Johann Puch ( sl, Janez Puh, 27 June 1862 – 19 July 1914) was a Slovene inventor and

mechanic A mechanic is an artisan, skilled tradesperson, or technician who uses tools to build, maintain, or repair machinery, especially cars. Duties Most mechanics specialize in a particular field, such as auto body mechanics, air conditioning an ...

who went on to become the founder of the Austrian

Puch Puch () is a manufacturing company located in Graz, Austria. The company was founded in 1899 by the industrialist Johann Puch and produced automobiles, bicycles, mopeds, and motorcycles. It was a subsidiary of the large Steyr-Daimler-Puch cong ...

automobile plants, then one of the most significant vehicle producers in Europe.

Biography

Johann Puch was born on 27 June 1862 to Slovene peasants at house no. 79 in

Sakušak Sakušak (, in older sources also ''Sakošak'', german: Sakuschak) is a settlement in the Slovene Hills ( sl, Slovenske gorice) in the Municipality of Juršinci in northeastern Slovenia. The area is part of the traditional region of Styria. It is n ...

near Ptuj (''Pettau''), part of Lower Styria,

Slovenia Slovenia ( ; sl, Slovenija ), officially the Republic of Slovenia (Slovene: , abbr.: ''RS''), is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the southeast, an ...

. He was the son of the cottager Franz Puch and Agnes Ziserl Puch, and he was baptized ''Johann Puch'' the same day in Juršinci. The eldest son of nine children, he left his family home at the age of eight and at twelve apprenticed as a locksmith in Ptuj. Having finished his training in 1877, he moved to the Styrian capital Graz (''Gradec''), where he did his military service and from 1885 worked for several employers. He concentrated on bicycle manufacturing and soon became a noted specialist. In 1889 Puch travelled to a bicycle trade fair in

Leipzig Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as ...

, where he concluded a contract with

Thomas Humber Thomas Humber (16 October 1841 – 24 November 1910) was a British engineer and cycle manufacturer who developed and patented a safety bicycle (1884) with a diamond-shaped frame and wheels of similar size. It became a pattern for subsequent ...

's cycle company. The same year he founded his first workshop in Graz and started to distribute ''Styria''

safety bicycle A safety bicycle (or simply a safety) is a type of bicycle that became very popular beginning in the late 1880s as an alternative to the penny-farthing ("ordinary") and is now the most common type of bicycle. Early bicycles of this style were know ...

s. His enterprise quickly expanded and in 1891 he founded the ''Johann Puch & Comp.'' trading company with 34 employees, selling bicycles all over

Austria-Hungary Austria-Hungary, often referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire,, the Dual Monarchy, or Austria, was a constitutional monarchy and great power in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. It was formed with the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of ...

, as well as exporting to the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

and

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

. Racers on ''Styria'' bicycles were successful in long-distance road races, most notably Josef Fischer, winner of the first edition of

Paris–Roubaix Paris–Roubaix is a one-day professional bicycle road race in northern France, starting north of Paris and finishing in Roubaix, at the border with Belgium. It is one of cycling's oldest races, and is one of the ' Monuments' or classics of th ...

in 1896. At that time, Puch already employed more than 300 workers and sold about 6,000 bicycle per annum. Puch voiturette01

His achievements but also discrepancies with his affiliates led to the founding of his own manufacturing company in 1899, called ''Johann Puch - Erste steiermärkische Fahrrad-Fabriks-Actien Gesellschaft'' (First Styrian Bicycle Stock Company) in Graz. The company started producing

motorcycle A motorcycle (motorbike, bike, or trike (if three-wheeled)) is a two or three-wheeled motor vehicle steered by a handlebar. Motorcycle design varies greatly to suit a range of different purposes: long-distance travel, commuting, cruising ...

s in 1903 and

automobile A car or automobile is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of ''cars'' say that they run primarily on roads, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport people instead of goods. The year 1886 is regarde ...

s in 1904. By 1912 Puch's factory employed 1,100 workers and manufactured 300 cars, 300 motorcycles and 16,000 bicycles per year. He retired in 1912 but remained honorary president of the company. Up to 1914

developed 21 different types of cars, and also

lorries A truck or lorry is a motor vehicle designed to transport cargo, carry specialized payloads, or perform other utilitarian work. Trucks vary greatly in size, power, and configuration, but the vast majority feature body-on-frame construction ...

bus A bus (contracted from omnibus, with variants multibus, motorbus, autobus, etc.) is a road vehicle that carries significantly more passengers than an average car or van. It is most commonly used in public transport, but is also in use for cha ...

es, military and some other special vehicles, including sedan limousines for the imperial Habsburg family. He successfully obtained

patent A patent is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited period of time in exchange for publishing an enabling disclosure of the invention."A ...

s for more than 35 inventions and improvements. He died of a stroke while attending a horserace in Agram (''Zagreb''). The Puch company manufactured vehicles for the

Austro-Hungarian Army The Austro-Hungarian Army (, literally "Ground Forces of the Austro-Hungarians"; , literally "Imperial and Royal Army") was the ground force of the Austro-Hungarian Dual Monarchy from 1867 to 1918. It was composed of three parts: the joint arm ...

during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. Puch's motorcycles and cars were successful in races and rallies all over Europe and carried his name among vehicle producers. From 1934 the tradition was continued by the Steyr-Daimler-Puch company in Graz and

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

References

External links

Johann Puch-Museum Graz
{{DEFAULTSORT:Puch, Johann 1862 births 1914 deaths Austrian inventors Slovenian inventors Austrian automotive pioneers Austrian people of Slovenian descent Slovenian businesspeople Slovenian automobile designers People from the Municipality of Juršinci Slovenian industrialists

Biography

See also

References

External links