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ARCHIVE GERMANYGerman Machine Tool Archive

Germany started out learning machines from Britain and the US, and went on to build an academic discipline for researching machine tools at universities (production engineering). Much of what factories take for granted today, such as methods of accuracy testing, standards (DIN), and the patents for hobbing machines and skiving, took shape in Germany. This archive traces that story, checking each point against technical journals of the time, patents, university papers, and museum and industry association records, and gives a source for each event. “Using German research and archive sites” below explains how to find German sources from Japan and which German words to search with.

Accuracy testing and
hobbing machines
came from Germany!

Chips, the Kezuriba mascot
1850sSaxon lathe works1920sIndividual motor drive1960s–NC adoptionToday5-axis, Industry 4.0
How German machine tools changed: a Saxon lathe works, motor-driven machines, an NC lathe and a 5-axis machining center (illustration; not specific models)

Chapters

You can read it in two ways: chapters by era, and chapters by machine type (lathes, milling machines/machining centers, grinders, gear machines, other machines). 9 of the 9 chapters are available now (803 events, all with sources).

By era

Chapter 1 · c. 1800–1890Saxony and Berlin: The Beginnings of German Machine ToolsMachines and engineers from Britain, Zimmermann and Hartmann in Chemnitz, Reinecker, Ludwig Loewe of Berlin and American-style interchangeable manufacture, Gildemeister, and the comeback after the 1876 verdict of “cheap and nasty.”Read →Chapter 2 · 1890–1933Production Engineering as a ScienceThe founding of VDW, Schlesinger's TH Berlin and his book on accuracy testing, Aachen's WZL, the beginnings of DIN, the rationalization movement, Krupp's Widia carbide tools, and makers such as Index, Heller and Pittler.Read →Chapter 3 · 1933–1990War and the East–West DivisionRearmament and controls, postwar dismantling and seizure, West German recovery and exports, East German people-owned enterprises and combines (Fritz Heckert and others), the start of EMO, and the 1990 reunification and the winding up of Eastern plants.Read →Chapter 4 · 1955–NC, Mechatronics and Industry 4.0Germany's first NC machines, Siemens SINUMERIK and Heidenhain, Aachen's EXAPT, Deckel, Maho, Gildemeister and DMG MORI, Trumpf lasers, and Industry 4.0 (2011) and umati.Read →

By machine type

Chapter 5 · 1840s–The Lineage of German LathesChemnitz lathes, the turret lathes of Pittler and Loewe, the automatics of Index, Traub and Gildemeister, Boehringer and VDF lathes, East German heavy lathes, NC lathes, and EMAG's vertical pick-up lathes.Read →Chapter 6 · 1850s–The Lineage of German Milling Machines and Machining CentersWanderer and Reinecker milling machines, Deckel's universal tool milling machine, Maho, horizontal MCs from Heller and Hüller Hille, Hermle, Chiron and Grob, large gantry machines, and 5-axis MCs and DMG MORI.Read →Chapter 7 · 1870s–The Lineage of German Grinding MachinesNaxos-Union's wheels and grinders, cylindrical grinding by Schaudt and Fortuna, surface and creep-feed grinding by Jung and Blohm, Junker's high-speed grinding, ties with Studer and Kellenberger of Switzerland, and CBN and CNC grinding.Read →Chapter 8 · 1890s–The Lineage of German Gear MachinesPfauter's hobbing machine patents, Lorenz gear shapers, Klingelnberg bevel gears, Niles and Kapp gear grinding, Pittler's skiving patent and its practical use 100 years later, gear research at FZG and WZL, and Liebherr.Read →Chapter 9 · 1840s–Other German Machine Tools: Drilling, Boring, Planing and Broaching Machines, Laser Machines and MoreRadial drills, horizontal boring mills (Union, Schiess), large planers and gantry machines (Waldrich), broaching machines, EDM, Trumpf sheet metal and laser machines, additive manufacturing (EOS) and more.Read →

How to read the history of German machine tools

The history of German machine tools becomes easier to follow if you look at it by region and research. By region, machine tools grew out of textile machinery in Saxony (Chemnitz, Leipzig), out of arms and electrical engineering in Berlin, and after the war the center shifted to southwestern Germany (Baden-Württemberg) and North Rhine-Westphalia. In research, Schlesinger at TH Berlin and WZL in Aachen opened the way to studying machine tool accuracy, cutting and factory management at universities, and the results spread to makers through standards and trade fairs.

In the second half of the 20th century, the division of the country into East and West had a major effect. Chemnitz (Karl-Marx-Stadt in East German times), a machine tool center since early days, ended up in the East, and many companies either moved west or were merged into people-owned enterprises (VEB). This archive covers East and West in the same chapters.

This archive consists of four chapters by era and five chapters by machine type (lathes, milling machines/machining centers, grinders, gear machines, other machines). Hobbing machine patents, bevel gears, gear grinding, skiving, and research and standards on gear strength are fields in which the German-speaking world has led, so the gear machine chapter covers them in particular detail.

Links with Japan

Prewar Japanese machine tool building also learned from German machines and standards (see Japanese Archive, Chapter 1, “Learning from Germany's VDF”). In gears, German and Swiss hobbing machines and gear grinders were imported into Japan and became partners in postwar technical tie-ups (see Japanese Archive, Chapter 4: The Lineage of Gear Cutting Machines). In the 1970s and 80s Japan and Germany vied for first place in world machine tool production, and from 2009 a tie-up between German and Japanese makers (today's DMG MORI) was born.

How we checked

Years, model names and makers are checked against two or more sources. German patents (DRP) often have a long gap between the filing date and the publication date, and company histories (Festschrift) sometimes put the founding year early. In the text we state which kind of year is meant.

⌛Key events (mini timeline)

The events from each chapter that matter most for following the story. Colored tags show the chapter, and numbers refer to the sources below. All events are in each chapter's timeline.

