Maffei
Encyclopedia
Maffei was a manufacturer of railway locomotive
Locomotive
A locomotive is a railway vehicle that provides the motive power for a train. The word originates from the Latin loco – "from a place", ablative of locus, "place" + Medieval Latin motivus, "causing motion", and is a shortened form of the term locomotive engine, first used in the early 19th...

s based in Munich
Munich
Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...

, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

. Perhaps its most famous product
Product (business)
In general, the product is defined as a "thing produced by labor or effort" or the "result of an act or a process", and stems from the verb produce, from the Latin prōdūce ' lead or bring forth'. Since 1575, the word "product" has referred to anything produced...

 was the S3/6
Bavarian S 3/6
The Class S 3/6 steam locomotives of the Royal Bavarian State Railways were express train locomotives with a 4-6-2 Pacific or 2'C1' wheel arrangement....

 4-6-2
4-6-2
4-6-2, in the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, represents the wheel arrangement of four leading wheels on two axles , six powered and coupled driving wheels on three axles, and two trailing wheels on one axle .These locomotives are also known as Pacifics...

 locomotive of 1908.

Foundation

In 1836, Joseph Anton, Ritter von Maffei
Joseph Anton von Maffei
Joseph Anton von Maffei was a German industrialist. Together with Joseph von Baader and Baron Theodor Freiherr von Cramer-Klett , Maffei was one of the three most important railway pioneers in Bavaria.-Early life:Joseph Anton Maffei was born in Munich, the son of an Italian tradesman from Verona...

 established the "J. A. Maffei" locomotive works in the English Garden district of Munich. The aim was to make Bavaria competitive in the machine industry. From these small beginnings a world-renowned locomotive works eventually developed.

Maffei, amongst other things, involved itself with the building of the Augsburg
Augsburg
Augsburg is a city in the south-west of Bavaria, Germany. It is a university town and home of the Regierungsbezirk Schwaben and the Bezirk Schwaben. Augsburg is an urban district and home to the institutions of the Landkreis Augsburg. It is, as of 2008, the third-largest city in Bavaria with a...

 Munich line and supported Johann Ulrich Himbsel in the building of the Munich - Starnberg
Starnberg
The city of Starnberg is in Bavaria, Germany, some 30 km south-west of Munich. It lies at the north end of Lake Starnberg, in the heart of the "Five Lakes Country", and serves as capital of the district of Starnberg...

 line. Maffei, at Lake Starnberg, built their first steamer "Maximilian". By 1926 they had built 44 steam ships.

Railways

In 1864 they delivered their 500th locomotive. Maffei, as a Munich town councillor, was praised for the building of the Hotel "Bayerischer Hof". Well-known products of the locomotive works are the S 2/6
Bavarian S 2/6
The Royal Bavarian State Railways' sole class S 2/6 steam locomotive was built in 1906 by the firm of Maffei in Munich, Germany. It was of 4-4-4 wheel arrangement in the Whyte notation, or 2'B2' h4v in the UIC classification scheme, and was a 4-cylinder, von Borries, balanced compound locomotive. ...

 Express Locomotive which held the 1907 German speed record of 154.5 km/h) and the BavariaS 3/6. Examples of the S 3/6 are preserved in the Deutsches Museum
Deutsches Museum
The Deutsches Museum in Munich, Germany, is the world's largest museum of technology and science, with approximately 1.5 million visitors per year and about 28,000 exhibited objects from 50 fields of science and technology. The museum was founded on June 28, 1903, at a meeting of the Association...

 in Munich and in the Nuremberg
Nuremberg
Nuremberg[p] is a city in the German state of Bavaria, in the administrative region of Middle Franconia. Situated on the Pegnitz river and the Rhine–Main–Danube Canal, it is located about north of Munich and is Franconia's largest city. The population is 505,664...

 Transport Museum.

In 1930 the form of J.A.Maffei went into bankruptcy
Bankruptcy
Bankruptcy is a legal status of an insolvent person or an organisation, that is, one that cannot repay the debts owed to creditors. In most jurisdictions bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the debtor....

 and in 1931 merged with the Krauss Company to form Krauss-Maffei
Krauss-Maffei
The Krauss-Maffei Wegmann GmbH & Co KG or simply Krauss-Maffei is an injection molding machine manufacturer and defence company based in Munich, Germany...

