In the early 1930s, a cooperation agreement was concluded between the USSR and Germany, according to which German machine tools were supplied to the Soviet Union, as well as manufactured under a patent at Soviet factories. Ludwig Loewe & Co. machines were among the most popular.
The German company Ludwig Loewe & Co. specialized in mechanical engineering, defense and electrical equipment. Ludwig Loewe founded it in 1861 in Berlin. Initially, the company produced and sold sewing machines. From the 1870s, the company began to receive orders from the Prussian army for the production of firearms and ammunition. By that time, in addition to weapons, various machine tools, steam engines and tubular boilers were produced in the workshops of the plant.
Ludwig Loewe’s company adopted the successful practices of American enterprises and regularly expanded: new factory buildings were built, and the company merged with enterprises of various profiles. It became a self-sufficient organization of a fully integrated production model. By the early 20th century, it also had a plant for the production of cast iron and metal using the injection molding method, as well as its own laboratory.
In 1896, Ludwig Loewe & Co. acquired a controlling stake in the German factory Deutsche Metallpatronenfabrik in Karlsruhe that manufactured cartridges. At the same time, Loewe decided to unite this ammunition production facility with the one Loewe had in Berlin that produced firearms. Thus, the new company Deutsche Waffen- und Munitionsfabriken was founded. It was still owned by Loewe.
The first months after the end of the First World War were marked by the complete destruction of production facilities: 3,800 machines were seized. As a transitional step, it began producing construction tools and agricultural equipment.
The exhibit is a German Loewe horizontal milling machine manufactured in 1939. Using such machines, curved and helical surfaces were processed and gears were shaped. During the Great Patriotic War, this machine was used at the Tula Arms Plant.
