Graziosa Fahrradwerke Benedict Albl
Graziosa Fahrradwerke Benedict Albl & Comp.
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legal form | |
founding | 1895 |
resolution | 1906 |
Seat | Graz , Austria-Hungary |
management | Benedict Albl |
Branch | Bicycle manufacturer , automobile manufacturer |
The Graziosa Fahrradwerke Benedict Albl & Comp. was a bicycle and motor tricycle manufacturer from Graz , then Austria-Hungary , from 1895 to 1906.
Benedict Albl was already an entrepreneur in Graz before 1880. Among other things, he repaired sewing , fulling and washing machines . In 1888, after a trip to England, he decided to start manufacturing bicycles, three-wheelers and youngsters.
Johann Puch , the industrialist and founder of the Puch works , was briefly employed by Albl after his military service. The Meteor Fahrradwerke Benedict Albl had 24 employees and were given for their "Meteor" Bike the silver state prize. In 1891 bicycle production was converted under the name Meteor. The company was renamed Graziosa Fahrradwerke in 1895 .
The first motor vehicles Albl were replicas of the De Dion-Bouton - tricycle . In 1902 the son Josef Albl presented the first in-house production, the Albl Phönix. The Phönix Motorwagen was offered as a tonneau , spider and business car.
A vehicle still exists (in Eastern Styria ). It has already participated in the London to Brighton Veteran Car Run in England. As engine were built-in motors of De Dion-Bouton 4.5 and 5 HP available. The so-called sniffer motor does not yet have a mechanical valve control. Only small numbers were produced until 1906.
In issue 21 of the "Österreichische Touring Zeitung" from 1899, a report lists planned vehicles for the company "Graziosa-Automobilwerke.Benedikt Albl & Comp." shown. In addition to a fiaker and an omnibus, there was also a light voiturette , as Johann Puch would make shortly afterwards, and a Phaeton . And the face as shown Graziosa - trucks . The article on page 3 begins with the words: "Who would not know that the bicycle factories in Graz are busy manufacturing automobile vehicles?"
photos
literature
- Hilde Harrer: Grazer Fahrradvereine 1882-1900 (updated, partly abridged diploma thesis from 1992) Historical Commission for Styria, Graz 1998, ISBN 3-901251-12-X
- Hans Seper, Helmut Krackowizer, Alois Brusatti: Austrian motor vehicles from the beginning until today. Welsermühl, Wels 1984, ISBN 3-85339-177-X .
Web links
- GTÜ Society for Technical Monitoring mbH (accessed on December 22, 2013)