. The Maffei mansion in Feldafing
Feldafing
Feldafing is a municipality in Starnberg district, Bavaria, Germany, and is located on the west shore of Lake Starnberg, southwest of Munich.- History :...

, by Lake Starnberg, today houses a museum and exhibitions.

Krauss Maffei

Krauss-Maffei
Krauss-Maffei
The Krauss-Maffei Wegmann GmbH & Co KG or simply Krauss-Maffei is an injection molding machine manufacturer and defence company based in Munich, Germany...

 developed from the 1931 union of the two Munich companies Maffei and Krauss & CO. Both had built major German locomotives; Maffei also built other steam driven vehicles. The headquarters of the firm remain in Munich.

Tank Production

Maffei to this day remains a major tank producer, having outshopped some 10000 Leopard tanks since the 1950’s
1950s
The 1950s or The Fifties was the decade that began on January 1, 1950 and ended on December 31, 1959. The decade was the sixth decade of the 20th century...

. Many Nato allies have
used them. With the commencement of German rearmament the military product range technology was revived. In 1963 Krauss Maffei developed the Leopard (replaced, commencing 1972 by the leopard 2
Leopard 2
The Leopard 2 is a main battle tank developed by Krauss-Maffei in the early 1970s for the West German Army. The tank first entered service in 1979 and succeeded the earlier Leopard 1 as the main battle tank of the German Army. Various versions have served in the armed forces of Germany and twelve...

); Productio of the AAA armored vehicle commenced in1976.

Maffei has a diverse military product line:
  • Gepard air defense
  • Self-propelled howitzer 2000
  • MARS artillery rocket launching system
  • Fennek reconnaissance car
  • Boxer armored transport vehicle
  • Dingo all protection vehicle
  • Terrier crew car
  • Mungo light air landing vehicle


In the 1970s Krauss Maffei was involved in the development of the Transrapid
Transrapid
Transrapid is a German high-speed monorail train using magnetic levitation. Based on a patent from 1934, planning of the Transrapid system started in 1969. The test facility for the system in Emsland, Germany was completed in 1987...

 suspension railway.

Plastics

The company had produced injection moulding equipment since 1957. In the year 1964 the company Eckert & Ziegler GmbH was taken over.

In 1986 the plastics equipment division was separated and became Krauss Maffei Plastics Engineering, and in 2000 took over the relevant trademark
Trademark
A trademark, trade mark, or trade-mark is a distinctive sign or indicator used by an individual, business organization, or other legal entity to identify that the products or services to consumers with which the trademark appears originate from a unique source, and to distinguish its products or...

s.

Merger

Krauss Maffei merged with Demag
Demag
Demag or Demag Cranes AG is a German heavy equipment manufacturer now controlled by US based Terex. The roots of Demag date back prior to its formation, but became Märkische Maschinenbau-Anstalt, Ludwig A.-G in 1906 as the biggest crane building company in Germany employing 250-300 people...

 and Mannesmann
Mannesmann
Mannesmann AG was a German corporation with headquarters in Düsseldorf. The company was founded in 1890 originally to produce seamless steel tubes. It was traded on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange. The company had 130,860 employees worldwide and revenues of €23.27 billion.Over time, Mannesmann...

 in 1999 and in turn the new conglomerate was sold to Siemens AG
Siemens AG
Siemens AG is a German multinational conglomerate company headquartered in Munich, Germany. It is the largest Europe-based electronics and electrical engineering company....

.

Co-operation between Wegmann
Wegmann
The term Wegmann can relate to:* Collège Louise Wegman is a non-denominational school serving students in Kindergarten* Henschel-Wegmann Train : a unique passenger express train operated by the Deutsche Reichsbahn in Germany...

 and Krauss Maffei was already well established. Wegmann
Wegmann
The term Wegmann can relate to:* Collège Louise Wegman is a non-denominational school serving students in Kindergarten* Henschel-Wegmann Train : a unique passenger express train operated by the Deutsche Reichsbahn in Germany...

had supplied the turrets, among other things, for many Krauss Maffei tanks. The "tank family" comprises not only battle tanks but also combat engineering vehicles, air defense, artillery and reconnaissance and transportation tanks.
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