Hotchkiss et Cie

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Hotchkiss in Saint-Denis at the beginning of the 20th century

The Société Anonyme des Anciens Etablissements Hotchkiss et Cie was a French arms and automobile manufacturer . The company founded by the American engineer Benjamin Berkeley Hotchkiss in 1875 became part of Hotchkiss-Brandt in 1956 , which merged with the Thomson-Houston Electric Company to become Thomson-Brandt in the 1960s .

Hotchkiss 42mm mountain cannon
Hotchkiss revolver cannon from 1874
Hotchkiss H-39 light tank

Manufacture of weapons

Because Benjamin Hotchkiss could not convince anyone in the USA of his weapon inventions, he moved to France and built his first factory in Viviez near Rodez in 1867 . The company's founder died in 1885.

Hotchkiss et Cie produced weapons that were used by the French army during the Franco-Prussian War . In 1875 the plant was relocated to St. Denis near Paris. From 1877 the US government procured 56 Hotchkiss mountain cannons in caliber 42 mm or 1.65 inches. A first use took place in October of the same year in the Nez Percé War , from 1879 they were used in the war against the Sioux under Chief Sitting Bull and in 1890 in the massacre of Wounded Knee . One example of the company's achievements was the Hotchkiss revolver cannon developed in 1873 . This revolver cannon , powered by a hand crank , had five barrels and could fire 60 to 80 grenades per minute  . The range was one mile, about a mile. It was offered in four calibers from 37 mm to 57 mm; the latter for ship guns . Hotchkiss is one of the early manufacturers of automatic machine guns . His MG was first manufactured in 1892, adopted by the French army from 1897 and used in its improved form as the Hotchkiss M1914 machine gun . In connection with the world exhibition in 1900 Hotchkiss presented a number of guns, with a briefing of 400 employees and 600 mechanical tools in the factory in St. Denis. In the following years Hotchkiss supplied around 10,000 cannons and 4 million cartridges to the French Navy .

In the 1930s, Hotchkiss worked with Laffly to develop an all-wheel drive for military vehicles. This collaboration resulted in a number of military vehicles that were sold in various versions as ambulances, tankers , reconnaissance vehicles and for a variety of other uses under the name Laffly-Hotchkiss. In 1933, the company developed the Hotchkiss H-35 battle tank , which later became the Hotchkiss H-39 . They were used in the light armored divisions (Division légere mécanique).

Automobile manufacturing

Company logo with crossed cannons
Hotchkiss at the 1906 French Grand Prix

As a result of a lack of profits at the beginning of the 20th century, the company began its entry into the automotive industry in order to avoid too much attention from the French government , according to the son of the former chairman Alfred Koerner at the beginning of the 1980s. The first orders for the production of crankshafts for Panhard & Levassor , De Dion-Bouton and other automobile manufacturers were received. Encouraged by dealers Mann and Overton in London and Fournier in Paris, Hotchkiss decided to build their own vehicles. They bought a Mercedes-Simplex as a template, and Georges Terrasse , who had previously worked for Mors , was recruited as a designer. The mark of the brand consisted of a pair of crossed cannon barrels as an indication of the products that were the starting point of the company.

