Tikkakoski (company)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Tikkakoski factory in the early 1930s.
Four-cycle engine , outboard motors , producing 1916-1918
Assembly of the Suomi M-31 , 1942
Tikka sewing machine
Repeating rifle Tikka T3

Oy Tikkakoski Ab was a Finnish company that produced firearms but also various consumer goods , especially sewing machines . It was named after the district Tikkakoski the city of Jyväskylä named where the factory was located. Tikkakoski was integrated into the Finnish arms manufacturer SAKO in 1983 , which continues the Tikka brand .

history

The company was founded in 1893 by Martin Stenij as a locksmith's shop near the mill and sawmill in Jyväsjoki. Several bankruptcies and changes of ownership followed. From 1918, the company started manufacturing weapons. From 1927 to 1940 the Tikkakoski manufactured the M27 rifle, a replica of the Russian Mosin-Nagant , for the Finnish armed forces . In 1930 the company was bought by the German arms dealer Willi Daugs and his partner Otto Ehrich .

The head of the Tikkakoski factory from 1927 was Oscar Östman, who knew the Finnish weapons designer Aimo Lahti personally well and was interested in his developments. Tikkakoski acquired the patent rights to the Suomi M-31 submachine gun , which proved to be very successful. Production began in 1931. The company initially traded under the name Tikkakoski Rauta ja Puuteollisuusyhtiö (Tikkakoski iron and wood industry) and shortened the name to Tikkakoski during this time . After 1933, Tikkakoski also produced ammunition belts and the Maxim M / 09-21 machine gun , a replica of the Russian PM 1910 .

During the Second World War , the company produced the mentioned submachine guns and machine guns and barrels for other weapons. It also produced .50 BMG cartridge ammunition for the Brewster F2A fighter aircraft supplied by the USA .

When the Finnish armed forces captured the Soviet submachine gun PPS-43 in the Continuation War , Willi Daugs was in favor of recreating the weapon in the other caliber. Hindered by a shortage of raw materials, Tikkakoski was only able to manufacture the prototypes of the resulting KP m / 44 submachine gun in summer 1944. Finland withdrew from the war in September 1944, just as mass production was about to start. Daugs fled Finland; He took the plans of the KP m / 44 with him, which then formed the basis for the DUX submachine gun .

After the war, Tikkakoski was confiscated for the Soviet Union in 1947 as a company with a German owner ; the production of firearms was stopped, instead the focus was on sewing machines. Only shotguns were made until 1953.

Finnish businessmen bought Tikkakoski back from the Soviet Union in 1957. From 1965, sport and hunting weapons were again manufactured. The manufacture of sewing machines ended around 1970.

In 1981 SAKO cooperated in the development of rifles. Nokia , the owner of SAKO, bought Tikkakoski in the 1970s and merged the companies on March 29, 1983 under Oy Sako-Tikka Ab . A little later, in 1987, the merger with Valmet led to another name change with Sako-Valmet and Sako-Tec ; Weapons production in Tikkakoski ended in 1989. SAKO continues the name Tikka as a brand for rifle models made in Riihimäki .

At the old company location in Tikkakoski, a remnant of the original company can be found Tikka Spikes as a manufacturer of spikes whose production began in 1959. In 2007 the company with 120 employees generated sales of 15 million euros. In 2008, Tikka Spikes was bought by Continental AG .

literature

  • Timo Hyytinen: Arma Fennica: suomalaiset aseet (Finnish firearms), Gummerus, 1985, ISBN 951-99681-6-4 .

Web links

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

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b Finnish Trade Review, 1976, p. IX [1]
  2. ↑ a b c d e Hyytinen: Arma Fennica , 1985, p. 191
  3. ↑ a b c Tikka: About Tikka (Company history, accessed on August 28, 2019 )
  4. ↑ Michael Heidler: Finnish Precision: Aimo Lahti's Famous M / 31 Submachine Gun in: Small Arms Review V22N1 (January 2018), online November 17, 2017
  5. ↑ Leroy Thompson: The Suomi Submachine Gun , Verlag Osprey Publishing , 2017, ISBN 9781472819659 , pp. 14-15 [2]
  6. ↑ Jerry Penry: .50 CALIBER HEADSTAMPS, Manufacturing Marks of WWII
  7. ↑ Leroy Thompson: The Suomi Submachine Gun , Verlag Osprey Publishing , 2017, ISBN 9781472819659 , pp. 72–73 [3]
  8. ^ Ian V. Hogg : The complete illustrated encyclopedia of the world's firearms , Verlag A & W Publishers, 1978, ISBN 9780894790317 , p. 128 [4]
  9. ↑ Michael Heidler: An Eventful Life: Willi Daugs and the DUX Submachine Guns , in: Small Arms Review (December 2012), online November 2nd, 2012
  10. ↑ Hyytinen: Arma Fennica , 1985, p 173
  11. ↑ Jay Cassell: The Ultimate Guide to Deer Hunting Skills, Tactics, and Techniques , Verlag Simon and Schuster, 2014, ISBN 9781632202352 , p. 478 [5]
  12. ^ Tikka: Sako Ltd. "90 YEARS OF ACCURACY AND COUNTING" (company history of Sako, accessed on August 28, 2019)
  13. ↑ Tikka Spikes: ( Tikka Spikes company information, accessed August 28, 2019)
  14. ^ Corinna Wnuck: Conti takes over Tikka Spikes , September 18, 2008 in: Finance