Praga (company)

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PRAGA-Export sro

logo
legal form sro
founding March 27, 1907 (as Pražská automobilní továrna - Prague Automobile Factory )
Seat Prague , Czech Republic
Branch Motor vehicle manufacturers , aircraft manufacturers , defense industry
Website www.pragaglobal.com

Praga V3S as a construction site vehicle 2013

Praga is a Czech engineering company and manufacturer of racing cars , karts and airplanes . Cars , trucks , military vehicles, and motorcycles were also built in the past .

history

On March 27, 1907, the První českomoravská továrna na stroje and Franz III. Baron von Ringhoffer from the Ringhoffer company the Pražská automobilní továrna - Prague automobile factory in Prague . Derived from this, the brand name of the first vehicles was PAT-PAF . The vehicles were initially replicas of brands Charron and Renault , as well as under license by Isotta Fraschini . On December 24, 1909, this company became Praga. The brand name was now also Praga . In 1910 the first truck was presented, in 1911 the first self-developed truck. Luxury automobiles were also produced. In 1929 the company merged with ČKD-Praga .

With the takeover of Breitfeld-Daněk AS in 1928/29, the production of BD motorcycles was taken over and continued to be built under the Praga brand. Here improved Jaroslav František Koch (the previously in. Avia worked), the 499-cm³- Bevel - OHC -Einzylindermaschine in tubular frame. Since the takeover by Praga, these motorcycles have been delivered in dark colors (dark blue). In 1930 a modern 346 cm³ OHC vertical shaft single-cylinder machine with cardan drive in a pressed steel frame supplemented the model range. While the 500 series motorcycles were sold, among other things, as government motorcycles, only small numbers of the 350 series machines were produced. The expensive motorcycle construction was stopped again in 1935.

After 1945, car production was no longer started. Praga worked with Tatra to manufacture trucks . Praga trucks were produced by Avia until 1984. Since then, Praga has been a supplier to the vehicle and aerospace industries. In 1985, Praga again presented commercial vehicles with the UV100 and UV120 models. In 1996 commercial vehicle production was transferred to Praga Čáslav as.

Praga is now also involved in the development of prototypes for the defense industry .

In 2016, Praga wants to bring a car for regular road traffic onto the market again with the R1R . The sports car should be limited to 68 pieces.

Car models

Restored Praga Piccolo , built in 1929
Restored Praga Piccolo , built in 1939

  • Praga Piccolo

  • Praga Grand 8

  • Praga Alfa

  • Praga R1

In Automobile Museum Aspang in Aspang-Markt in Lower Austria of the models Praga Alfa, Praga Lady and Praga Piccolo are exhibited vehicles.

Truck models

Praga V3S

Omnibuses

Bus Praga NO with 30 seats

Trolleybuses

The Praga TOT was the only trolley bus manufactured by Praga with an electric motor. Its length was 10.20 m, its width 2.45 m, it weighed 10.3 to 10.7 tons and could carry 78 to 80 passengers at a maximum speed of 50 km / h. 1 piece each was made in 1935 and 1937, another 10 pieces in 1938, for a total of 12 copies.

tank

Tank LTH - armored car 39
M53 / 59 anti-aircraft gun on Praga V3S

Planes

Aircraft engines

Artillery tractors

Praga chain pulling machines:

The Breitfeld-Daněk company had been manufacturing Hanomag chain tractors under license since the early 1920s , and their production was taken over by Praga in 1927/28 together with motorcycle production. It concerned the types BD-25 (license of the Hanomag WD Z-25, 4 cylinders, 4252 cm³, 25 PS) and BD III (license of the Hanomag WD-50: 4 cylinders 8220 cm³, 50 PS) It is unclear to what extent, after the takeover by Praga (1928), this type, of which Breitfeld-Daněk had delivered about a dozen to the Czech army in 1925/6, was still being built.

At least Praga was able to build on the experience with these vehicles and manufactured some chain pulling machines in the 1930s, which will be listed below. They had the designation T (tractor), followed by a Roman or Arabic numeral: The Roman denoted the low-speed variants, the Arabic the high-speed variants:

Type metric tons Length (m) Width (m) Height (m) cylinder cm³ PS km / h train (to)
Praga III 3.12 3.95 1.73 2.26 3,820 27 10 1.8
Praga TIII / 3 5.4 3.95 1.73 2.26 4th 4,387 78 30th 1.8
Praga IV 4.64 4.07 1.59 1.85 4th 6,082 57 21st 4.5
Praga TV 4.5 4.79 1.8 6th 7,796 75 18th 4.3
Praga T 5 6th 7,796 90 30th
Praga T VI 7.05 4.8 1.8 1.7 6th 7,754 75 25th 6th
Praga T 6 7.05 4.8 1.8 1.7 6th 7,754 110 31 6th
Praga T 7 8.66 5.83 2.42 2.08 6th 11,530 112 31 7th
Praga T 8 9.65 5.7 2.06 2.47 6th 11,530 112 31 8th
Praga T 9 11.6 5.6 2.45 2.54 8th 14,230 142 20th 10

Praga T-III: Originally developed on behalf of Greece from the Breitfeld-Daněk types described above, 32 units were delivered to the Czech army in 1935, two of which were added to the Slovak army in 1939 after the break-up of Czechoslovakia, the rest to the Wehrmacht . The engine of the vehicle was a throttled version of the engine of the Praga Grand from 1912, as it had also been installed in the Praga R truck from 1922 to 1926: a little inefficient, but fully developed after a construction period of 20 years.