The first Hotchkiss car in 1903 was a four-cylinder model with an output of 13 kW / 17 hp. This was followed by the model C with 40 hp, whose engine was very similar to that of the Mercedes Simplex, but wherever possible ball bearings were used instead of plain bearings . Two competition vehicles have already been registered for the Paris - Madrid city race, but they could not be completed on time. In the following year, three Hotchkiss with 100 hp each competed in the Gordon Bennet Coup, with the rear axle of the Amblard-controlled vehicle breaking at full speed and the car ending up in the ditch ready for scrap. In the Ardennes race of 1904, Le Blon drove an average lap of over 100 km / h and achieved an excellent fifth place in the seven-hour competition behind two Panhard & Levassors, a Clément-Bayard and a Gobron-Brillié , ahead of the Mercedes , Fiat and De Dietrich . In 1906, the American amateur driver Shepard finished fourth on the first day of the Grand Prix, but on the second day he drove his vehicle over the embankment, which is why he had to retire due to a broken wheel. Although these racing successes at Hotchkiss, as with every other brand of the time, meant valuable advertising, the decision was made in St. Denis to no longer take part in races because they cost too much money. The Hotchkiss vehicles were characterized by great solidity and excellent quality. While the competitors' racing cars still preferred chain drives , all Hotchkiss touring cars had a cardan drive . The six-cylinder models L and O followed in 1907 . The L model had an output of 30 hp. In 1908 Hotchkiss was already offering the V model , which with its T-head engine delivered 50 hp from a displacement of almost 10 liters. A copy can be seen today in the museum in Compiègne . With the presentation of the 30 hp model X from 1910 and the slightly smaller 2212 cm³ type Z , the era of ball bearings ended. Like most brands of the time, Hotchkiss launched a very wide variety of models in the prewar period.

A factory fire initially destroyed all projects. Nevertheless, a six-cylinder model appeared as early as 1906. In 1909, Hotchkiss presented an armored military vehicle called the Automitrailleuse , which was armed at the rear. During the First World War , Hotchkiss produced parts and weapons for the newly developed armored weapon. When during the course of the First World War it was feared that Paris could be captured by the German troops, a factory was built in Coventry, England , in which weapons were produced. After the war, attempts were made in the British subsidiary in 1920 to convert the Morris chassis to the Hotchkiss, but then left it to manufacture engines for BSA , Gilchrist and Morris before Morris took over this factory in 1923. However, only a prototype was created . Coventry Plant General Manager Henry Mann Ainsworth became General Manager of the main St. Denis facility, AH Wilde chief designer of Hotchkiss’s auto division.

Between the wars

In France, after the war in 1919, production of the pre-war models AD , AD6 , AF and AG began . The AF20CV was a 4-liter four-cylinder model that had a side-controlled monoblock engine, delivered around 37 kW / 50 hp and had been developed as early as 1914. This could be z. B. on the fixed cylinder head with bag cylinders and the foot brake acting on the gearbox . The power was transmitted to the differential via an open cardan shaft , with torque and thrust being absorbed by the leaf springs on the rear axle according to the Hotchkiss system. With the Type AH , Hotchkiss introduced the cantilever suspension at the rear and the cardan drive in the thrust tube . The sportier version of the AH was named AL and had an OHV engine that developed 44 kW / 60 PS and accelerated the 1,800 kg touring car to around 85 km / h. As the first new design in the post-war period, a luxury car was created under the aegis of the chief designer Terrasse, which was called the AK and was equipped with an engine with a displacement of 6.6 liters . The overhead camshaft was passed through a vertical shaft driven at the front side and operated via rocker arms , two valves per cylinder and the dual ignition with magnet and coil . The black enamelled engine developed 79 kW / 107 hp at 2200 rpm and 96 kW / 130 hp at 3000 rpm. For the first time, Hotchkiss used a cross-shaped bracing of the chassis side members. Semi-elliptical springs were used at the front and cantilever springs at the rear. The braking system with large ribbed drums operated by a servo motor came from Perrot. After the luxury vehicle was presented at the Paris Motor Show and in London, Hotchkiss realized the difficulty of competing with Hispano-Suiza and Rolls-Royce and decided not to build it.

A revised type AM was the only model manufactured between 1923 and 1928 . It had a 2.4-liter four-cylinder in-line engine and was the company's most successful model. In the 1926 version, it received an engine with valves that were suspended in the cylinder head and operated by push rods. In the same year, Hotchkiss was able to move into the new factory on Ornano Boulevard. Its successor was the 3-liter six-cylinder model AM 80 in 1928 . Its engine also had bumper-operated, overhead valves, a crankshaft with seven bearings and a vibration damper and was connected to the chassis via silent blocks . It delivered 51 kW / 70 PS. With an AM 80 , an amateur driver team managed to set 33 new class records in Montlhéry in 16 days , which in the advertising became “ around the world in 16 days ”.

