to the public in Berlin. The consumption of diesel engines has been reduced by 25% compared to gasoline engines . Benz was the first to build a low-frame chassis for trucks, which was also built with a bus body. The long-legged truck chassis for buses have been replaced by cranked, low-lying chassis frames. These low-floor buses had a low entrance and offered z. B. in the double decker a higher interior height. The low-frame chassis has now established itself in bus construction. Due to the low center of gravity, it was now possible to ride without swinging, which also benefited the driving dynamics and thus enabled higher speeds. Kässbohrer knew how to benefit from this in bus construction and placed numerous orders with Magirus, MAN, Benz, Daimler, NAG and Vomag to deliver chassis. Scania launched its first heavy-duty three-axle truck. The median strips on the streets were introduced in the German Reich in 1925. The trucks got the first time-distance recorder ( tachograph ) and a horn. Mirrors, electric windshield wipers, two-filament lightbulbs for high and low beam and side windows became normal components. Some light trucks could travel over 30 km / h and already had normal pneumatic tires. With the permit issued in 1925 that allowed three-axle trucks with a total weight of up to 15 tonnes with pneumatic tires , Büssing built its three-axle vehicles with giant pneumatic tires developed together with Continental . NAG built a ten-ton power tractor (tractor unit) with 70 hp that could pull two semi-trailer trailers. The coupling technology was a patent from Thilo Kipping from Pirna (Oekonom truck-trailer combination), so that a complex process began. Vomag built his P 45 hood truck as a three-axle vehicle with a trailing or trailing axle and a 7.1 t payload, which was also offered as a bus, with the third axle having a steering kinemechatics that was steered by the front axle. Before that, this type of truck was built in 1923 as a two-axle vehicle with a half-cab, with the driver's cab next to the long bonnet. The invention of the overrun brake and the compressed air brake made it possible to dispense with the brakeman's housing when building trailers. By Henschel in Kassel a first truck to FBW license was built and Borgward built his first small truck dreiräderigen " Blitzkarren ". Henschel built a 5 t truck and bus type "Rex" with a dry plate clutch, adjustable motor brake and cardan drive. The Hercules factory (250 employees) closed the truck construction department that had started in 1905. Heinrich Ehrhardt AG also had to stop the truck construction that began in 1904.
The little boom
Increased competition in the commercial vehicle industry had forced manufacturers to either merge or give up. In 1926 Benz and Daimler merged to form Daimler-Benz and Opel acquired the Beckmann works in Breslau and the elite works in Brand-Erbisdorf. Due to the difficult economic situation, Faun had to close a compulsory settlement and was restructured. The factory section in Ansbach separated from Faun again. From June 17, 1926 there was a uniform Reich road traffic regulation in the German Reich . The usual daily distances of heavy traffic were up to 35 kilometers at the time. Ford starts production of the T-Model as a light van in the German Reich in 1926. The purchasing and sales cartel of the German automobile group (DAK) from 1919 dissolved in 1926. Zahnrad-Fabrik ( ZF ) presented its standard transmission for trucks at the IAA that same year, with five different types of transmission for trucks on offer. The gears built up to now were much too loud with their sawing, singing and grinding noises. This is why ZF built the “Aphon” in 1929 - a no-sound transmission. Dux and Presto truck and automobile plants merged to form the Dux-Presto plants. The Tatra company in Moravia (Czech Republic) built its first all-wheel-drive truck with a central tubular frame as front control, the type T 24 with 65 HP and 6 t payload. NAG had taken over the Protos - and Dux - Presto works in 1927 and from September 1st of the same year there were uniform traffic signs in the German Reich. MAN managed to reduce the consumption of diesel engines by 10%, so that compared to the petrol engine, 35% less fuel was used. With the improved injection pump from Bosch, development for the diesel engine has now been advanced. Rockinger develops a "safety coupling for truck trains" as the first correct and automatically closing trailer coupling .