  1. 1848BeginningsAfter the slump of 1848, Zimmermann gives up the roller business and switches to a works building only machine tools (lathes and drilling machines first). One of the earliest specialist machine tool makers in Germany, he was later called “the father of German machine tool building”[1, p.306][2][3]
  2. 1862BeginningsAt the London Exhibition, Zimmermann (a collection of well-made machines for working wood and metal) and Hartmann (a collection of metalworking machines) each receive a medal. Whitworth himself sat on the jury for this class[4, p.155][1, p.306]
  3. 1869BeginningsLudwig Loewe, who repaired and sold machines in Berlin, founds Ludwig Loewe & Co. with capital of 25,000 thalers and decides to build household sewing machines the American way[5][1, p.160][6]
  4. 1870BeginningsFriedrich Gildemeister founds the machine tool works Gildemeister & Comp. in Bielefeld (the origin of today's DMG MORI AG)[7][8, p.271]
  5. October 1871GrindersIn April 1871 the Greek government auctioned the sales rights to emery (a natural abrasive ore) from the island of Naxos, and Julius Pfungst of Frankfurt am Main won them. On October 15 the rights passed to a new company, the “Company of Genuine Naxos Emery” (Naxos-Union)[9, p.7][10]
  6. 1872Milling/MCReinecker starts building milling machines, grinders and relieving lathes modeled on American machines. The Chemnitz Industrial Museum's newsletter also says milling machine building in Chemnitz began with Reinecker in the early 1870s[11][12, p.5]
  7. June 1876BeginningsIn his first letter (dated June 2) to a Berlin newspaper, Reuleaux, the German juror at the Philadelphia Exhibition, sums up the criticism of the German exhibits as “billig und schlecht” (cheap and nasty) and admits that on average it is accurate[13, p.19][13, p.17][14]
  8. May 1877BeginningsThe German Empire's patent law is enacted on May 25, and the Imperial Patent Office begins work in Berlin on July 1. Reuleaux, with Werner von Siemens, had pushed for the law. Of the Patent Office's seven divisions, two dealt only with mechanical technology[15][16, p.645][17][18, p.99]
  9. December 1891ScienceAt the call of Ernst Schiess of Düsseldorf, the heads of 11 machine tool makers meet at the Hotel Kastens in Hannover on December 7 and form VDW (Verein Deutscher Werkzeugmaschinenfabriken, the German Machine Tool Builders' Association). Schiess is its first chairman (until 1915). The aim was to strengthen ties among the leading makers[19, p.104][20]
  10. February 1893LathesPittler files German patent 74951 for a “metalworking machine with turret” (February 24)[21][22]
  11. September 1897Gear machinesPfauter files a patent for a method and machine for cutting helical gears with a hob (a screw-shaped cutter) (September 1, 1897). The key point is adding to the hob's axial feed a motion, via a differential, that advances or retards the blank's rotation[23][24][25][26, frame 60]
  12. 1899Milling/MCWanderer sells one of the first knee-type milling machines, the “Plain Milling Machine No. 1,” to a domestic customer. It had a curved column with a horn, an overarm center supporting the end of the arbor, and a 4-step cone pulley taking the feed from the spindle's cone pulley. Series production started from here[12, p.5][27]
  13. 1900ScienceLoewe brings high-speed steel tools back to Berlin and tests them at full capacity on a lathe and a drilling machine; both machines break down in less than a month. The era of redesigning machine tools begins[28, p.51]
  14. 1900Other machinesUnion switches to specializing in horizontal boring mills. According to the official catalog of 1910, it built only its own (patented) designs, always had about 150 machines under construction, and delivered to France, Belgium, Britain, Austria, Italy and Russia[29, frame 226]
  15. July 1904ScienceSchlesinger becomes professor of the newly created chair of “Machine Tools, Factory Equipment and Factory Management” at TH Berlin (Charlottenburg) (dated July 20). It was the first chair of its kind in Germany and the origin of today's IWF at TU Berlin[30][31, p.200][32]
  16. 1906ScienceGermany's second machine tool chair is created at the technical university in Aachen, with Adolf Wallichs as professor. This year is taken as the start of the machine tool laboratory WZL[33][34]
  17. March 1910Gear machinesA method of cutting teeth by crossing the axes of a gear-shaped cutter and the blank at an angle and turning both continuously (later called skiving, Wälzschälen) is patented in Germany (effective from March 1, 1910; published 1912). It claims to cut internal gears, which hobbing machines cannot, without the wasted return stroke of a shaper[35][36][37][38]
  18. January 1914ScienceHermann Hahn founds INDEX in Esslingen and starts building automatics (lathes that cut automatically while indexing the turret)[39]
  19. December 1917ScienceThe committee becomes the “Standards Committee of German Industry (NADI)” (December 22)[40][41][42]
  20. 1922Gear machinesKlingelnberg buys the patents of Schicht and Preis for continuously cutting spiral bevel gears with a conical hob and begins building Palloid gear cutting machines. Solving the mathematical and manufacturing difficulties cost a great deal[43][44]
  21. 1925Milling/MCWanderer starts developing the Type D. Each machine was driven by its own foot-mounted motor in the column, all shafts ran on rolling bearings, the gears were hardened and ground, and cams on the table switched automatically between feed and rapid traverse[12, p.5]
  22. 1926ScienceKrupp launches the Widia carbide tool. Where cutting speeds on steel with high-speed steel had been 20–40 m/min, carbide reached roughly 100–150 m/min, about four times as fast[45][46, p.11]
  23. 1927ScienceSchlesinger publishes a book on machine tool accuracy testing, Die Arbeitsgenauigkeit der Werkzeugmaschinen (The Working Accuracy of Machine Tools). It set test items and permissible errors for each type of machine and later became the “Prüfbuch” (test book). It is regarded as the origin of the test standards that lead to today's ISO 230[30][47][48][49, p.1419]
  24. 1928LathesBoehringer (Göppingen), Wohlenberg (Hannover), Heidenreich & Harbeck (Hamburg) and Franz Braun (Zerbst) form VDF, a joint manufacturing and sales association. Each company took a range of lathe sizes, and more than half of exports went to the Soviet Union[50][51]
  25. December 1932Milling/MCDeckel files a patent for a horizontal-spindle milling machine combined with a “top-mounted angle milling attachment” (German patent 665218, published 1938). The idea of one machine cutting both horizontally and vertically led to the later universal tool milling machine[52]
  26. 1933Other machinesLindner shows its first jig borer at the Leipzig fair. A machine for boring holes in jigs and gauges precisely by coordinates; it also filed patents for coordinate boring machines in 1936–37, and about 1,200 were built by 1968[53]
  27. June 1945 – summer 1946War & divisionThe Soviet dismantling (Demontage) of factories in Chemnitz. The machine tool plants of Pfauter and Reinecker were also targeted, and in July–August 1945, 12,000 people were put to work dismantling. Removing Wanderer's machines took 509 railway wagons[54, p.7]
  28. 1949GrindersIn Leipzig, East Germany, the first centerless external grinder, which grinds the workpiece as it turns between two wheels without centers, is built, entering mass production in 1951. The “Mikrosa” trademark is created in 1952[55]
  29. 1950War & divisionWest German machine tool production is 387 million marks. After the Korean War boom, it grows with the domestic “economic miracle” and exports, reaching 9,888 million marks in 1980 (11.4% average annual growth)[56, p.95][56, p.96]
  30. 1950Gear machinesThe former Pfauter main works in Chemnitz makes a new start as the people-owned enterprise VEB Zahnschneidemaschinenfabrik „Modul“ (Modul gear cutting machine works). German hobbing machines split into two lines, Chemnitz in the East and Ludwigsburg in the West[57][58][24][59]
  31. 1951Gear machinesNiemann founds the FZG (Forschungsstelle für Zahnräder und Getriebebau, Gear Research Centre) in München. It became the center of German gear research, testing gear strength, lubrication and noise on test rigs[60][61]
  32. May 1953LathesThe former Escher/Niles plant in Chemnitz is renamed “VEB Großdrehmaschinenbau „8. Mai“.” It becomes East Germany's center for large lathes and vertical lathes[62][63, p.10]
  33. 1959NC & 4.0At the 6th European Machine Tool Exhibition in Paris, Heller's SBR 32 turret drilling machine with Heller's own relay-based NC stands alongside an NC machining center from Burkhardt & Weber. The SBR 32 is thought to be West Germany's first NC machine tool[64, p.6][64, p.122][64, p.199]
  34. 1961Gear machinesMitsubishi Heavy Industries forms a technical tie-up with Lorenz of West Germany for gear cutting machines and begins building the “Mitsubishi Lorenz” vertical hobbing machine[65, frame 383][65, frame 542][66]
  35. 1962Milling/MCHeller builds NC milling machines and a machining center with an automatic tool changer[67]
  36. 1962GrindersBlohm begins creep-feed grinding (Tiefschleifen: grinding in a single pass with a deep cut and slow feed) on its HFS surface grinder[68]
  37. September 1964NC & 4.0At the Hannover machine tool show, Siemens NC gets the name “SINUMERIK” and moves from relays to transistor circuits[64, p.190][69, p.2]
  38. 1967Other machinesTrumpf launches the TRUMATIC 20, the first sheet metal machine with numerical continuous-path control[70][71]
  39. 1971Other machinesHeckert in East Germany starts up its first FMS (a flexible manufacturing system linking machine tools and transport by computer), PRISMA 2, in Chemnitz[72]
  40. 1973Other machinesZeiss launches the UMM 500, a CNC coordinate measuring machine with a touch-trigger probe and an HP 9810 computer. It measured to 0.5 µm without the workpiece having to be precisely realigned[73][74]
  41. 1975War & divisionThe European Machine Tool Exhibition is held in Paris as “EMO” and opened to makers from outside Europe. 1977 in Hannover, 1979 in Milan[75][56, p.175][56, p.194]
  42. July 1975NC & 4.0Siemens and Fujitsu FANUC sign a new agreement to develop NC jointly. In Asia FANUC sells Sinumerik, in Europe Siemens sells FANUC, and in the US they set up the joint venture General Numeric[64, p.193]
  43. 1976NC & 4.0Heidenhain teams up with Maho of Pfronten to launch the TNC 110/120 three-axis NC. Priced at about one-fifth of NC units at the time, it made NC possible even on small milling machines[76][64, p.179][64, p.180]
  44. 1978GrindersJunker launches a high-speed grinder using CBN wheels[77]
  45. 1979Other machinesTrumpf launches the TRUMATIC 180 LASERPRESS, a combined punch and laser machine, and enters the world of lasers. The beam sources were US-made 500 W and 700 W CO2 lasers[70][71]
  46. September 1982Milling/MCChiron files a patent for a basket-type tool changer (priority date; US patent 4,557,035). The tools are arranged in a ring around the spindle, and each holder moves under its own drive to directly below the spindle. No tool change arm is needed[78]
  47. 1985GrindersAt the 6th EMO Hannover, Junker presents its patented QUICKPOINT. External grinding in which a CBN wheel a few mm wide runs at high speed and is tilted slightly for clearance, turning the contact with the workpiece from a line into a point, and grinding steps, tapers and grooves in one clamping by tracing the contour[79][77][80]
  48. April 1989Other machinesHans J. Langer starts EOS in Gräfelfing near München. The goal was to build objects directly from CAD data with lasers[81][82]
  49. 1990War & divisionIn spring the Treuhand agency (Treuhandanstalt), set up to take over East German state property, starts work and pushes privatization after reunification. In Chemnitz alone 1,094 companies are affected, and employment in Chemnitz's machinery industry falls from 42,000 to 5,000 by 1993[54, p.8]
  50. 1992LathesEMAG builds a vertical pick-up lathe whose downward-facing spindle picks up the workpiece itself (the company calls it the world's first). The tools stay still and the spindle carrying the workpiece moves to cut. In April it filed a patent for a machine with the spindle mounted on a cross slide[83, p.2][84][85]
  51. 1993GrindersKörber AG brings together German and Swiss grinding machine makers in crisis to form Körber Schleifring. Blohm is a founding member, and Mikrosa of Leipzig is also bought by Körber. UNITED GRINDING's history says BWF and the Chemnitz grinding machine works also joined in the same year[86][68][55][87]
  52. 1994Milling/MCGildemeister, the Bielefeld lathe maker, takes over most of Deckel Maho (the combined Deckel and Maho), which went bankrupt in the early 1990s. Gildemeister's lathes plus Deckel Maho's milling machines become “DMG”[88][89]
  53. December 1996Other machinesMeiners, Wissenbach and Gasser of Fraunhofer ILT in Aachen file a patent for making parts by completely melting metal powder layer by layer with a laser. It became the basic patent for laser powder bed fusion (LPBF, SLM), the mainstream of today's metal 3D printers[90][91]
  54. 1997LathesIndex buys Traub Drehmaschinen in the neighboring town of Reichenbach and brings it into its group, keeping both the Index and Traub brands[92][93, p.3]
  55. 1997Gear machinesGleason completes the purchase of the Pfauter group. The Ludwigsburg company becomes Gleason-Pfauter, Gleason's development center for cylindrical gears, covering hobbing, shaping, profile grinding and more[94][95, p.31][96]
  56. March 2009NC & 4.0Mori Seiki and Germany's DMG (Gildemeister) begin a business alliance, followed by a capital alliance. Jointly developed machines follow in 2011, and European sales and service are combined in 2012[97]
  57. April 2011NC & 4.0At Hannover Messe, Henning Kagermann, Wolf-Dieter Lukas and Wolfgang Wahlster propose “Industrie 4.0.” They call a factory where machines and products are networked and products communicate how they are to be made the “fourth industrial revolution”[64, p.439]
  58. Early 2010sGear machinesAbout 100 years after the 1910 patent, skiving (power skiving) becomes a mass-production method. Gleason-Pfauter rounds out its range of machines in 2012, and Pittler, Profilator and Liebherr also bring out machines. The decisive factor was electronic gearboxes, which made it possible to synchronize cutter and gear precisely at high speed[25][37][98][99][36]
  59. 2013GrindersKörber Schleifring separates from Körber AG and, together with United Grinding Technologies of the US, becomes the UNITED GRINDING Group. At EMO Hannover it shows, for the first time, a full line of machines in the group's common design[86][100]
  60. June 2016Milling/MCThrough a domination and profit transfer agreement with a subsidiary of Japan's DMG MORI (June 2, 2016), DMG MORI AKTIENGESELLSCHAFT becomes a member of the DMG MORI group[101, p.9]
  61. 2024NC & 4.0The German machine tool industry has about 65,000 employees and production of about 15 billion euros, second in the world after China (about 13% share). It exports more than 70% of its production and is the world's largest exporter (VDW)[102]

