UNION Fröndenberg

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UNION Fröndenberg was a German company for the production of bicycle parts in Fröndenberg / Ruhr .

history

The beginning until 1914

Wilhelm Feuerhake (1873-1925), who had completed commercial training in the Iserlohn wire and needle factory, and the technician Friedrich Köper founded Wilhelm Feuerhake & Co. in Fröndenberg in January 1899. In June 1905 the company merged with the steel wire manufacturer CD Wälzholz , a previous supplier, to "UNION Gesellschaft für Metallindustrie mbH". The company owned the area between today's market square and the areas north of the former freight yard. From 1905, the product range was steadily expanded: In 1905, in addition to the bicycle chains that were initially produced , roller chains developed in-house were added as well as their own pedals , and the production of spokes and nipples began two years later . In 1908/09, bells (for bells) and roller skates were added, as well as handlebars , brakes and cranks from 1909 . In 1914 hubs were produced for the first time ; However, as one could not assert oneself against Fichtel & Sachs on the market, the production of hubs was stopped again in 1925.

When the two Americans Floyd MacFarland and Jimmy Moran won the first Berlin six-day race in 1909 , their bikes were fitted with chains from Fröndenberg.

In 1913, Köper left the company with a severance payment. At the same time, Feuerhake and some employees of the Lange vom Langen Hof company founded a wire drawing shop called Feuerhake & Co. In the last year before the war, the UNION Fröndenberg produced 437,000 chains with a total length of 655,000 meters, 68.5 million spokes and nipples and 387,000 Pedal pairs, which meant that theoretically half of the bikes produced this year were equipped with pedals from Fröndenberg. The company had 535 employees. A planned expansion had to be suspended because of the outbreak of the First World War .

Between the wars

The UNION Fröndenberg ( DOMAG ) was already producing armaments during the First World War ; however, the number of employees fell by half. In 1919 the Dortmunder Union joined the company and held 80 percent of the company's capital. In 1920 the branch "Kettenfabrik Unna GmbH" was founded and in 1921 a plant in Werl , bicycle production increased rapidly after the war; By the end of 1919, 600 people were again working for the UNION. The company's buildings shaped the townscape of Fröndenberg, including 50 company apartments. A “social wing” had a “bathing establishment” that was open to all Fröndenbergers.

As a result of the occupation of the Ruhr in 1923 and the inflation of the company's founder Wilhelm Feuerhake committed 1925 suicide , the day before a general meeting should be decided on the future fate of the company. The company was saved by the entry of Albert Vögler and the United Steel Works and survived the global economic crisis with reduced production. Vögler commissioned Fritz Sils with the management and modernization of the plant. Vögler's nephew, the engineer Heinrich van de Loo, developed a cold-forged pedal axle . He rose to become executive director and later a partner.

Soon after the National Socialists came to power, production was switched to ammunition and war equipment. On September 30, 1937 the company was renamed UNION - Gesellschaft für Metallindustrie Sils, van de Loo u. Co., Fröndenberg / Ruhr renamed. In the same year, the metal goods factory Alfred Schwarz (MELAS) from Eisenach was taken over for the production of pedal reflectors.

During the Second World War, the factory in Fröndenberg employed around 700 forced laborers . The Hameln plant produced tensioning wires for wings, retractable aircraft landing gears and spark plugs for aircraft engines, and later also grenades. On September 1, 1943, the Weichsel-Metall-Union was founded in Thorn on the Vistula to manufacture detonators and was later relocated to Auschwitz at the instigation of the Reich government .

Reorganization after the Second World War

In November 1948, chain production was rebuilt. In 1964 the former BERKO factory ( Berko-Werke Quast & Eichert , expropriated in 1949) in Berlin was taken over for the production of bicycle dynamos . Production peaked in the mid-1970s and many parts were exported. Around 1973 the cold rolling mill was closed, the relatively new Wälzholz machines were dismantled and sent to Brazil. In 1979 UNION Fröndenberg USA was founded in Olney (Illinois) .

A lack of space for expansion and outdated technology were reasons to move from the city of Fröndenberg. In the 1980s the company moved to the industrial site of the former rubber factory "Atlantic", about 2 kilometers from the old location west of the city on Ardeyer Straße towards Ardey . The Art Nouveau buildings of the UNION company were blown up in 1981 due to major structural defects.

In the early 1990s, production was relocated to the Czech Republic. In 1995 the company was taken over by the Taiwanese Marwi Group.

The company has nothing to do with the Dutch bicycle manufacturer Union .

Engagement in cycling

The cycling team of the same name and sponsored by the manufacturer UNION Fröndenberg existed from 1991 (from 1992 as a professional team) to 1995. The team included cyclists Erik Zabel . After economic difficulties, the team shrank from eleven to seven drivers in 1993 and was finally given up completely in 1995. The trademark rights go to the Taiwanese Marwi Group.

literature

  • Wilhelm Matthies: UNION Fröndenberg 1899–1989: a contribution to German bicycle history ; Fröndenberg, UNION, 1990.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ CD Wälzholz - strip steel, electrical steel, cold strip, Bonder strip, narrow strip, profiles, tempered strip steel, company, 185 years of tradition. In: cdw.de. Retrieved January 12, 2015 .
  2. ↑ a b c d e f g h Wilhelm Mathies: Start in the crisis - UNION Fröndenberg. On the history of a company in the German bicycle parts industry . In: Deutsches Zweirad- und NSU-Museum (Ed.): 3rd International Cycling History Conference 1992 . Neckarsulm 1992, p. oS .
  3. ^ Fröndenberger Drahtwerk GmbH
  4. ↑ Jochen Engelhard von Nathusius: The History of Fröndenberg Street Names Diploma thesis, University of Applied Sciences Potsdam (PDF; 2.3 MB)
  5. ↑ Stefan Klemp: "There were no real Nazis here". Lit, 2000, ISBN 978-3-825-84604-6 , p. 345 ( limited preview in Google book search).
  6. ↑ Expansion and Innovation (1960 - 1990) ( Memento from May 27, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF file)
  7. ↑ Fröndenberg. In: mytrainsim.de. Archived from the original on January 6, 2012 ; accessed on January 12, 2015 .
  8. ↑ MARWI | History of Union. Retrieved May 19, 2020 .
  9. ^ Union Fröndenberg 1992. In: cyclingarchives.com. Retrieved January 12, 2015 .
  10. ^ Union Fröndenberg 1993. In: cyclingarchives.com. Retrieved January 12, 2015 .
  11. ↑ Westfalenpost : The short era when Frändeberg was a cycling stronghold , article from October 23, 2017, accessed on March 12, 2020