Henschel & Son

Henschel & Son (German: Henschel und Sohn) was a German company, located in Kassel, best known during the 20th century as a maker of transportation equipment, including locomotives, trucks, buses and trolleybuses, and armoured fighting vehicles and weapons.

"Henschel" redirects here. For other uses, see Henschel (disambiguation).
Henschel & Son; Henschel Works
(Henschel & Sohn, Henschel-Werke)
TypeLimited company
(Aktiengesellschaft)
IndustryMechanical engineering, automotive engineering
Founded1810 as Henschel & Son
FateMerged, later dissolved
Headquarters
Kassel, Germany
Steam locomotive built by Henschel & Son in 1936, at the São Paulo Technology Museum, in Brazil
Bond of Henschel & Sohn, issued February 1920

Georg Christian Carl Henschel founded the factory in 1810 at Kassel. His son Carl Anton Henschel founded another factory in 1837. In 1848, the company began manufacturing locomotives. The factory became the largest locomotive manufacturer in Germany by the 20th century. Henschel built 10 articulated steam trucks, using Doble steam designs, for Deutsche Reichsbahn railways as delivery trucks. Several cars were built as well, one of which became Hermann Göring's staff car. In 1935 Henschel was able to upgrade its various steam locomotives to a high-speed Streamliner type with a maximum speeds of up to 140 km/h (87 mph) by the addition of a removable shell over the old steam locomotive.[1] In 1918, Henschel began the production of gearboxes at the Kassel plant. In January 1925, Henschel & Son began building trucks and buses.

World War II
Henschel built (1941) 4-6-4 VR Class Pr2 steam locomotive (no. 1800) at Haapamäki Steam Locomotive Museum in Keuruu, Finland
A Tiger I is loaded onto a special rail car at the Henschel plant.
The Henschel Hs 129B ground attack aircraft
Locomotive nameplate (1883)

Early in 1935, Henschel began manufacturing Panzer I tanks. During World War II, the firm was responsible for license production of the Dornier Do 17Z medium bomber, and in 1939–1940 it began large-scale production of the Panzer III. Henschel was the sole manufacturer of the Tiger I,[2] and alongside Porsche the Tiger II. In 1945, the company had 8,000 workers working in two shifts each of 12 hours, and forced labour was used extensively. The company's factories, which also manufactured narrow-gauge locomotives, were among the most important Allied bomber targets and were nearly completely destroyed.

Aviation

Henschel Flugzeugwerke aircraft and missiles included:

Post-war business
1951 restored pony engine

Manufacturing began again in 1948. In 1964, the company took over Rheinische Stahlwerke and became Rheinstahl Henschel AG (Hanomag). The truck production of Henschel was merged with that of Hanomag that spun off to form Hanomag-Henschel in 1969, this later went to Daimler-Benz, which discontinued the brand name Hanomag-Henschel in 1974. The production was switched to commercial vehicle axles, in this area it is the largest factory in Europe. In 1976 Thyssen-Henschel, and 1990 ABB Henschel AG. In 1996, the company became ABB Daimler Benz Transportation Adtranz. The company was subsequently acquired by Bombardier (Canada) around 2002. The Kassel facility still exists and is one of the world's largest manufacturers of locomotives (Henschel Antriebstechnik).

Locomotives
Henschel locomotive on Egyptian National Railways

Private, mining and industry railways

Generation 1
  • Henschel DH 110
  • Henschel DH 200
  • Henschel DH 360
  • Henschel DH 550
Generation 2
  • Henschel DH 240
  • Henschel DH 360
  • Henschel DH 390
  • Henschel DH 440
  • Henschel DH 630
  • Henschel DH 875
  • Henschel DHG 630
  • Henschel DH 500
  • Henschel DH 500
Generation 3
  • Henschel DH 120 B
  • Henschel DH 180 B
  • Henschel DH 240 B
  • Henschel DH 360 B
  • Henschel DH 500 B
  • Henschel DH 120 B
  • Henschel DH 120 B
  • Henschel DH 120 B
  • Henschel DH 120 B
  • Henschel DH 360 Ca
  • Henschel DH 440 Ca
  • Henschel DH 500 Ca
  • Henschel DH 600 Ca
  • Henschel DH 700 Ci
  • Henschel DH 360 D
  • Henschel DH 700 D
  • Henschel DH 850 D
Henschel nameplate on Sri Lanka Railways Class M6 locomotive
Generation 4
  • Henschel DHG 500 C
  • Henschel DHG 700 C
  • Henschel DHG 1000 BB
  • Henschel DHG 1200 BB
Generation 5
  • Henschel DHG 300 B
  • Henschel DHG 700 C
  • Henschel DHG 700 C-F
  • Henschel DHG 800 BB
  • Henschel DHG 1200 BB
Generation 6
  • Henschel DHG 300 B
  • Henschel DE 500 C
Esslinger
  • Henschel DHG 160 B
  • Henschel DHG 200 B
  • Henschel DHG 240 B
  • Henschel DHG 275 B
  • Henschel DHG 330 C
Bundesbahn
Export

Notable employees

See also

References
  1. "Locomotive with Streamline Shell is Designed for Speed" Popular Mechanics October 1935 bottom of page 541
  2. "The Henschel Tiger Factory". alanbamby.com. Retrieved November 12, 2018.
  3. "Diesel Locomotive Roster – the WDM (ALCO) Series | 24 Coaches". 30 October 2013. Archived from the original on 2016-11-23. Retrieved 2016-11-23.
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