🔎Using German research and archive sites

We checked the events in this archive using the sites listed here. We actually opened every one in October 2026 to see what is available and whether the full text can be read from Japan. Many old trade journals, patents and government reports can be read for free.

Papers, theses & journals

German machine tool research is concentrated in the institutes of the technical universities (Berlin, Aachen, München, Chemnitz, Karlsruhe). Use the universities' repositories and the national library catalog to find out where theses and company histories are held.

DepositOnce (Technische Universität Berlin)TU Berlin institutional repository

What's there
The repository for papers, theses and research data of the Technical University of Berlin (TU Berlin). Georg Schlesinger opened his machine tool institute at this university, and it still holds many production engineering (IWF) papers. A search for “Werkzeugmaschinen” gives 596 records, mostly theses and papers from 2000 onward.
When to use it
Use it to find history theses on the “rationalization” movement of the 1920s (the transfer of Taylor's and Gilbreth's ideas to Germany) and machine tool research from the late 20th century on.
How to search
Enter “Werkzeugmaschinen,” “Rationalisierung,” “Geschichte” and so on in the search box, and narrow Type on the left to Doctoral Thesis. Searching for “Schlesinger” alone brings up many people with the same surname, so add a topic word.
Access
Free. Many records have full-text PDFs. The interface runs on JavaScript, so WebFetch could not get the content and we checked in a browser. We found no old works by Schlesinger himself.
Examples found

RWTH PublicationsRWTH Aachen publications catalog

What's there
The catalog of papers, theses and conference presentations by researchers at RWTH Aachen University. The output of the machine tool laboratory WZL is included here too. “Wälzfräsen” (hobbing) gives 93 records, and you can also find presentations at gear conferences (WZL Gear Conference, Aachener Werkzeugmaschinen-Kolloquium and others).
When to use it
Use it to confirm when and by whom WZL's research on gear machining and machine tools was done. Some records are bibliographic only, without full text, such as 1980s contributions to trade journals.
How to search
Enter German words in the search box; you can add a year range such as year:1950->1990 (e.g., Verzahnung AND year:1950->1990). Sorting by year ascending shows the oldest first. Export formats include BibTeX and RIS.
Access
Free. Recent theses can be read in full, but older ones are bibliographic only. WebFetch returned an empty page, so we checked in a browser.
Examples found

Qucosa / MONARCH (Technische Universität Chemnitz)Saxony's repository for papers (including MONARCH of TU Chemnitz)

What's there
Qucosa is a repository for papers and theses run jointly by university libraries in Saxony; the TU Chemnitz section is called MONARCH. Chemnitz was a town full of machine tool factories, and there is historical research on the East German machine tool combines.
When to use it
Use it to research the East German (GDR) machine tool industry, especially the Werkzeugmaschinenkombinat „Fritz Heckert“ and its exports, and the history of the universities. It is a field that Western sources cover little.
How to search
Qucosa's search box sends its query by POST, so you cannot open a search directly by writing the terms into a URL. Enter “Werkzeugmaschinenbau DDR,” “Kombinat,” “Heckert” and so on in the search box on the top page. The history of technology series of TU Dresden (tud.qucosa.de) works the same way; entering “Rationalisierungsdruck” in the search box returned one hit, the Buschmann paper below.
Access
Free. Qucosa itself cites as an advantage that full-text PDFs can be read from anywhere in the world. Each paper has a URN (an nbn-resolving.org address), which is convenient for citing.
Examples found

mediaTUM (Technische Universität München)Technical University of Munich media and publications server

What's there
The repository for papers, theses, images and research data of the Technical University of Munich (TUM), with more than 480,000 public records. Full texts of theses from the gear research center FZG are kept here too. Besides the collections of doctoral and habilitation theses, there are university photos and public relations material.
When to use it
Use it to confirm FZG's research on gear strength, lubrication and noise in the text of the theses. For the history of gear machines, you can set the research on the machine tool side (WZL) next to the research on the user side (FZG).
How to search
The quickest way is to follow the links to mediaTUM from FZG's list of theses (1935–2026). Inside mediaTUM, narrow by faculty and year from the “Dissertationen und Habilitationsschriften” collection.
Access
Free. There is a bot check (Anubis): WebFetch was refused, but a browser got through. In FZG's list, links to full-text PDFs are given from 1990 onward; older theses are bibliographic only.
Examples found

KITopen (Karlsruher Institut für Technologie)Karlsruhe Institute of Technology publications repository

What's there
The repository for papers and theses of the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT). Research from its production engineering institute (wbk) is included as part of the university's output. Lists by year of publication go back to 1891. Its strength is that you can see all the papers of the university's researchers, year by year.
When to use it
Use it to trace machine tool research in southwestern Germany and the older work of KIT's predecessor institutions year by year. It suits picking a year and looking at what was being researched then.
How to search
Choose a year from “Alle Publikationen” on the top page to open the list (in the form index.php?year=1960). There is also a list of only first publications with a PDF. The number of records per page (hitsperpage=100) can also be changed in the URL.
Access
Free. Whether a full-text PDF is available varies from record to record. The “KITopen catalog search” link on the KIT Library guide page (services.bibliothek.kit.edu/primo/…) returned 404 on 2026-10-22, so we could not confirm the URL format for keyword searches. The yearly lists (index.php?year=…&hitsperpage=100) do open.

