Robert Schwenke

Robert Schwenke (* 1873 ; † 1944 ) was a German designer and automobile pioneer.

employment

After completing his studies, he found employment as an engineer at Vulkan Automobilgesellschaft from 1895 to 1905 , where he constructed small electric vehicles. He then switched to the Watt accumulator works in Berlin . There he was responsible for the construction of omnibuses with all-wheel drive for the Berlin transport company .

Front-wheel drive car

In 1905 he designed an open small car with front-wheel drive , the first construction of its kind in Germany. The car was equipped with an air-cooled V4 engine and had a De Dion- type front axle . The car was exhibited at the 1905 Motor Show in Berlin and then initially disappeared into oblivion, but reappeared in 1936 and has since been exhibited in the Deutsches Museum in Munich (today: Verkehrszentrum (Deutsches Museum) ). For the first time, a bipod joint was used industrially here .

Based on his invention u. a. the front-wheel drive cars from DKW .

More work

Schwenke also constructed a cardan drive motorcycle and four-wheel drive trucks .

source

• Halwart Schrader: German Cars 1886–1920 . 1st edition. Motorbuch Verlag Stuttgart (2002). ISBN 3-613-02211-7 . Page 345