Maschinenfabrik Sürth in 1920, when it was acquired by the Linde Company. |
The first production subsidiary - as far as manufacturing for plant construction in Höllriegelskreuth - came to the Linde Company in 1920: Maschinenfabrik Sürth near Cologne. The company was founded in 1871 as a manufacturer of carbon dioxide and air liquefaction plants and after a bankruptcy in 1908 was operated by the management under Ernst Volland (later on the Executive Board at Linde) together with Mannesmann Röhrenwerken. |
After many changes in the company’s structure, Maschinenfabrik Sürth was taken over by Deutsche Oxydric AG (DOAG) in 1916 and built rectification plants for its new parent company in competition with Linde, as well as compressors. That same year, DOAG was taken over by Linde and Griesheim-Elektron. In 1920 Linde integrated Maschinenfabrik Sürth with its Wiesbaden Department A (refrigeration machines).
Since Maschinenfabrik Sürth had only moderate sales in the refrigerator sector, in 1926 Linde bought additional expertise, taking over the G. H. Walb & Co. icebox factory in Mainz-Kostheim. One of the main factors in favor of G.H. Walb & Co. was its comprehensive icebox sales network throughout Germany.
But after great success in the 1950s, the company slipped back into the red with refrigerators in the 1960s. Linde therefore spun off this division into Linde Hausgeräte GmbH in 1965 and sold it to AEG.
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