Deutsche Nationalbibliothek (DNB) KatalogGerman National Library catalog

What's there
The catalog of the German National Library (Leipzig and Frankfurt), which collects nearly every book, periodical and thesis published in Germany. Machine manuals and commemorative publications issued by makers, and university theses (Hochschulschriften), are also recorded.
When to use it
Ideal for confirming the “title, year of publication and number of pages” of company histories (Festschrift) and makers' printed matter. You can even find, for example, a 1971 machine brochure from Pfauter.
How to search
Enter the company name in the simple search and choose “Bücher” or “Hochschulschriften” in the filters on the left. Each record's “Link zu diesem Datensatz” (d-nb.info/number) is a permanent address, so cite that. There is also a beta version of a new catalog.
Access
The catalog is free. There is a bot check (Anubis): WebFetch was refused, but a browser got through. Many books can only be read on site. Books marked “Status nach VGG: vergriffen” are treated separately as out-of-print works.
Examples found

wt Werkstattstechnik online (VDI fachmedien / Inlibra)Werkstattstechnik journal wt (online edition)

What's there
The online edition of Werkstattstechnik, a leading German journal of production engineering. Issues from 2000 on are on Nomos's Inlibra with DOIs, and many of the papers come from institutes for machine tools, cutting and factory management.
When to use it
Use it to follow, by title and author, the research of German institutes (WZL, IFW, PTW, IWF and others) since 2000. In the history chapters, we use it to confirm where recent technologies stand.
How to search
Filtering OpenAlex to this journal (ID S4210189761) gives a list of papers from 2000 on. Opening a DOI (10.37544/1436-4980-…) takes you to the issue page on Inlibra.
Access
Paid. All articles in issue 4 of 2000 showed “Kein Zugriff” (an institutional subscription is required). For issues before 2000, the Łódź Regional Digital Library (Cybra) in Poland has made some of the 1926–27 issues available as public domain. The related journal ZWF (De Gruyter Brill) is a paid subscription journal; the site said that from 2026 a subscription gives access to every issue from Volume 1 (the issue list showed Volumes 53–121).
Examples found

Digital libraries, old books, trade journals & newspapers

For German books and periodicals from the 19th century to about 1930, there are many free full texts. Use them with care for OCR errors in blackletter (Fraktur) type.

Dingler-Online – Polytechnisches JournalDingler's Polytechnisches Journal full-text database

What's there
A full-text database of the Polytechnisches Journal (Dingler's journal, to 1931), a technical journal founded in 1820 that ran for 111 years. Every volume has been transcribed and divided into articles, short notes and patents. It also carries many German translations of articles from British and American journals.
When to use it
Use it to check how German engineers presented British and American machine tools in the 19th century, and when German makers' machines first appeared in articles. “Fräsmaschine” alone gives 1,297 hits.
How to search
Search with search.html?q=term and narrow by document type (Artikel, Miszelle, Patent) and year. The surrounding text can also be shown. Search old spellings too (Drehbank, Räderschneidmaschine and so on). Results are rendered with JavaScript, so view them in a browser.
Access
Free, no registration. The text data are CC BY-SA 4.0, and the terms for using illustrations are given in each item at SLUB Dresden.
Examples found

Deutsche Digitale Bibliothek (DDB)German Digital Library

What's there
The national portal for searching the digital holdings of German libraries, archives and museums together. Besides books it includes photos, posters, company albums and archive finding aids. “Werkzeugmaschinenfabrik” gave 242 items with images.
When to use it
Use it to find “pictorial” primary sources such as factory photos, makers' albums and records of East and West German machine tool plants. Each item states its terms of use (CC license).
How to search
Enter a company or machine name in the search box and filter to “only items with thumbnails” to bring image items to the top. Search East German companies with “VEB” or “WMW,” and Western companies by company and town name. From the similar items (Ähnliche Objekte) field you can branch out to records of other factories in the same town.
Access
Free. There is a bot check (Anubis): WebFetch could not open it, but a browser got through. You can use it even if you refuse the statistics cookies.
Examples found

Deutsches ZeitungsportalGerman Newspaper Portal (the newspaper section of the DDB)

What's there
A portal for full-text searching across German historical newspapers, part of the DDB. It includes business papers (Berliner Börsen-Zeitung), the official gazette (Deutscher Reichsanzeiger) and regional papers.
When to use it
Use it to confirm by date articles on machine tool makers' shareholder meetings, capital increases, mergers, plant openings and the like. For example, “Ludw. Loewe” plus “Werkzeugmaschinen” gives 484 articles from 1869–1941.
How to search
Put the company name in quotation marks and add a word for the industry. Filters on the left let you choose period, newspaper and place of publication. Allowing for OCR errors, also search abbreviated company names (Ludw. Loewe & Co.). Results also show counts per newspaper, so starting with the business papers is quick.
Access
Free. There is a bot check; we opened it in a browser. The rights status of each newspaper article is shown. The result list and page images can be viewed without registration.
Examples found

SLUB Dresden – Digitale SammlungenDigital collections of the Saxon State and University Library Dresden

What's there
The digital collections of the Saxon State and University Library Dresden (SLUB), with more than 130,000 titles and 900,000 volumes. The history of technology (Technikgeschichte) collection has about 8,900 titles, and the images of the 365 volumes of Dingler's journal are here too. The photo database Deutsche Fotothek holds about 2 million images.
When to use it
Use it to find books and photos on the machinery industry of Saxony (Chemnitz, Dresden, Leipzig). The original images of the illustrations in Dingler-Online articles can also be seen here.
How to search
In advanced search, specify title, author and place of publication, and choose “in metadata” or “in full text.” You can also open and browse the history of technology collection from the lists by collection (/kollektionen/number). Each collection also has an RSS feed so you can follow newly added items.
Access
Free. Terms of use are given in each item's metadata and in SLUB's usage guide. Documents from the Nazi era are restricted to research, education and journalism.

Münchener DigitalisierungsZentrum (MDZ) – Bayerische StaatsbibliothekDigital collections of the Bavarian State Library

What's there
The holdings of MDZ, the digitization center of the Bavarian State Library (BSB), with more than 3.21 million items. Books, periodicals, newspapers, maps and photos can be searched both by catalog and in full text. Images are published in the common IIIF format.
When to use it
Use it to read 19th-century German machine tool textbooks in full text. “Werkzeugmaschinen” gives 13,577 hits, with books by Hart (1867) and Fischer (1901) near the top.
How to search
Search with /de/search?query=term. “Volltexttreffer” in the results takes you to the place in the text. Cite each book's permanent address (/view/bsb number). Filters can be stacked while keeping the search conditions.
Access
Free. WebFetch gave a display error, but it opened in a browser. Orders for high-quality reproductions are paid.
Examples found

Internet Archive (German books and periodicals)nonprofit digital library

What's there
A US nonprofit digital library, but it also contains many old German books scanned by Google: Fischer's Die Werkzeugmaschinen (1901, 1905), Hülle's machine tool textbooks (1908, 1913), volumes of the Zeitschrift des Vereines Deutscher Ingenieure from 1857, and more.
When to use it
Use it to compare, in full text, the differences between editions of German textbooks (what was added between the 1900s and the 1910s). Old volumes of ZVDI can be read here too.
How to search
In advancedsearch, write something like title:(werkzeugmaschinen) AND year:[1880 TO 1930]. Many books have no language tag, so don't filter too strictly by language. The OCR text can be read at /stream/<ID>/<ID>_djvu.txt.
Access
Free. The prewar German books we found this time had no lending restrictions and could be read without registration. PDFs are shown too, with OCR text attached.
Examples found

Google Books (German books)books and journals scanned by Google

What's there
Books and periodicals scanned by Google; used from Japan, it redirects to books.google.co.jp. Some late-19th-century German machine tool books and volumes of Dingler's journal can be read in full even from Japan.
When to use it
Strong for finding which page of which book mentions a person, company or model. You can also trace places where German books cite American trade journals.
How to search
In Google search choose “Books,” then under Tools filter to “Free Google eBooks” (in a URL, tbm=bks&tbs=bkv:f). Combine German terms (Fräsmaschine, Wälzfräsmaschine) with a year.
Access
Free. Whether a book is in full view in Japan varies from book to book. The examples here were in full view from Japan. Books in full view also show a PDF download button.
Examples found

Patents

For German Empire patents (DRP, from 1877), the older they are, the emptier their bibliographic data. Look them up by number or classification, or find them through foreign filings of the same invention.

