Test run of the "Heylandt" rocket car at Tempelhof Field in Berlin, 1920s.
Standing at the cockpit is Paulus
Heylandt. |
After the First World War, which had led to the loss of most of Linde’s foreign companies, the German economy suffered from hyperinflation, the occupation of the Rhineland and the payment of oppressive war reparations. But it was not long before the Linde Company regained its old strength, through strong innovation, although it was at first hindered by its entry into machine building. |
In order to improve operations at Maschinenfabrik Sürth, which was taken over in 1920, the Linde Company acquired the G. H. Walb & Co. refrigerated appliance factory in Mainz-Kostheim, which initially handled the sale of the small refrigeration machines made by Sürth.
In 1922, Linde purchased shares in Heylandt Gesellschaft für Apparatebau of Berlin, simultaneously acquiring the company’s patents for low-temperature engineering and process technology.
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In the oxygen machinery assembly hall in Berlin-Britz; Paulus
Heylandt (right) and his employee Michael Laschin.. |
Finally, in 1929, the Linde Company also purchased all of the shares in Güldner Motoren-Gesellschaft mbH, which Carl von Linde had co-founded in 1904. This company was later moved to Aschaffenburg (see chapter " Milestones "). That move, which was actually motivated with social welfare in mind, would in hindsight be seen as a major milestone, as it made possible the later entry in tractor manufacturing - and even more importantly, Güldner became the seed from which Linde’s Material Handling Business Segment would grow.