Hotchkiss type Grand Sport 1937
Hotchkiss AM 80S

In 1929 a steel press was procured so that the bodies could be manufactured in-house. Hotchkiss bodies had a minimum of chrome and an emphatically functional lines. With the presentation of the second six-cylinder model AM 73 in 1929, the one-model policy ended. On the occasion of the model change of the AM, the model names were changed in 1933: All models were given a three-digit number, the first digit for the number of cylinders and the two following for the displacement in French " tax horsepower " CV; so the 411 was a four-cylinder with 11 CV, the 413 with 13 CV and so on. In 1936 the 636 replaced the previous 620 . This model was also available in a high-performance Grand Sport version , from 1937 even with double carburetors as Paris-Nice . It developed 85 kW / 115 hp at 3500 rpm and, in addition to a longer chassis, also had a four-speed gearbox with two synchronized gears. The Grand Sport was presented with elegant special bodies and a high-performance engine with 92 kW / 125 PS and reached a top speed of over 160 km / h. It was used to produce various successful racing cars again. Maurice Vasselle won the Monte Carlo Rally in 1932 on a Hotchkiss AM 80S with 85 hp against last year's winner Donald Healey on Invicta . Further victories at the Monte Carlo Rally in 1932 (braking and acceleration tests, greatest distance covered, best performance in the large class), 1933, 1934, 1939, 1949 and 1950 were achieved in Hotchkiss competition vehicles. Hotchkiss even won a team award at the International Alpine Tour in 1933. Mademoiselle Lamberjack took third place in the Paris - Nice Rally in 1936 and won the Paris - St. Raphaël Ladies' Rally in the heavy vehicle class. The Hotchkiss 680 was an important model in this era. Its 3-liter six-cylinder engine developed 59 kW / 80 PS.

When the Popular Front government nationalized the arms factory and the body press in Levallois in 1936 , the remainder of Hotchkiss merged with another French automobile manufacturer, Amilcar, in the following year . Jean-Albert Grégoire became the company's designer. At the beginning of the Second World War , the managing director Henry Ainsworth managed to escape to England, where he helped repair military vehicles and came into contact with Willys-Overland . During the war, the St. Denis plant came temporarily under the control of Peugeot in 1942 .

post war period

After the Second World War, Hotchkiss resumed production of the 680 , a light truck and a tractor in 1946 and re-established itself as an engine manufacturer . The first new development after the war was a four-cylinder model with 13 CV and a displacement of 2.6 liters. From 1947 the 2-liter in-line four-cylinder was often referred to as the Hotchkiss-Grégoire . In the following year, Hotchkiss acquired the rights to the front-wheel drive from Grégoire, which was introduced from 1951, but made the vehicles more expensive. Ainsworth retired in 1950, and Peugeot also sold its shares in Hotchkiss.

Hotchkiss Anthéor

In 1950 a new sedan was presented under the name Anjou , which could be delivered on the chassis of the 1350 , a renamed 486 , and on the 2050 , formerly 686 . This was supplemented in 1952 by a convertible that was named Anthéor . A Coupé des Hotchkiss-Grégoire had also been announced, but after no more than 250 units could be sold in 1952 without increasing sales, its production was discontinued. In 1954, Hotchkiss took over the French automobile manufacturer Delahaye , whose production of luxury cars was discontinued. For a few months the company was still producing trucks under the name Hotchkiss-Delahaye before the name Delahaye was completely deleted.