According to the law in 1927, two-axle trucks could now use 12 tons and three-axle trucks 19 tons. At Mannesmann-MULAG , considerable losses were made in 1927 with a not fully developed engine and many complaints were made. The Mannesmann family decided to sell real estate and machines, as well as the patents, in 1928 to Büssing, who turned it into a supplier. The Siemens-Halske were renamed Siemens-Schuckertwerke and started again with the construction of electric trucks. In 1928, 67% of the main roads in the German Reich were still gravel. The Hanomag and Tempo works had begun in 1928 to build a small truck with a ton payload. The car company Ford (USA) had also started building a light type AA truck in Berlin in 1928. The carriage builder Schmitz in Altenberge built his first trailer with solid rubber tires. Kässbohrer developed and built the slewing ring , which became very important for trailer construction. Volvo in Sweden built its first truck.
Great Great Depression
The commercial vehicle industry had hardly picked up again when the stock exchange collapsed on October 25, 1929 (so-called Black Friday ), first in New York and then in Germany. Due to the many loans and investments by the USA in Europe and in the German Reich, the global economic crisis also had a major impact on commercial vehicle manufacturers. So stood u. a. DAAG 1929, MAN 1932 and Magirus 1934 before the end. The DAAG company was taken over by Krupp , MAN could only save itself and remain independent with the support of Gutehoffnungshütte. General Motors bought 80% of Opel . The Dixi company , which belonged to “Die Gothas” ( GWF ), was sold to BMW in 1929 and finally ceased truck production in the same year. One of the oldest commercial vehicle manufacturers, the Dürkopp company in Bielefeld , which made its living with industrial machines, also stopped building trucks in 1929, which had only made losses since 1919. The "GDA" sales cartel, which had existed from 1919, was dissolved. The manufacturer Brennabor , which belonged to it, got u. a. therefore with 7,500 employees in financial difficulties, so that production was suspended for half a year in 1932 and the company gradually dissolved. Most of the employees were able to start at the new and very modern Opel plant, which was located nearby. The Adlerwerke in Frankfurt gave up the truck department after 20 years due to financial problems.
The IAA in Berlin had to be canceled because the 29 German commercial vehicle manufacturers at the time did not have the money to host the IAA. Only the 3 American active commercial vehicle manufacturers that existed in the German Reich at the time could have afforded this exhibition. There were many reasons for their bad situation in the case of commercial vehicle manufacturers who were no longer doing well. The too thin capital cover, the foreign money transactions on the USA stock exchange, the large or very diverse range of commercial vehicles, i. H. The desire to maintain all types and special bodies and, in the end, the considerable development costs of innovations in the commercial vehicle sector meant the "end" for some manufacturers. Thus, until 1939, only half of the current German commercial vehicle manufacturers were able to secure a survival through a merger or acquisition.
At that time there were already around 200 trucks with diesel engines in the German Reich. At the end of the twenties, many manufacturers improved the engine performance of their trucks and also increased the transport speed somewhat with pneumatic tires, which was noticeable in the economic efficiency of commercial vehicles as a means of transport.
From 1928, Daimler-Benz built a three-axle truck with two axles powered. This manufacturer also offered the three-axle model with a low frame of up to 8.5 t payload for buses and trucks.
From 1928 onwards, Magirus installed Deutz diesel engines in its trucks at the customer's request. Renault followed in 1929, Fiat in 1930, whereby Leyland and Berliet in 1931, Büssing in 1932, and Mack in 1938 were only ready to install diesel engines. Büssing merged with the AEG subsidiary NAG, which had run into financial difficulties, to Büssing-NAG and Komnick in Elbing was also taken over in 1930 , where commercial vehicle construction began in 1913. Also Nacke from Coswig had out of financial trouble in 1931 when one of the oldest commercial vehicle producer (1900), to give up the truck engineering. In 1930, Daimler-Benz bus and coach construction introduced steel framework construction and the heavy flagship of the truck type "L 10,000" with 150 hp was built. At the time, this truck could travel at the extremely high speed of 75 km / h (without a trailer) and already had a servo-assisted Knorr compressed air brake installed. From 1930 to 1938 a total of 481 trucks were built. In contrast to this, a total of 1545 units of the same Daimler-Benz type were built as two-axle vehicles with a payload of 8.5 t by 1939. Henschel built a three-axle truck with two six-cylinder engines and 250 hp, with a special frame allowing freely swinging axles for the first time.
