Christian manz
Part of the advances of the Germans in the construction of automobiles is due to the prohibition of making airplanes, a fact that occurred after the First World War and that would be repeated after the second war. With this, the allied countries tried to prevent them from having again an industry capable of manufacturing avant-garde war material, although all these prohibitions were useless, since the German aeronautical engineers transferred their great knowledge and their overwhelming concern to other industries such as the automobile industry. .
A good example of what has been said is the Grade stroller that was born after the Great War, a pioneer in such relevant issues as construction economics. The Grade had a lighter structure and with fewer parts to reduce costs and maintenance; In other words, it is another precedent of automobile for the people. As we have just said, its most striking detail was the reduction of components: a conventional car in those years had more than 2.000 parts, while the one that concerns us today only employed 300.
Therefore, there was much less that could be broken or worn. With this policy it was possible to reduce production and material costs and offer the car at a much more competitive price; In this way, Hans Grade's company was able to access a new sector of customers who previously could not buy a car. The result was that the stroller became the best-selling small car in Germany for a few months.
Grade, the pioneer of aviation
H. Grade flew in 1908 in Germany's first motorized airplane, eight meters high and over a distance of about 60 meters. As the story goes, this event was, like many others, the consequence of an unexpected event: When Grade was testing the stability of the plane on a runway, his wife crossed the road and had to decide whether to roll over it or use the lever to raise the plane off the ground.
He opted for the latter ... and flew. A year later it won a prestigious and well-endowed award by managing to describe an eight around two marks located within a kilometer of each other, and landing safely. The 40.000 German marks obtained with that feat were invested in the creation of his own aircraft factory and in a school for future pilots. It also inaugurated an air postal service between two towns around Berlin.
But the Versailles "Peace" Treaty, drawn up at the end of World War I, prohibited Germany from producing aircraft, leaving Grade in a rather precarious situation. He tried unsuccessfully to make a living just fixing them, but had to close his facilities shortly after. Finding himself unable to work with his beloved birds, He then directed his technical concerns towards the automotive field; he would return to his adventures with motorcycles and engines, subjects that he understood perfectly, and also with the small car affordable for almost everyone.
1- Hans Grade launches one of his planes (Thanks to Valentin Izaguirre)
2- As we will see, the Grade offered some "country" skills to take into account
Earlier, Hans Grade had built and patented a two-stroke gasoline engine in 1905, which he mounted on a moped of his own design. Grade produced both the motorcycle and the engines in a factory located in Bork, from where propellants for boats and industrial engines of up to 150 hp of power soon also came out. He also developed an 80 hp rotary engine (!).
In 1915, in the middle of the world war, he tested a curious car with tandem seats to which he had implemented a mechanics of a two-stroke cylinder and 9 HP of power. The transmission was carried out by means of a leather strap to the rear wheels. It was just a concept, but with good performance and a speed of about 75 km / h, in addition to a surprising lightness that did not detract from its abilities (rather the opposite) on the runway where it was tested. At that time, the engineer still did not imagine that he would soon have to live off his cars.
He created his own car company in 1921, first a private company, for months later to opt for an anonymous one based in Berlin thanks to the support of a bank and a consortium for the manufacture of industrial engines. It was there that the first series-produced model was born, the F1, with a 12-hp, 850-cc single-cylinder engine. Later it would offer versions with 14-16 hp two-cylinder mechanics (F2 and F2a) and a 24 hp four-cylinder, the F4.
1- Frame of the F1, with an adequate weight distribution
2- Front view of a well thought out stroller