A Jeep Hotchkiss M201

As early as 1952, Hotchkiss founded a subsidiary under the company la Société Financière Industrie et Automobile , which was soon allowed to manufacture the CJ2A / 3A from Willys-Overland under license as Willys Overland France Jeeps . In 1954 an agreement was reached with the Kaiser Corporation , the new owner of Willys-Overland, and Hotchkiss-Jeeps based on the model of the revised model CJ-3B under the name Hotchkiss M201 , which were originally only intended as a temporary solution, until the improved Delahaye - Off-road vehicle could be delivered. The first vehicles were assembled from American kits , but soon complete vehicles were rolling off French production lines. In contrast to their American cousins, the French jeeps already had 24-volt electrical systems, a reinforced ladder frame , a reinforced transmission shaft and a modified all-wheel drive. In 1955, the French army finally decided to purchase the simple but tried and tested Hotchkiss jeep instead of waiting any longer for a further developed all-terrain vehicle. A civil version was also offered under the model name JH-101 .

In 1956, Hotchkiss was taken over by the French automobile and household appliance manufacturer Société des Etablissements Brandt , which also had a test track at its plant in Stains on the northern edge of Paris. The company then called itself Hotchkiss-Brandt . By 1966, most of the 27,600 Jeeps built for the French army were manufactured in this plant near Paris. In the same year France, Italy and Germany began to think about the construction of an amphibious command and liaison vehicle (VCL, véhicule de commandment et de liaison ) as the successor to the French M201, the Italian Fiat Campagnola and the German DKW Munga . In addition to Hotchkiss, Lancia and Büssing were involved in this project, which was often referred to simply as the European Jeep , in competition with the second consortium of Saviem , Fiat and MAN . But the project did not get beyond a prototype and was discontinued in 1976 when the French government withdrew. In addition, Hotchkiss-Brandt developed a modified version of the in-house development Hotchkiss TT 6 as an armored personnel carrier for the German Bundeswehr . This vehicle was built from 1959 to 1969 under license from Klöckner-Humboldt-Deutz in Mainz.

In 1966, Hotchkiss merged with the French industrial conglomerate Thomson-Houston to form Compagnie Française Thomson-Houston-Hotchkiss-Brandt , which also ceased production of all trucks in 1970/71. At the beginning of 1970 the name Hotchkiss disappeared and the conglomerate was renamed Thomson-Brandt. In 1982 the group was nationalized and given the name Thomson . The members of the management who had previously been army officers retired and were replaced by civilian managers. Thomson became more involved in electronics and reduced its dependence on armaments contracts. In 1996 the armaments production division was re - privatized under the name Thomson-CSF , while the Thomson Multimedia entertainment electronics were only sold as Thomson SA in 1999 (trading as Technicolor from 2010 ).

The name Hotchkiss is associated with an earlier common form of axle drive via a cardan shaft, the Hotchkiss system or Hotchkiss drive . The cardan shaft has two joints, the rear axle is only guided by the leaf springs. This distinguishes this design from the Panhard system with a joint in which the axle is guided by a drawbar and a Panhard rod .

Web links

Commons : Hotchkiss  - collection of images

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b c Ferdinand Hediger, Hans-Heinrich von Fersen, Michael Sedgwick: Classic cars . Hallwag AG, Bern and Stuttgart 1988, ISBN 3-8228-8944-X , p. 201
  2. ^ Ferdinand Hediger, Hans-Heinrich von Fersen, Michael Sedgwick: Classic cars . Hallwag AG, Bern and Stuttgart 1988, ISBN 3-8228-8944-X , p. 202
  3. ^ Ferdinand Hediger, Hans-Heinrich von Fersen, Michael Sedgwick: Classic cars . Hallwag AG, Bern and Stuttgart 1988, ISBN 3-8228-8944-X , pp. 202f
  4. ^ Ferdinand Hediger, Hans-Heinrich von Fersen, Michael Sedgwick: Classic cars . Hallwag AG, Bern and Stuttgart 1988, ISBN 3-8228-8944-X , p. 203
  5. ^ Ferdinand Hediger, Hans-Heinrich von Fersen, Michael Sedgwick: Classic cars . Hallwag AG, Bern and Stuttgart 1988, ISBN 3-8228-8944-X , pp. 204f