It was a difficult time for the commercial vehicle industry and the population, with around 6 million unemployed, suffered great hardship due to the global economic crisis . The government worked with emergency ordinances and the approval of trucks was linked to a limited number of transport permits to protect the Reichsbahn . During that time, 80% of all trucks were in factory traffic . The first six-wheel long-haul trucks could be seen and the truck manufacturers' cabs were made of wood and paneled with sheet metal. The heating usually consisted of a carbide furnace. The truck manufacturer Henschel from Kassel had even brought out a standard bed in the cabin for two drivers in 1929, which was also patented. Steering, clutching and braking were extremely difficult work, and the vibrations from the roads were passed on directly to the driver. The driver still had to get by without a sprung seat and the volume in the cab was high, but the trucks at least now had pneumatic tires and now got a bumper and front end bars. 100% of Opel went to General Motors (GM) in the USA.
Daimler-Benz began to build the Lo 2000 express lorry with a payload of 2 t (55 hp - 65 km / h) , which later became very well known , of which a total of 13,000 units had been produced by 1938. Vomag got into economic difficulties in 1932 and had to put itself under company supervision for some time with 1200 employees. The car and truck manufacturer Carl Friedrich Wilhelm Borgward took over the Hansa-Lloyd works in 1932. In that year, Büssing realized a low-frame bus with 320 hp - 115 km / h (two 160 hp engines), which became known as the “Langer Sachse” and the most powerful and fastest bus in the world. From 1932, trucks with solid rubber tires were only allowed to drive 8 km / h.
The special process and the generator technology for the wood gas engine drive were improved by Georges Imbert for practical use in trucks until 1930 and thus became a reliable, economical system. In 1931 Johannes Linneborn acquired the licenses for the "Imbert generator" from Imbert in Europe and in 1934 for the whole world. Paul Arendt developed and built a forward control truck with an underfloor engine together with the truck manufacturer Hanomag from Hanover . Paul Arendt as the forefather of the underfloor engine had already started in 1930 with the development to accommodate an engine outside the driver's cab. Together with the Körting company in Hanover, he designed the FD 6-cylinder underfloor engine. At Büssing he could not realize his engine concept, but with the help of Hanomag, the first large underfloor truck type HL 3.0 was built and presented to the public at the IAA 1933 in Berlin. Kenworth (USA) built a truck with a sleeping cabin and offered this as a special convenience .
Third Reich
In 1933, an "Imbert Generatoren-Gesellschaft" was founded by a total of 14 commercial vehicle manufacturers and other companies interested in the automotive industry in order to respond to the expected shortage of liquid fuels for " commercial vehicles " and to jointly develop and convert the generator drive.
The National Socialists' road construction program started on September 1 and the motorways were built. In February 1933, Daimler-Benz built a semi-trailer truck that was used right at the beginning of the economic upswing a. a. of the commercial vehicle sector. The large truck engines now had 150 hp, which could be used well due to the construction of the motorway. A special bus was built by Kässbohrer Fahrzeugwerke as a bus trailer for 170 people. The tractor came from Daimler-Benz. The articulated lorries were currently only allowed to drive on gradients of up to 7% and were subject to a special tax from 1935. From 1939 the construction of semitrailers was completely prohibited.
Initial attempts to incorporate the engine in the truck cab were made by Daimler-Benz, FAUN, Krupp and Vomag. The banks of the truck manufacturer Magirus had taken over the operation in 1934. FX Kögel started in Ulm in 1934 with the production of commercial vehicles and the construction of semitrailers and trailers. In 1934, ZF developed the “all-synchronous” transmission, whereby double-declutching could be omitted. On February 27, 1934, the "WIGRUFA" was set up by law as the Vehicle Industry Group. All manufacturers from or in vehicle construction were recorded and they had to be members of WIGRUFA. According to the Reich Road Traffic Regulations of 1934, the truck with two axles could now use 16 tons and a three-axle truck a total weight of 24 tons and trucks and buses were allowed to drive up to 70 km / h on motorways.
