Comic

Franz Komnick and Sons AG
legal form	Corporation
founding	1913
resolution	1930
Reason for dissolution	Bankruptcy and takeover by Büssing AG
Seat	Elbing , East Prussia (until 1920 part of West Prussia )
Branch	Motor vehicle manufacturer

The Franz Komnick and Sons Ltd. (in exports also known Komnik was known), a German manufacturer of commercial vehicles from Elbing in the former East Prussia (until 1920 to West Prussia ), which from 1913 to 1930, especially with the construction of light and medium trucks and buses was busy . Besides trucks, the company introduced to its heyday 2,000 employees cars , power tractors and Tragpflüge (motorized plows) ago. After the bankruptcy , the company was taken over by Büssing AG in 1930 and continued as a separate plant. Production ended on January 23, 1945 with the occupation of Elblag by the Soviet Red Army , with most of the employees and their families heading west in the last completed trucks and buses.

history

The company was founded by Franz Komnick in 1906 as a machine factory and was based in Elbing. In 1913, in the run-up to the First World War, the construction of trucks for 3 and 5 t payload began , which were initially used almost exclusively for military purposes, but were largely built unchanged in civilian versions after the First World War. In 1920 Elbing came to East Prussia in the course of the transfer of the majority of West Prussia to the re-established Poland , which secured the continued existence of the company. On May 15, 1922, the legal form was converted into a stock corporation. This year a new truck program was presented, which ranged from 2.5 to 5 t payload. These vehicles were designed by Josef Vollmer . 1929 has been Tractor type Komnick PT based on the Benz-Sendling BK presented.

While components were initially obtained from other companies, gradually all assemblies were manufactured in-house, including our own motors . The heavy 4.5 t truck was equipped with a series - six-cylinder - petrol engine of Maybach equipped. In 1925 the Komnick truck program was revised and a 2.5-ton express truck with a low-frame design appeared , which could be used for the construction of buses . In the same year the Komnick trucks were able to successfully take part in the so-called Russian test drive ( Russia trip ) over 2000 km and the five-ton trucks were sold very well in the civilian sector. Quite a few were exported to the Soviet Union , where they were known as Komnik . At that time the company had around 800 employees. In 1926 it was equipped with the most modern machines and had its own frame drawing shop and foundry .

Despite technically advanced constructions, the company fell into the red as a result of the global economic crisis and had to go bankrupt in 1930 after an approved state loan was withdrawn. The bankruptcy proceedings began on April 2, 1930. This was not insignificant because the company had mainly concentrated on the structurally weak regional market in East Prussia and the surrounding area and was no longer able to operate profitably. As a result, the plant was taken over in 1930 by Büssing AG, which had already bought the Nationale Automobil-Gesellschaft (NAG) from Berlin in the same year and was called Büssing-NAG Vereinigte Nutzkraftwagen AG from January 1, 1931 , and initially under the name “ Büssing-NAG Werk Ost ”(Elbing) continued.

Here were directed by Bussing first few Komnick vehicles built further from the previous program as the road tractor in a revised form, then bodies and bodies for Büssing-buses developed, including from 1936 superstructures for the first production units of the Trambus as a forward control with underfloor engine of Types 650 TU (two-axle) and 900 TU (three-axle). 1938 was followed by a series of biplanes type Büssing-NAG 900N for Hamburg , Munich and Braunschweig and bus trailer . The name Büssing-Elbing was used informally for the Büssing omnibuses manufactured here .

During the Second World War from autumn 1939, the construction of Büssing buses and trucks continued, with the factory with the city of Elbing being practically completely spared from war damage. The buses and trucks for civilian use were mainly converted to wood gas drive.

After the war, the Soviets completely dismantled the plant, bringing all the facilities back into their own country as so-called “reparations”, so that Büssing-NAG ( operating again as Büssing AG from 1949 ) was lost.

Overview of automobiles

The C 2 was available as a passenger car and delivery van between 1923 and 1927 . There were also the 3 W trucks from 1922 to 1928, 5 L and / or 5 W from 1922 to 1930 and 2 T from 1925 to 1927. The 2 N from 1924 to 1927 was a bus.

Received vehicles

Today, original Komnick vehicles have become extremely rare. Only a few surviving tugs are known in Germany and neighboring countries.

literature

Wolfgang H. Gebhardt: The history of the German truck construction , Volume 2b, Weltbild Verlag 1994, ISBN 3-89350-811-2 . Pages 33–37

Web links

Wikibooks: Tractor Lexicon: Komnick - learning and teaching materials

The history of the Komnickwerke in Elbing
Photos of a Komnick tractor model PS 2 on the website “Die Komnickwerke in Elbing” by Christa Mühleisen

Individual evidence

^ ^A ^b Hans Christoph von Seherr-Thoss : The German automobile industry. Documentation from 1886 until today . Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt, Stuttgart 1974, ISBN 3-421-02284-4 , p. 111-112 .
^ Hans Christoph von Seherr-Thoss : The German automobile industry. Documentation from 1886 until today . Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt, Stuttgart 1974, ISBN 3-421-02284-4 , p. 173-174 .

[Die_deutsche_Automobilindustrie-111-1] A ^b Hans Christoph von Seherr-Thoss : The German automobile industry. Documentation from 1886 until today . Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt, Stuttgart 1974, ISBN 3-421-02284-4 , p. 111-112 .

[Die_deutsche_Automobilindustrie-173-2] Hans Christoph von Seherr-Thoss : The German automobile industry. Documentation from 1886 until today . Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt, Stuttgart 1974, ISBN 3-421-02284-4 , p. 173-174 .