DEPATISnet (Deutsches Patent- und Markenamt)German Patent and Trade Mark Office patent search

What's there
The official patent search of the German Patent and Trade Mark Office (DPMA), where you can see images (PDF) of patents back to the German Empire. Bibliographic data for patents worldwide are included as well. Specification images are shown with page counts, and from the Cooperative Patent Classification (CPC) field you can branch out to patents in the same class.
When to use it
Use it to read the text (drawings and specification) of an old DRP whose number you know, as official images. It suits checking numbers written as “D.R.P. Nr. …” in company histories and trade journals.
How to search
The bibliographic page opens in the form depatisnet?action=bibdat&docid=DE000000096945A (pad the number with zeros to 9 digits and add A at the end). For old patents the title, applicant and date fields are often empty and only the classification (CPC) is filled in, so you cannot search by name or keyword.
Access
Free. It opened in a browser. The text of old German patents is images in blackletter type, so it cannot be text-searched. Old patents often have empty bibliographic fields, so check on page 1 of the image.
Examples found

Espacenet (European Patent Office)European Patent Office patent search

What's there
The free patent search of the European Patent Office (EPO), with bibliographic data and images of patents worldwide. Old British, French and US patents sometimes include the applicant's name and an abstract. The “family” of the same invention filed in several countries is also shown together.
When to use it
When a German inventor also filed the same invention in Britain, France or the US, use it to find the foreign patent by the person's name and confirm the years of filing and publication.
How to search
Write search queries like in=Pfauter AND pd<1915 (in = inventor, pa = applicant, pd = publication date). Old DE patents have no names, so work from GB, FR and US patents of the same period. Combine with classification B23F (gear working) too.
Access
Free, no registration. WebFetch and curl got 403, but it opened in a browser. Many searches can trigger restrictions.
Examples found

Google Patents (old German patents)Google's patent search

What's there
Google's free patent search shows the bibliographic data and OCR text of German patents (DE…). Some patents from the 1920s include the applicant's company name, so you can search by company.
When to use it
Use it to list, by company name, German patents from the 1920s on that carry company names. Older DRPs often have no names in their bibliographic data, so when you know the number, opening it in DEPATISnet is more reliable.
How to search
Combine assignee, inventor, country and before (date) in the search field. For example, assignee=Pfauter, country=DE, before 1930 returned one result, DE418679C (1925), and inventor=Pfauter before 1930 returned 3 foreign patents (US, GB, FR).
Access
Free, no registration. It returned 503 last time, but opened when we checked again later. OCR of old patents has many errors (such as “Schecke”), and the filing date field is sometimes shown as the same as the publication date, so check against the original images. We were not able to match the DRP numbers in company histories this time.
Examples found

Statistics, industry associations & societies

German machine tool statistics are published by the industry associations (VDW, VDMA) and the Federal Statistical Office. Older figures are filled in from statistical yearbooks and trade journals.

Statistisches Bundesamt (Destatis) / GENESIS-OnlineFederal Statistical Office of Germany and its statistics database

What's there
Germany's official statistics. For manufacturing there are the quarterly production survey (table 42131), the monthly report (42111), the annual establishment survey (42271) and more, which can be extracted as tables from the GENESIS-Online database.
When to use it
Use it to give recent German machine tool production values as official figures by product classification (GP number). It is also a check when industry association figures disagree.
How to search
In GENESIS, open table 42131-0002 (production value by product) and choose metal-cutting machine tools (lathes, milling machines, machining centers, etc.) in the product classification. The guide page itself does not contain the word “machine tool.”
Access
Free. Tables can be downloaded as CSV or Excel. For older figures, “Ältere Ausgaben” on the statistical yearbook page links to the statistical yearbooks of the German Empire (1880–1941/42), East Germany (1955–1990) and West Germany (1952–1990) (the linked Statistische Bibliothek timed out this time, so we could not check its contents).
Examples found

VDW (Verein Deutscher Werkzeugmaschinenfabriken)German Machine Tool Builders' Association

What's there
The industry association of German machine tool makers, which began when 11 factory owners met in Hannover on December 7, 1891 (at the call of Ernst Schiess of Düsseldorf). It works on statistics, trade fairs and standards, and publishes an annual market report (Marktbericht) as a PDF.
When to use it
Use it to show long series of German machine tool production, exports, imports, orders and employment from the industry association's official tables. The “Historische Zeitreihen” on page 65 of the appendix to Marktbericht 2025 has yearly tables from 1976 (in millions of euros).
How to search
From the “Märkte & Konjunktur” page, open the quarterly updated “Wichtige Zahlen der deutschen Werkzeugmaschinenindustrie” and the annual “Marktbericht” PDF. Always read the notes to the tables (figures include the former East Germany from 1991, production value includes installation from 1995 and repairs from 2002, and so on).
Access
The market report and key-figure PDFs are free to read. Detailed statistics (Statistik-Wiki, statistics database) require a member login. The top page (vdw.de/) returned 404 this time, but the pages inside opened.
Examples found

VDMA (Verband Deutscher Maschinen- und Anlagenbau)German Mechanical Engineering Industry Association

What's there
The German industry association for machinery and plant engineering, with about 3,500 member companies. It cites a 130-year history and has 35 trade associations and a statistics database. From the list of trade associations you can find the contact for each machinery field. There are also 9 state branches.
When to use it
Use it to show the position of machine tools (employment, exports) within the machinery industry as a whole. In the history chapters, it relates to explaining how the industry associations came about.
How to search
Enter from “Statistikdatenbank” and “Alle Fachverbände” (list of trade associations) on the site. The old address vdma.org has moved to vdma.eu. We found no dedicated history page; “Über uns” is the way in.
Access
The site is free. We could not confirm this time whether the detailed figures in the statistics database are members-only. Anyone can read the association's guide pages.

VDI (Verein Deutscher Ingenieure)Association of German Engineers

What's there
The German engineers' association, founded in Alexisbad in May 1856, which published the journal Zeitschrift des Vereins deutscher Ingenieure (ZVDI) from 1857. It also produces VDI guidelines (VDI-Richtlinien), which are close to machine tool standards.
When to use it
ZVDI is a treasure trove of articles on German machinery from the 19th to the 20th century. Old volumes can be read in full on the Internet Archive and elsewhere. The VDI is also the point of contact for its history of technology activities.
How to search
Look up old ZVDI volumes on the Internet Archive by the title “Zeitschrift des Vereines Deutscher Ingenieure” (80 items from 1857). The VDI's history of technology group (Technikgeschichte) is under “Netzwerke” on the association's site.
Access
The site is free. VDI guidelines are paid. The association's pages had no information on digital editions of the old journal.
Examples found

Museums & archives

Actual machine tools are in technology museums, and the records of makers and East German combines are in state and federal archives. First confirm where things are with the national catalogs.

Deutsches Museum – ArchivDeutsches Museum Archive

What's there
The archive of the Deutsches Museum in München, an archive specializing in the history of science and technology. It holds about 6.5 km of material, including personal papers, company records, rare company publications (Firmenschriften), technical drawings and about 1.4 million photos.
When to use it
The first place to try when looking for machine tool makers' catalogs, company magazines and drawings. You can confirm holdings with the online finding aids (Online-Findmittel).
How to search
Look at the holdings catalogs in “Online-Findmittel” on the site. Apply by email at least 2 working days before a visit and go once you receive confirmation. Digitized material is published in Deutsches Museum Digital.
Access
Reading is free (weekdays 9:00–17:00). You may photograph with your own camera for personal use, but not publish the images. Digitized holdings can be viewed in Deutsches Museum Digital (the entry below).

Deutsches Museum DigitalThe Deutsches Museum's online collections, library and archive

What's there
An online catalog for searching the Deutsches Museum's collections (Sammlung), library (Bibliothek) and archive (Archiv) together. The top page said 56,373 objects, 41,675 books and 113,069 archival documents were online. Object pages give the classification, date and image rights.
When to use it
Use it to check, with inventory numbers and images, whether actual machine tools such as lathes are in the collection. The example lathe is in classification 640.04.03, “Metallbearbeitung / Spanende Werkzeugmaschinen / Drehen.”
How to search
Search URLs take the form /de/digital-catalogue/hitlist/?searchTerm=Drehbank&filterCollection=true (filterLibrary and filterArchive select the library and archive as well). “Drehbank” returned 34 objects. A search limited to the archive (Archiv) kept loading this time and gave no results.
Access
Free. The images of the objects we looked at are CC BY-SA 4.0, as stated under “Rechtehinweis” on each page. A note warns that many descriptions are as recorded at accession and have not been edited. The company name “Pfauter” returned 0 results.
Examples found

Industriemuseum ChemnitzChemnitz Industrial Museum

What's there
The industrial museum of Chemnitz, Saxony's industrial city, housed in an old factory building. It has the permanent exhibition “Industrie im Wandel erleben,” a machine hall and a historic machinist's workshop. There is also an online collection and a specialist library.
When to use it
Use it to see the Chemnitz machine tool industry (from its 19th-century founding to the East German combines) through real machines and exhibits. A candidate for “Places to visit.”
How to search
Search the collection in “Sammlung online” on the site, and read the “Objekt des Monats” features too. The address is Zwickauer Straße 119, Chemnitz. There is also a record of exhibitions and events (Ausstellungsarchiv).
Access
The site is free. Check opening hours and admission under “Öffnungszeiten” on the site (they were not given on the page we checked).