With the "Law on Freight Transport with Motor Vehicles" (GFG) of 1935, 9,000 entrepreneurs of the 15,200 permitted or registered long-distance trucks were available in the German Reich , 8,200 of which were selected for the eventual war. These trucks were given a name and a number, which was done in Germany until 1990. Daimler-Benz built a total of 10,000 diesel trucks by 1935. Scania built a forward control truck (only for Sweden ) with a payload of 4.5 t. Kaelble starts with semi-trailers and tipper trucks. The car manufacturer Toyota ( Japan ) had also started to build trucks. Knorr had developed the trailer control valve and also created better metering of the pedal force when braking. As a result of the rapidly expanding motorway network, bus manufacturers such as B. Daimler-Benz, Büssing-NAG, MAN, Henschel and Vomag built extravagant-looking streamlined buses. The best-known streamlined car or commercial vehicle builder was Rumpler , who built a futuristic streamlined three-axle truck with "front drive" and 150 hp that drove 100 km / h as early as 1930 . The name: " Front-wheel drive " was currently a patent name from DKW . Henschel set up a development office in Berlin for the construction of the Heereswaffenamt (HWA) standard truck with a diesel engine, in which the companies MAN and Hansa-Lloyd participated. This common 2.5 t three-axle truck type was built 1500 times between 1938 and 1940. Henschel was the first to install an eight-cylinder 175 hp diesel engine in the 8.5 t three-axle truck.
Magirus and Humboldt-Deutz merged in 1936. In 1938, Humboldt-Deutz became Klöckner-Humboldt-Deutz (KHD) (the company's vehicles were called Magirus until 1940 and Klöckner-Deutz from 1940 to 1949, after which the Magirus-Deutz brand was launched established). The first standard all-wheel drive was built by Büssing in 1936 for "heavy trucks". Toyota manufactured 150 light trucks a month in Japan in 1937. Long-distance trucks with three axles, as six-wheel trucks, were increasingly used, of which there were around 2000 trucks with a total weight of 22 tons and a speed of 60 km / h. These heavy types, the three-axle vehicles, were mainly built by Daimler-Benz, Büssing-NAG and Magirus-Deutz. Faun had the innovative highlight with its 14 ton four-axle truck. The trucks still had wooden frame cabs and were covered with sheet metal. In the meantime, all trucks also had side windows, and advertisements were being made on the truck equipment, with arm signals and horns, as well as dashboard lighting. In addition, a bunk bed was added to the rear of the loading area. H. a so-called "swallow's nest" was built in, because the second driver should or had to sleep there during the journey. You drove mainly during the day, because the bad roads almost made it impossible to drive at night. Because of the many serious accidents related to fatigue, the legislature had dictated working hours for drivers. The truck owners, 80% of whom were also drivers, lived from hand to mouth and had to be able to repair almost everything on the truck themselves. Schmitz built a three-axle trailer with a steering axle ( track unit ), which became groundbreaking and presented it at the IAA. The MAN trucks now had dipped headlights , but only a windscreen wiper on the driver's side. The side windows of the overland trucks could also be cranked down. Daimler-Benz and Krupp were already installing a tachograph as standard in their new trucks, and the truck manufacturer Sterling Trucks (USA) was already building a tilting cab. The electric utility vehicle factory Bleichert from Leipzig, which has been manufacturing electric vehicles since 1925, built a large electric three-axle truck with a total weight of 11,520 kg and a payload of 6 t in 1938. Michelin produced the first pneumatic tire in 1938 with “ steel cord inserts”.
According to the Reich Traffic Act in 1938, the payload for two-axle vehicles was set at up to nine tons and for three-axle vehicles at up to 14 tons. It was taken over by MAN from the truck factory “Austro-Fiat” and renamed ÖAF . By the end of the year, a total of 3,065 new kilometers of motorway had been built in the German Reich. In 1938, the Third Reich had brutally grabbed the commercial vehicle industry and placed all producers under its “trustee”. Vomag had just built its large three-axle 150 hp truck in 1938 and in 1939 gave this truck type a stylish bonnet .
War preparations
From 1939 onwards, trucks were not allowed to be bought from or to private individuals or for works transport , and commercial vehicle manufacturers were brought into line for trucks that were fit for war. All types of trucks should also be standardized or simplified. The motto was: "Large series and a few types" in order to be able to master the variety of trucks. Before that, Magirus managed to build its large L 265 Langschnauzer truck with a payload of 6.5 t and 150 hp.
