STETTIN IRONWORKS BERNHARD STOEWER 1896 - 1899
The restructuring of Bernhard Stoewer's original business on the 1st of March 1896 resulted in the formation of the public limited liability company "Sewing Machine and Bicycle Mfg. Bernhard Stoewer AG". Bernhard then registered a new private company with unlimited liability on the 10th September 1896. He named this company "Stettin Ironworks Bernhard Stoewer". This was located in Falkenwalder Chaussee in the Stettin suburb of Neutorny. Initially the new company made bicycle components for Bernhard's original company but they also made cast iron stoves and machine tools including lathes. Bernhard's two sons Emil (b.1873, d 1942) and Bernhard jnr. (b.1875, d. 1938) joined this Company and were being groomed by their father for managerial positions.
In 1897, Emil travelled to France where he saw a Benz motor car for the first time. He was impressed and upon return to Stettin decided with his brother that they should build motor cars. They immediately commenced research into the requirements for this endeavour and began experimenting. In 1897 they purchased an English motor tricycle and Emil rode this vehicle for several thousand km. Emil recorded: "the tricycle worked quite satisfactorily except for the open flame ignition which was prone to catch fire".
The brothers then went to Paris and purchased air-cooled, single cylinder engines from De Dion and fitted these to tricycles they had built at the Ironworks themselves. But as Emil recounted to a newspaper in 1938: "our ambition was to build a real car with four seats".
With his sons demonstrating such enthusiasm for their new venture, and probably in recognition that the motor car was the technology of the future, Bernhard Snr handed over the Stettin Ironworks to his sons in 1899. Emil and Bernhard Jnr immediately renamed the Company "Stoewer Brothers, Manufacturers of Motor Vehicles and Bicycle Components".
In 1897, Emil travelled to France where he saw a Benz motor car for the first time. He was impressed and upon return to Stettin decided with his brother that they should build motor cars. They immediately commenced research into the requirements for this endeavour and began experimenting. In 1897 they purchased an English motor tricycle and Emil rode this vehicle for several thousand km. Emil recorded: "the tricycle worked quite satisfactorily except for the open flame ignition which was prone to catch fire".
The brothers then went to Paris and purchased air-cooled, single cylinder engines from De Dion and fitted these to tricycles they had built at the Ironworks themselves. But as Emil recounted to a newspaper in 1938: "our ambition was to build a real car with four seats".
With his sons demonstrating such enthusiasm for their new venture, and probably in recognition that the motor car was the technology of the future, Bernhard Snr handed over the Stettin Ironworks to his sons in 1899. Emil and Bernhard Jnr immediately renamed the Company "Stoewer Brothers, Manufacturers of Motor Vehicles and Bicycle Components".