TECHNOSEUM – Landesmuseum für Technik und ArbeitTECHNOSEUM (State Museum of Technology and Labor)

What's there
The Baden-Württemberg state museum of technology and labor in Mannheim. Its permanent exhibition shows 200 years of the history of technology and society with working machines and hands-on stations. There is also a guide to viewing the collection and offering material to it.
When to use it
Use it to see the industrialization of southwestern Germany and factory work (labor history) from the side of the shop floor that used machine tools. There are also many hands-on learning stations.
How to search
See the guide to the collection under “Sammlung” on the site. Ask before you go whether machine tools themselves are on display. If you want to see material for research, consult the collections staff and explain your purpose. Check the content of the exhibitions before you go.
Access
The site is free. Open Tuesday–Sunday 9:00–17:00 (closed Mondays except holidays). We found no online collection database.

Deutsches Technikmuseum BerlinGerman Museum of Technology (Berlin)

What's there
A technology museum of national standing in Berlin, with permanent exhibitions on railways, aviation, information technology and more. There are guides to collecting and conservation, publications and online exhibitions. Some exhibitions, such as photo and film technology, are closed for renovation (as shown on the site in 2026).
When to use it
The way in to exhibits and material set against the background of Berlin's machinery industry. We could not confirm from the pages we checked whether there is a permanent machine tool exhibition.
How to search
See the collecting policy and contacts under “Sammeln & Bewahren” on the site. The address is Trebbiner Straße 9, Berlin. For research inquiries, follow the contacts given with the publications and online exhibitions.
Access
The site is free. Open Tuesday–Friday 9:00–17:30, weekends and holidays 10:00–18:00, closed Mondays (as shown on the site in 2026).

Archivportal-DArchive Portal Germany

What's there
A portal for searching the finding aids of archives across Germany together, part of the DDB. It includes records of state archives (such as the Saxon State Archives) and district archives. “Werkzeugmaschinenfabrik” gives 2,696 hits.
When to use it
Ideal for confirming which archive holds reports of East German state enterprises' (VEB) machine tool plants, or prewar and wartime factory reports. Many postwar factory reports (Industrieberichterstattung) come up too.
How to search
Search with /objekte?query=term. Search for “VEB,” “Werkzeugmaschinenkombinat,” town names and former company names, and decide whom to contact from the archive name and dates. Result titles sometimes give a factory's former name alongside, a clue to when the company name changed.
Access
The finding aids are free. Very few documents themselves are digitized; to read them, apply to each archive. The finding aid pages can be used without registration.
Examples found

Bundesarchiv – invenioGerman Federal Archives search system

What's there
The search system for the holdings of the German Federal Archives (540 km of shelving at 22 sites), covering about 11 million records. You can search records of East German ministries (such as the ministry for the machine tool industry) and of the West German government. Digitized documents can be viewed as images on the spot.
When to use it
Use it when you want to confirm things from state records, such as East German machine tool industry planning and exports, or wartime controls on machine tools. Records of regional plants are often in state archives, so use it alongside Archivportal-D.
How to search
Log in, search by keyword and narrow down by record group (Bestand) signature. Even without logging in, Archivportal-D shows descriptions of the Federal Archives' record groups (period, extent, contents, how to cite), so check the signature there first. The East German ministry for machine tools is DG 9 (Ministerium für Werkzeug- und Verarbeitungsmaschinenbau, 1964–1989), and the earlier ministry for the machinery industry is DG 3.
Access
As of 2026-10-22, use is limited to logged-in or registered users (we did not register, so we have not checked inside).
Examples found

Siemens – History & HeritageSiemens history pages

What's there
Siemens's official history pages, with a timeline from 1847, explanations of technologies and people, and a PDF of the 175-year history. The official history of an electrical company that also makes NC units for machine tools. There are also profiles of people such as the founder Werner von Siemens.
When to use it
Use it as a starting point for confirming the years of Siemens NC units from the company's official account. Cross-check years against trade journals and patents. The 175-year history PDF can be read in English.
How to search
Look at the timeline (history-timeline) and technologies (technologies) pages. We could not find a guide to using the corporate archive (Siemens Historical Institute) from these pages.
Access
Free. As this is the company's official history, discount its words of praise. The timeline and the 175-year history PDF can be read without registration.

Gears

Germany is strong in both gear research and gear machines. Get to know the history of the university institutes and the specialist journals.

FZG – Forschungsstelle für Zahnräder und Getriebesysteme (TU München)TU Munich Gear Research Center

What's there
An institute for gears and gear transmissions, founded in München in 1951 by Gustav Niemann (who had begun gear research in Braunschweig in 1938). It has been led by Winter from 1968, Höhn from 1989 and Stahl from 2011.
When to use it
Use it to confirm the history of gear strength and lubrication testing and the background of German gear standards. The list of theses goes back to 1935.
How to search
Confirm years and people on the history page (Geschichte), and follow research topics by period in the list of theses (Dissertationen). Read the full texts on mediaTUM. There is also a list of the institute's publications (Veröffentlichungen).
Access
Free. The institute's site has moved from mw.tum.de to mec.ed.tum.de. Links to the old address redirect automatically.
Examples found

WZL – Werkzeugmaschinenlabor (RWTH Aachen)RWTH Aachen Laboratory for Machine Tools and Production Engineering

What's there
Germany's leading institute for machine tools and production engineering. According to its history page, Adolf Wallichs took up the machine tool chair in 1906, Herwart Opitz led it from 1936, and in 1948 it held the first Aachen Machine Tool Colloquium (AWK). It also has a research department for gear technology (Getriebetechnik).
When to use it
Use it to confirm the course of postwar German machine tool research (the Opitz era, the three-director structure of 1973, Fraunhofer IPT in 1980) in the institute's official timeline.
How to search
Look at the history (Institutsgeschichte), research (Forschung → Werkzeugmaschinen → Getriebetechnik) and publications (Veröffentlichungen) pages. Search for the papers themselves in RWTH Publications.
Access
Free. It opened with WebFetch, but curl could not connect. The history page can be read without registration.

ANTRIEBSTECHNIKDrive technology journal

What's there
A German-language journal covering gears, bearings, couplings, motors and drives, published by Vereinigte Fachverlage. Articles are arranged by topic, and the latest issue can be read in a digital edition. The same publisher also issues a magazine for designers.
When to use it
Use it to find recent moves in the German gear and drive industry and makers' anniversary articles. There is little deep history, so use it for leads.
How to search
Follow articles from topics on the site (Zahnräder, Getriebe and so on). There is information on buying single back issues. Find makers' anniversary articles by searching for the company name. Recheck years against patents and company histories.
Access
The digital edition of the latest issue can be read with free registration. The pages did not say whether every article is free. Single issues can be bought.

Search terms (Japanese and German)

Old German sources sometimes use words different from today's. Searching with both reduces what you miss.