On March 15, 1939, Colonel Adolf von Schell, as authorized representative for motor vehicles (GBK), ordered the standardization of truck types in the so-called Schell Plan from January 1, 1940. Innovations in commercial vehicle construction were no longer possible, because only 19 instead of 114 truck types were allowed to be built. The large three-axle trucks were no longer in demand, or it was forbidden to build them. a. because they were not agile enough.
The truck manufacturer Berliet (France) was currently predicting that the truck would have a great future as a semitrailer . Shortly before the war, liability insurance for trucks became law, and the Road Traffic Licensing Ordinance (StVZO) was introduced, as well as mandatory vehicle inspections at regular intervals (e.g. TÜV ). The first large forward control vehicles as stump mustache were also very impractical due to the large engine in the cab and not well suited for war. The trucks had to be off-road and manoeuvrable; they were only allowed to be built in four classes from 1–6.5 tons and preferably with a simple "standard driver's cab". The light truck class 1–1.5 tons were only intended for Borgward , Daimler-Benz , Opel , Stoewer , Ford and Magirus-Deutz , and subsequently Tatra, in order to have to build them. Only Henschel, Büssing-NAG (e.g. 15,000 pieces), Magirus-Deutz, MAN and their subordinate truck manufacturers were allowed to build the types with 4.5 tons. The heavy class d. H. the 6.5-ton trucks were destined for production by Büssing-NAG, Vomag, Krupp and MAN. Furthermore, only all-terrain, "light" three-axle vehicles were required for the Heereswaffenamt, built in a completely identical design, although these had to be manufactured by MAN, Magirus-Deutz, Henschel, Borgward, Faun and Büssing-NAG. The MAN diesel engine now had to be installed as a so-called "standard diesel " with 6.2 liters, 80 HP as 2.5 tons, from all other diesel engine manufacturers such as Büssing-NAG, Henschel, Borgward and Faun. This standard diesel as an all-wheel drive off-road truck was hard to beat off-road, but only had a payload of 2.5 t available. From this z. B. Büssing 3200 pieces. Most of the trucks were drafted for the war with a provisional, field gray camouflage paint and for the most part including the driver. It was now necessary to set up transport communities in order to maintain supplies to the population.
The second World War
The Second World War began on September 1, 1939 with the invasion of Poland . It was already ordered on September 16, with regard to the coming shortage of liquid fuels, that the "commercial vehicles" u. a. must be converted to generator drive. In Europe and Germany there was gradually a shortage of almost everything. The lack of petrol and diesel in particular made the wood gas generators a necessity, especially for commercial vehicles, and the Imbert Generatoren-Gesellschaft had to build a new plant in Cologne-Niehl in 1941. In the USA Peterbilt started with the construction of trucks. Faun stopped the general truck construction in 1940 during the war, after 700 trucks of the standard diesel were built and now concentrated on the construction of tractors. The machine works Esslingen (ME) which from 1926 u. a. Manufactured commercial vehicles, built the heaviest three-axle electric truck ever produced with a payload of 10 t. By order of the National Socialist government, Opel had to cease production of civilian cars completely in October 1940 and, in addition to lightning trucks , built engines, parts for rockets and torpedoes as well as components for the Junkers Ju 88 and Messerschmitt Me 262 at the main plant in Rüsselsheim .
In 1942, Adolf Hitler personally asked Daimler-Benz AG to replicate the Opel Blitz with a three-ton payload in large numbers after they had strictly refused to do so in order to be able to produce their own Mercedes L 3000 . Thanks to this delaying tactic, Daimler-Benz was only able to license the 3-to-Blitz under the designation "L 701" from July 20, 1944. A short time later, the Opel factory in Brandenburg , built in 1935, was destroyed on August 6, 1944 by a British air raid. The Vogtländische Maschinenfabrik (Vomag) produced trucks until 1942 and then switched entirely to tank construction. The Adlerwerke in Frankfurt had taken during the war, the 1929 adjusted truck production again and light tracked vehicles, ambulances built.
