"50 Jahre Friedrich Deckel"

"50 Jahre Friedrich Deckel" is a book published in 1953, and I heard it mentioned on this forum at some time.
I have now found one of those books and thought to describe it briefly here for those who dont know it.
Its got 148 pages and a fabric binder. It basicly describes the life and times of the Deckel company and its founder. It is interesting to read about how things came about. Focus is clearly on the camera shutter evolvement, which is the root of the company ("was" actually), and its a complicated subject. Only then in the next step the evolvement of the machine tool side occured and is described in the book. Some machines are mentioned I never heard of, e.g. a desk top modell of the engraver called G0, built until 1943. The FP was built from 1918 to 1932, it was followed by the FP1, which is more familiar to us.
In the third part of the book the Deckel involvement into Diesel injection pumps is covered, which I had never heard of.
The book has numerous color pictures, but is certainly not a picture book.
The writing is typical 1950s style and does seem antiquated now. The writing tries to be witty at times. Attempts at super correct almost pedantic repectability are mixed with attempts at humor and a somewhat casual tone of voice. Doesnt always work.
The years 1914 to 18 and 39 to 45 are skippd over lightly. Seems nothing was produced between 39 and 45, I wonder what they did in those times. The dead and missing of the war are listed in the book.
The book is clearly for employees and customers on occasion of the anniversary, and therefore not a historic account.
As such it is OK, and today it still manages to give a feeling for the company spirit and its product philosophy at that time.
I suspect the book was never sold, it has no identification number, no mention of the numbers printed either.
The book starts with a quote from Friedrich Wilhelm Deckel:
"We live for a certain purpose - work. Work is a qualitative and not a quantitative problem. Otherwise there is no progress."

Those were the times.
Mr. Deckel died on July 10th, 1948.

There is at least one wartime machine on the forum; bikepete has an FP1 with a tag that turns out to belong to an armaments manufacture. I sold the machine without knowing the date of the machine. It is very well made, but the telltale is the lack of chrome plating.

Presumably there will have been an increase in production in the late 1930s. The serial number information will confirm if they continued production in the war years, using existing casting stock or if the serial numbers rise significantly, new castings were made during the war.

The listing of war casualties is a very nice gesture; it shows a real family spirit at Deckel.

Best regards

Doug

Martin,
Thanks for writing the review, well done.

Just this last week I was re-reading parts of a book about the Rolls-Royce 'Crecy' engine development, and came across a reference to Deckel injection.

This engine was a V12, two-stroke, open-ended single sleeve valve, uniflow, direct petrol injection. It was intended as a hot rod type sprint or interceptor engine, to be very powerful, and was initially a Ricardo idea for a high performance Diesel.

Anyway, by WW2, the injection pump supply was a problem, since CAV in England used Bosch designs, but were now cut off from Bosch design help.
CAV stripped any new German injection pumps that came from captured aircraft, however they had problems running the pumps on Anglo-American 100-octane fuel, this petrol had no lubricating properties.
The writer believes the Crecy designs incorporated pendulum-type de-aerators that were based on the injection installation of Deckel manufacture from a BMW 801 (Focke-Wulf 190 engine) which was passed to CAV. (I am quoting the book).

I think RR ended up making their own injection pumps using a minature crankshaft and connecting rod design instead of camshaft and spring type operation.
This was because, being two-stroke, the injection pumps were running at engine speed (about 3000 rpm) - higher than normal 4 stroke Deisel speed.
Also, RR went to a larger pump piston diameter so they could inject more fuel in fewer crankshaft degrees...
Anyway, that is all I have read about Deckel injection...maybe this was one of their unaccounted war time activities?
Actually, I couldn't say for sure if this was the same Deckel company, but your mention of fuel injection raises the possibility.

The book is another of the Rolls-Royce Heritage Trust gems, "The Rolls-Royce Crecy".

ps Company-sponsered histories can be terrible - I am very wary of them! I think the all-time worst I have is by Dean, Smith & Grace - a truly useless, pathetic book titled " A Little Farm Well Tilled".
One of THE greatest lathe builders, and as far as I can discover, this is the only "history" written about them.
This is not a solitary case, I have others too...they are keen to print pages/photos of details about the Directors, nothing about their failures, competitors, or anything technical (despite being engineering or manufacturing companies)

Thanks Doug. Machine making chips happily now

Yup, mine's a wartime Deckel - at least, according to Martin's serial number list a bit further down here:

this topic

and the plate indicated an armaments manufacturer: I did a bit of digging and wrote it up here:

this topic

Not got any further since. There is a 100th anniversary book about the history of the Diehl company, too, but I haven't got round to tracking down a copy yet:

at this amazon.de url

Doubt it'd shed much more light, but always the chance of a historical toolroom pic!

Cheers!

Pete

My writing "Seems nothing was produced between 39 and 45, I wonder what they did in those times" was an attempt at satire. Clearly they were going full tilt, which is also reflected in the production numbers.
As for war related production it is not mentioned for WWII. During WWI they weere doing initially "turning of bullets and in-rolling of copper guide rings" (my translation). Then from fall 1914 artilliry fuses, which they had to improve for mass production.
For WWII it says "what happend from 1939 to 45 is part of history. With deep sorrow those are remembered at Deckel who sarificed their lives in good belief." (not possible to translates quite correctly). This is not exactly the politicly correct approach any more. It would have been interesting what military contracts they must have had. Initially, when the war was not yet going full tilt, many companies made good money from government contracts. The system is alwayse the same. There are quotes from Napoleon on the issue condemning his bloodsucking suppliers, and look at how the current US wars are working supply wise.

As far as injection pumps, I have not read that part yet. The part on shutters and injection pumps is quiet large, the machine tools are not covered as detailed, BUT I relly really like this writing on the FP1:

"To its complete set (translator: sort of like "dowery") belongs a sizable tool closet, which will give to the owner or worker the feeling: may come what will, nothing can happen to me any more, I can do anything."

Now THAT is the truth, the complete set as a security blanket for mechanics. Step aside sceptics, I do not have to actually use my spiral milling device, I just have to HAVE it. What is the
SUV to the soccer mom is the tool set for Deckel mechanics, saying "I am covered, give it to me." So there is a danger of just being a collector? Ha, yes, but my 1952 FP1 will still run in another 50 years, when every single electonic part in a current DMG milling center will already be obsolete.

Another note on the Deckel copies. As a result of the war the patents were lost and anyone could copy a FP1. "These were milling machines, but they were no Deckel machines".
This is today reflected in prices for used knock-offs.

Martin, very interesting book review and followup post re war years and tool chest security blanket. Thanks !

"Now THAT is the truth, the complete set as a security blanket for mechanics. Step aside sceptics, I do not have to actually use my spiral milling device, I just have to HAVE it."


Ha! A true Deckelite! I agree completely.

Mark

Bringing this old thread to life, anyone know if this book is available for purchase as a (digital) copy?