JapaneseGermanNotes
machine toolWerkzeugmaschine (plural Werkzeugmaschinen)
machine tool industryWerkzeugmaschinenbauCommon in East German sources too
machine tool factoryWerkzeugmaschinenfabrik
LathesDrehmaschine (formerly Drehbank)19th-century books mostly use Drehbank
turret latheRevolverdrehmaschine (Revolverdrehbank)
automatic screw machineDrehautomat (Automat)Multi-spindle automatic: Mehrspindel-Drehautomat
vertical latheKarusselldrehmaschine
copying latheKopierdrehmaschine
Milling machineFräsmaschineUniversal milling machine: Universalfräsmaschine
PlanerHobelmaschineShaper: Shapingmaschine or Waagerecht-Stoßmaschine
slotterStoßmaschine
drilling machineBohrmaschineRadial drill: Radialbohrmaschine
boring machineBohrwerk (Horizontal-Bohrwerk)
Jig borersKoordinatenbohrmaschine (Lehrenbohrwerk)
GrindersSchleifmaschine
cylindrical grinderRundschleifmaschine
centerless grinderspitzenlose Rundschleifmaschine
surface grinderFlachschleifmaschine
broaching machineRäummaschine
Machining centerBearbeitungszentrum
numerical controlnumerische Steuerung (NC-Steuerung)CNC: CNC-Steuerung
GearsZahnrad (plural Zahnräder)Gear unit: Getriebe
gear cutting, gear machiningVerzahnen, VerzahnungVerzahnung also means the tooth form itself
Hobbing machineWälzfräsmaschine
hobbingWälzfräsenThe hob (tool) is Wälzfräser
gear shapersWälzstoßmaschineThe process is Wälzstoßen; the tool, a pinion cutter, is Schneidrad
SkivingWälzschälen
shavingSchaben (Zahnradschaben)The tool is Schabrad
gear grindingZahnflankenschleifen (Verzahnungsschleifen)
bevel gearsKegelradBevel gear cutting machine: Kegelradverzahnmaschine
worm, worm wheelSchnecke, Schneckenrad
gear cutting machine (old term)Räderschneidmaschine (Zahnräderfräsmaschine)Term used in 19th-century sources
ToolingWerkzeugCan be confused with Werkzeug in Werkzeugmaschine; tell them apart by context
cutting (machining)Zerspanung (spanende Bearbeitung)
precision measurement, gaugesMesstechnik, LehreLimit gauge: Grenzlehre
interchangeable manufactureAustauschbauLinked to the thinking behind standards for fits
standardNorm (DIN)DIN stands for Deutsches Institut für Normung
rationalizationRationalisierungThe rationalization movement of the 1920s
company history, commemorative publicationFestschrift, Firmengeschichte, Firmenchronik
company publications, catalogsFirmenschrift, Katalog, Prospekt
patent (specification)PatentschriftGerman Empire patents are D.R.P. (Deutsches Reichspatent)
utility modelGebrauchsmuster (D.R.G.M.)
filing, publication, grantAnmeldung, Bekanntmachung, ErteilungDistinguish them, since the year means different things
trade showsMesseThe machine tool fair EMO; East Germany's Leipzig fair (Leipziger Messe)
people-owned enterpriseVEB (Volkseigener Betrieb)East German state-owned enterprise
combinesKombinatEast German grouping of enterprises. Example: Werkzeugmaschinenkombinat „Fritz Heckert“
WMW (abbreviation used in East German plant names)WMWExample: Werkzeugmaschinenfabrik WMW Union (Gera). Check the meaning of the abbreviation in sources
non-socialist economic area (the West)NSW (Nichtsozialistisches Wirtschaftsgebiet)Abbreviation found in East German export records
joint-stock company, limited partnershipAktiengesellschaft (AG), Kommanditgesellschaft (KG)A clue to when a company name changed
machine worksMaschinenfabrik
factory, workshopWerk, WerkstattWerkstattstechnik means “workshop technology”
trade journalFachzeitschriftWerkstattstechnik, Zeitschrift des VDI, Maschinenbau, etc.
doctoral thesisDissertation (Diss.), HabilitationsschriftIn catalogs: Hochschulschrift
archive, record groupArchiv, BestandFinding aids: Findbuch, Findmittel
personal papersNachlass
production, incoming orders, exportsProduktion, Auftragseingang, Export (Ausfuhr)Basic statistical terms
blackletter (Fraktur)FrakturA typeface with many OCR errors

Cautions when reading German sources

  • A year can mean the “filing” (Anmeldung), the “publication or grant” (Erteilung), the “presentation at a trade fair” (Messe) or the “first shipment.” When a company history says “developed in such-and-such year,” check against patents and trade journals which one it means.
  • Books and newspapers from the 19th century to the 1940s are in blackletter (Fraktur), and OCR has many errors (confusing ſ and f, ch and d, etc.). If a word cannot be found, change the spelling or search with an abbreviated company name too.
  • For old German Empire patents (DRP), the DEPATISnet bibliographic record often has neither inventor nor title. Look them up by number, or search Espacenet by person's name for British, French or US patents on the same invention.
  • Company names change often (sole proprietorship → limited partnership → joint-stock company, mergers, nationalization and VEB names in East Germany, privatization after reunification). The timelines give the name at the time and add today's company name in parentheses.
  • Sources from 1949–1990, when the country was split into East and West, are biased. Western trade journals wrote little about Eastern plants, and Eastern sources stress the fulfillment of plans. Read sources from both sides side by side.
  • Sources from 1933–1945 (trade journals, company histories, commemorative photo books) are heavily propagandistic, and production figures were hidden or exaggerated for military reasons. Years and models may be usable, but evaluative language should not be taken at face value.
  • Company histories (Festschrift) are published by the companies for anniversaries and often leave out what is inconvenient for them (wartime forced labor, failed machines). Check them against archive records.
  • German sources use the metric system, but articles on machines from the US sometimes convert inch values. For gears, watch the difference between module (m) and diametral pitch (DP).
  • DigiZeitschriften ended its service on December 31, 2025 (the free content is to be made available by SUB Göttingen from mid-2026). Old links are broken, so look for the holdings again in another digital library.
  • DNB, DDB, mediaTUM and others use a bot check (Anubis), so automated retrieval often fails. Open them in an ordinary browser and cite the permanent address (d-nb.info, URN, /item/).

Places to visit

Museums and historic sites where you can see real machines and former factories. Check opening days and tour bookings in each facility's guide before you go.