From 1942 petrol and diesel were only available for the Wehrmacht - private cars and trucks had to run on wood gas . Mack in the US built 35,000 military trucks during the war. During the war, due to the lack of liquid fuels, around 450,000 wood gas generators were built in 25 factories across Europe. These generators were installed behind the cab of most of the trucks, resulted in a long heating-up time and a drop in output of approx. 25% and the supplies lasted for approx. 100 km. During the Second World War there were numerous bus and truck manufacturers who had to work almost exclusively for armaments . Faun in Nuremberg in 1942 by a bomb attack heavily damaged and after notdürftigem rebuild the factory was again so badly damaged by repeated air strikes that they be shut down had. During the war, the majority of the confiscated trucks or commercial vehicles were gradually destroyed or had to be abandoned in the vast expanses of Russia .
Ford in Cologne-Niehl had built a total of 132,000 light and medium-sized trucks during the war, of which 63,600 trucks (mainly Ford V 3000 S ) were delivered to the Wehrmacht . Hansa-Lloyd in Hastedt (zu Borgward ) produced over 30,000 three-ton trucks - mainly Borgward B 3000 - from 1930 to 1944 . However, the factory was badly damaged by air raids and the Borgward factory in Sebaldsbrück near Bremen was destroyed to 80%. The Büssing works were badly damaged by 10 air strikes and direct artillery fire. The Nuremberg Faun factory, where heavy tractors and crane vehicles were manufactured for the war, was completely destroyed in 1944.
Krupp was only able to produce spare parts for its commercial vehicles and had to relocate the "Krawa" motor vehicle factory, a department of Krupp in Essen , to Mülhausen in Alsace in 1943 and then in 1944 as " Südwerke " to Bamberg Lower Franconia . a. to avoid the dismantling of the Allies. Klöckner-Deutz had managed to produce 200,000 copies of the 3-ton truck with 2,000 foreign workers and had to outsource some of the production because one plant was destroyed by 45% and the other 85% by air raids. At MAN , 80% of the factory was destroyed in 1943–1944, so that production could no longer take place. At Opel in Brandenburg , the factory was so targeted and precisely destroyed in August 1944 that production could not be resumed until 1945, although only up to 50% was destroyed. In 1944, 45% of the Magirus plant in Ulm and 85% of the plant in Söflingen was destroyed by air raids . Daimler-Benz had employed thousands of forced laborers in its armaments factories , and had to relocate individual parts of the factory to galleries and railway tunnels from late 1939 to early 1945 . At the end of the war, 80% of the Sindelfingen plant and 50% of the machines were destroyed. The factory in Berlin-Marienfelde was completely destroyed by several air raids. The Gaggenau truck plant was bombed to 80% during the war, the Mannheim truck plant only 20%, and the Untertürkheim plant 70%. Henschel & Sohn , one of the large armaments factories in the Third Reich, where tanks, planes and engines, as well as locomotives were built next to the trucks, was also 80% destroyed. Kaelble had during the war a. a. heavy tractors, bulldozers , stationary engines were built for the power supply and had been spared from the chaos of war. At the end of the war, the factory was looted by American units and the buildings were also confiscated.
continuation
- History of the West German commercial vehicle industry from 1945 to 1990
- History of the East German commercial vehicle industry from 1945 to 1990
- History of the German commercial vehicle industry from 1990 to today
literature
- Halwart Schrader: Oldtimer Commercial Vehicle Lexicon. Motorbuch-Verlag, Stuttgart 2008, ISBN 978-3-613-02944-6 .
- Michael Kern: DaimlerChrysler commercial vehicles since 1896. Motorbuch-Verlag, Stuttgart 2005, ISBN 3-613-02541-8 .
Individual evidence
- ↑ 1896: Gottlieb Daimler builds the world's first truck. In: Daimler Global Media Site. August 21, 2006, accessed June 27, 2019 .
- ↑ The history of the truck. LKW Freak, March 16, 2009, accessed June 27, 2019 .
- ^ Rainer Simons: History of the front-wheel drive automobiles. Schrader, Munich 1981, ISBN 3-922617-04-2 .