English Summary Walter Ulreich / Wolfgang Wehap Die Geschichte Der PUCH-Fahrräder ISBN 978-3-7059-0381-4 22,5 X 26,5 Cm, 400 Seiten Mit Ca
English Summary Walter Ulreich / Wolfgang Wehap Die Geschichte der PUCH-Fahrräder ISBN 978-3-7059-0381-4 22,5 x 26,5 cm, 400 Seiten mit ca. 500 farbigen Abb., Hardcover mit Schutzumschlag, geb., Euro 48,– 1. Beginnings of Bicycle Manufacturing in Austria and Weishaupt Verlag • www.weishaupt.at Styria (1885 – 1889) High wheel bicycles first appeared in Austria-Hungary in 1880. Since they were originally imported from England, they were called “bicycles”. The word Fahrrad came later (though in Swiss German, Velo became the established term). Regular production of high wheel bicycles in Austria-Hungary began in Jan Kohout’s factory for agricultural machines in Smíchov, near Prague, in 1880, following English designs. Kohout’s sons Josef and Petr made a name for themselves and the bicycles as successful racers. Smaller makers before 1885, such as Valentin Wiegele in Korpitsch near Villach, only became known locally. In Vienna, Karl Greger’s Velociped-Fabrik started making high wheel bicycles in 1884 under the brand name ‘Austria’; the annual output seems to have reached 300–400 bicy- cles. In 1896, Greger was mentioned as “the oldest bicycle factory of Austria and one of the largest on the continent”, and as “ founder of the bicycle industry in Austria-Hunga- ry”. At about the same time as Greger, Carl Goldeband and the sewing-machine factory of H. Wagner also began making bicycles in Vienna. In the years from 1885 to 1889, there is good evidence that bicycles were also being made by Mathias Allmer, Josef Benesch und Josef Eigler in Graz, Johann Jax in Linz, Josef Fritsch in Eger (Cheb), Julius Mickerts und Otto Schäffler in Vienna, Nicolaus Heid in Stockerau, near Vienna and G.
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