Praga T-III / 3:

Praga T-III / 3

It was built due to demands from the Netherlands, which were looking for a light chain tractor for the Dutch-Indian army . The vehicle received a new chassis, identical to that of the Praga AH-4 light tank. The engine was a new development. The Dutch army tested a prototype and an order for 40 vehicles in two series (23 and 17 units) was placed. The Second World War broke out even before delivery , the German Reich confiscated all military vehicles manufactured on behalf of foreign governments and also took over these tractors after completion from 1939 to 1941 for the Wehrmacht. According to Spielberger, a total of 126 pieces were made, but it should be noted that Spielberger's publications date from the 1970s and he apparently did not know many of the sources that only became accessible after the fall of the Iron Curtain , possibly he has the T-III and T-IV tractors mistaken.

Praga T-IV: The engine for this vehicle had been installed in the five-ton truck Praga N since 1924 and could also be found in the Praga P-II battle tank that was manufactured at the same time. From 1935 to 1939, after a prototype was built, 114 tractors were procured for the Czech army, 38 of which went to the Slovak army in 1939, after the break-up of Czechoslovakia, and the rest to the Wehrmacht. According to Spielberger, only 25 pieces were made.

Praga TV and T-5: The engine for this tractor, a six-cylinder petrol engine, was also found in the six-tonne TNH truck built at the same time, as well as in some variants of the Praga TNH tank. 13 tractors were delivered to Turkey between 1934 and 1935 , according to Spielberger two series in an unnamed number, one for the Dutch East Indies and one for the Wehrmacht. On page 97 of his book, Spielberger depicts an alleged TV tractor, which, however, has the chassis of the T-III / 3: Spielberger may therefore be confused with the T-III / 3.

Praga T-VI and T-6: The variant built in the largest number, manufactured from 1937 to 1944. The engine was a slightly throttled variant of the engine of the Panzer 38 (t) . Initially, Turkey ordered 434 pieces, all of which could probably be delivered before the war began. Then in 1941 Romania ordered 221 pieces, but received only 130, the rest went to the Wehrmacht. Similarly, 30 copies that Portugal ordered in 1942 all went to the Wehrmacht. Sweden showed interest but did not place an order. Slovakia received eight of 30 orders, the rest went to the Wehrmacht. In 1942, the SS Command Main Office ordered 500 units for the Waffen-SS, 95 of which were delivered by November 1943 - whether and when the rest was delivered remains open, Spielberger mentions another 76 units for 1944: We must not overlook the fact that Praga will be available from the middle 1944 was fully occupied with the production of the Hetzer tank destroyer and probably hardly had any further capacities free.

A total of about 900 pieces are said to have been built.

Praga T-7 and T8: 40 and 62 units respectively were ordered by Turkey in 1937 and delivered to them by 1939. The engine, a large six-cylinder petrol engine, also ran in the Praga TO bus built at the same time.

Praga T-9: Originally also a Turkish order. A total of 76 units, 16 of which were delivered to Turkey by the start of the war, of the remainder confiscated when the war broke out, five were delivered to Slovakia, and the remainder to the Wehrmacht by 1943. The eight-cylinder petrol engine of this tractor was also installed in the tank prototype 38 (t) nA (= new type).

T-VI, T-6, T-7, T-8 and T-9 had very similar undercarriages, each with eight rollers and three or (T-9) four support rollers.

Motorcycle models

Praga BD 500 DOHC (1929)
Praga BC 350 OHC (1932)

Praga BD 500 DOHC

  • Displacement: 499 cm³
  • Power: 15 HP at 4000 min -1
  • Weight: 178 kg
  • Top speed: 105 km / h

Praga BC 350 OHC

  • Bore: 70 mm
  • Stroke: 90 mm
  • Displacement: 346 cm³
  • Power: 12 HP at 3000 min -1
  • Weight: 140 kg
  • Top speed: 95 km / h

Praga ED 250

Praga ED 610

literature

  • Commercial vehicles from the Czechoslovak Republic. In: Motor Vehicle Technology 11/1956, pp. 418-420.
  • Commercial vehicles on the III. Czechoslovak Engineering Exhibition. In: Motor Vehicle Technology 9/1957, pp. 346–347.
  • Marián Šuman-Hreblay: Encyclopedie automobilů. České a slovenské osobní automobily od roku 1815 do současnosti. Computer Press, Brno 2007, ISBN 978-80-251-1587-9 . (Czech)
  • Emil Prihoda: Praga - Devadesat let vyroby automobilu. Praha 1998, ISBN 80-902542-1-7 . (Czech)
  • Francev, Vladimir / Kliment, Charles K .: Ceskoslovenská obrnená vozidla 1918–48 . Prague 2004.
  • Spielberger, Walter J .: The Panzer-Kampfwagen 35 (t) and 38 (t) and their variants including the Czechoslovak army motorization 1920–45 . Vol. 11 of the series "Military Vehicles", Stuttgart 1980.
  • Spielberger, Walter J .: The wheeled and full-chain tractors of the German Army 1871–1945 . Vol. 10 of the series "Military Vehicles", Stuttgart 1978

Web links

Commons : Praga  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d Šuman-Hreblay: Encyclopedie automobilů.
  2. ↑ R1R on www.pragaglobal.com , accessed on July 30, 2015
  3. ↑ Emil Prihoda: Devadesat let výroby automobilu. Prague 1998, p. 395.