Industriemuseum Chemnitz (Saxon Museum of Industry)Chemnitz (Saxony)A museum presenting more than 200 years of Saxon industry. It is housed in the foundry and machine buildings (in use until 1982) of Hermann & Alfred Escher AG, which built leadscrew lathes, faceplate lathes, planers, drilling machines and shapers. An 1896 steam engine runs on demonstration days. We could not confirm from the official website whether any Zimmermann machines are on display[103]Beginnings
Deutsches Technikmuseum Berlin, “Machine Tools”Berlin (State of Berlin)A permanent exhibition showing a metalworking shop of around 1900, driven by overhead line shafting and a steam engine. It includes Whitworth's 1860 universal lathe, on loan from Britain. Many of the machines came from factories in West Berlin[104]Beginnings
Deutsches Museum, “Machine Tools”München (Bavaria)The machine tool department (opened 1925), tracing machine tools from a reconstructed 19th-century machine shop to NC. Closed for renovation of the building; reopening is planned for around 2028[105]Beginnings
Saxon State Archives, Chemnitz branchChemnitz (Saxony)An archive holding records, catalogs, photographs and drawings of Chemnitz machine tool makers such as Reinecker, Hartmann, Wanderer and Union. Its notes on each company's history, by record group, can be read online (Pittler is held by the Leipzig branch)[106][107][108][109]Beginnings
TU Berlin Institute for Machine Tools and Factory Management (IWF)Berlin (State of Berlin)An institute carrying on from Schlesinger's chair of 1904 and the machine tool testing station of 1907. It is on the university campus; check the institute's information about visits[110][30]Science
RWTH Aachen Laboratory for Machine Tools and Production Engineering (WZL)Aachen (North Rhine-Westphalia)An institute that began with Wallichs's chair in 1906. Its first building of its own was completed in 1924[111][33]Science
Alte Messe Leipzig (Old Trade Fair Grounds)Leipzig (Saxony)Grounds where technical fairs were held from 1920. About 17 exhibition halls were built by 1928, and in 1925 VDW's Hall 9 was opened. Some of the buildings of the time still stand[112][113]Science
Former Pittler factory (Pittlerstraße 26)Leipzig-Wahren (Saxony)The site of the factory where Pittler built turret lathes from 1899. Since 2018 the buildings have been used for other purposes[114]Science
Göppinger TechnikforumGöppingen (Baden-Württemberg)Former employees keep machines driven by overhead line shafts and belts in working order, centered on Boehringer lathes. Open on work days or by appointment[115]Science
Industriesalon SchöneweideBerlin (State of Berlin)A museum showing the history of the Oberschöneweide industrial district, where the Deutsche Niles plant was built in 1898 and later became AEG's transformer factory[116]Science
Industriemuseum Chemnitz (Chemnitz Industrial Museum)Chemnitz (Saxony)The building of a foundry where Auto Union cast tank engine housings during the war (completely dismantled after the war, it was later used as a state foundry until 1982). Today it is a museum of Saxon industrial history, and with about 500 machine tools in its collection it is one of the largest in Germany. Check the museum's information for opening days[117][118][119][120][121][122]War & divisionNC & 4.0Other machines
Deutsches Technikmuseum (German Museum of Technology)BerlinA “historic factory” recreating a metalworking plant of around 1900. Most of the machines were used in West Berlin factories until the 1970s, and there are demonstrations driven by a steam engine and belts. It also holds AEG records, used in research on early West German NC[123][56][124]War & divisionMilling/MC
Deutsches Museum (German Museum)München (Bavaria)A machine tool exhibition since 1925 (redesigned in 1990/91), in three rooms: a belt-driven 19th-century workshop, individually motor-driven machines of the 1950s–60s, and a production line linked by NC and computers. Closed since June 2022 for renovation of the building, with reopening planned for 2028 (a 360° virtual tour is available online)[125][126][43]War & divisionNC & 4.0Gear machines
EMO Hannover (Hannover exhibition grounds)Hannover (Lower Saxony)One of the world's largest machine tool fairs, held in Hannover under the EMO name since 1977. It now takes place in odd-numbered years, rotating Hannover, Hannover, Milan, with the next Hannover show planned for 2029. You can see the latest CNC, 5-axis machines and umati demonstrations[127][128]NC & 4.0
Industriemuseum Chemnitz (Sächsisches Industriemuseum)Chemnitz (Saxony)Saxony's industrial museum. It holds a turret lathe built by Pittler of Leipzig around 1915–30 (with a Siemens-Schuckert motor, weighing about 1.8 t) and a Pittler single-spindle automatic[129][130]Lathes
Pittlerwerke (former Pittler factory)Leipzig (Saxony), Pittlerstraße in WahrenPittler's factory building, built in 1899 (a listed monument). Empty from 1996, it has been reused as a cultural venue since 2018. The building can be seen from outside[131]Lathes
Nippon Institute of Technology Museum of Industrial TechnologyMiyashiro, Saitama PrefectureHolds an Ikegai Iron Works engine lathe (built 1937) modeled on the lathes of Germany's VDF. You can see what Japanese lathes learned from VDF[132]Lathes
Industriemuseum Chemnitz (Chemnitz Museum of Industry)Chemnitz (Saxony)A museum showing the machine tool history of Chemnitz, home of Wanderer and Reinecker. Besides a workshop with belt-driven machines, it has a complete model of the FMS 630 flexible machining system of Fritz Heckert (formerly Wanderer) and real parts from it. In 2025 it borrowed a model of Heckert's PRISMA 2 from Starrag Chemnitz and showed it next to a digital twin[133][134][135]Milling/MCGear machines
DMG MORI Pfronten (former Maho factory)Pfronten (Bavaria)The factory in the town where Maho was born in 1920. Today it is one of DMG MORI's main European plants, where about 1,600 people build 50 types of milling machines and machining centers. Visits are possible during the open house (exhibition) held at the start of each year[89]Milling/MC
NaxoshalleFrankfurt am Main (Hesse), Ostend districtOne of the factory buildings where Naxos-Union made grinding wheels and grinding machines. It is now used for cultural events and has a small memorial to Marie Pfungst of the founding family. Check before you go whether you can get inside when no event is on[136]Grinders
Deutsches Technikmuseum (German Museum of Technology), “Machine tools”Berlin (State of Berlin)A “historic workshop” recreating a metalworking factory of around 1900, where an 1860 steam engine drives the machines through overhead line shafts and belts. Grinding machines can be seen alongside machines for drilling, sawing, turning and milling, and there are demonstration days[137]Grinders
Sächsisches Staatsarchiv Leipzig (Saxon State Archives, Leipzig branch)Leipzig (Saxony)Holds the records of Arno Krebs (1910–46), Mikrosa's predecessor, and of VEB Mikrosa Leipzig, including product catalogs, material for a short 1996 company history and papers of technical director Johannes Bohmann. The company history written for each record group can be read online[138][55]Grinders
Wirtschaftsarchiv Baden-Württemberg (Baden-Württemberg Business Archives)Stuttgart-Hohenheim (Baden-Württemberg)Holds Fortuna-Werke records from 1898 to 1986 (25 m of shelving). The company history can be read, but the records themselves are listed as not available for use[139]Grinders
GrindingHub (grinding technology trade show)Stuttgart (Baden-Württemberg), Messe StuttgartA trade show dedicated to grinding and finishing, started in 2022. Organized by VDW, Messe Stuttgart and Swissmem of Switzerland, it has been held every two years, in 2024 and 2026. The latest grinding machines, wheels, dressers and measuring equipment can be seen in one place[140]Grinders
Deutsches Historisches Museum (German Historical Museum)BerlinA 1955 album of factory photographs of VEB Modul (the former Pfauter works in Chemnitz) (inventory no. SI 90/2119). It is a collection item, not a permanent display; the catalog entry and photos can be viewed on the Deutsche Digitale Bibliothek (German Digital Library)[141]Gear machines
Sächsisches Staatsarchiv Chemnitz (Saxon State Archives, Chemnitz)Chemnitz (Saxony)Publicity photographs (1965–1985) of WMW-Export-Import, the East German machine tool export agency, including photos of Modul's ZFWZ hobbing machines and the ZFTKK 500/2 K bevel gear hobbing machine. Viewing follows the archive's procedures[142]Gear machines
TECHNOSEUM (State Museum of Technology and Labor)Mannheim (Baden-Württemberg)Holds a radial drill by Raboma of Berlin (c. 1901–1910, individual motor drive and gear speed change, inventory number EVZ:1984/0057). Check the museum's information before you go to see whether it is in the permanent exhibition[143]Other machines
3-Städte-Depot e.V.Hückeswagen (North Rhine-Westphalia)A volunteer association collecting industrial objects of the Bergisches Land region; it has restored a Klopp shaper from Solingen (c. 1950) to working order and runs it in its exhibition[144]Other machines
Technisches Denkmal Brikettfabrik „Louise“ (Louise Briquette Factory technical monument)Domsdorf (Brandenburg)An 1882 briquette factory preserved intact. The factory's workshop has a planer (slotting machine) by H. Tröpsch of Leipzig. Guided tours let you see inside the factory[145]Other machines

FAQ

Where should I start reading about the history of German machine tools?
To get the overall flow, the quickest way is to start with the mini-timeline on this page and move on to the chapters for the eras that interest you. If you are interested in a particular machine, the machine-type chapters (Chapters 5–9: lathes, milling machines/machining centers, grinders, gear machines, other machines) are written so you can start there too.
Was the hobbing machine invented in Germany?
The idea of generating teeth with a hob existed in the 19th century in the US and Britain too, but it was Hermann Pfauter of Chemnitz who patented, around 1897, a practical hobbing machine that could cut even helical gears. Which patent protected what is explained, with patent numbers and dates, in Chapter 8, “The Lineage of German Gear Machines.”
Can old German technical journals be read from Japan?
Dinglers Polytechnisches Journal for 1820–1931 can be read in full for free. Many other sources can be read in the German Digital Library and university digital libraries. OCR of blackletter (Fraktur) has many errors, so the trick is to search several times with different terms. See “Using German research and archive sites” for details.
Where are the records of East German machine tools?
Many factory records have been transferred to Saxony's business archives and to the state archives. The Chemnitz Industrial Museum (Industriemuseum Chemnitz) also has real machines. Chapter 3, “War and the East–West Division,” explains this together with where the sources are held.

Sources

Sources for the mini-timeline and Places to visit. Each chapter page lists all the sources for that chapter. “p.” is a page of the source and “frame” is the scan sequence number; click one to open that page.

  1. Conrad Matschoss (ed.), Männer der Technik. Ein biographisches Handbuch, VDI-Verlag, Berlin (1925)p. 160, 306
  2. TU Chemnitz, Chair of Production Systems and Processes, “Tradition” (timeline of machine tool building in Chemnitz)
  3. Deutsche Biographie, “Zimmermann, Johann von” (index entry; 1820–1901, machine tool manufacturer)
  4. International Exhibition 1862. Medals and Honourable Mentions awarded by the International Juries, London (1862), Class VII B (official list of award winners)p. 155
  5. Hans Christoph Graf von Seherr-Thoß, “Loewe, Ludwig,” Neue Deutsche Biographie 15 (1987), pp.77–78
  6. Landesarchiv Berlin, B Rep. 250-05 “Ludwig Loewe GmbH” (record group notes, Archivportal-D)
  7. International Directory of Company Histories, “Gildemeister AG” (on Encyclopedia.com)
  8. Dinglers Polytechnisches Journal, Vol. 237 (1880), p.271, “Gildemeister's Universal-Radialbohrmaschine”p. 271
  9. A. Haenig, Emery and the Emery Industry: A Technical Study of Modern Abrasives and the Development of the Modern Grinding-Machine Industry, Scott, Greenwood & Son (1912; English translation of the German original by C. Salter)p. 7
  10. DVS Technology Group, “150 Years of Expertise in Grinding” (150th anniversary of Naxos-Diskus; history of Naxos-Union)
  11. Wolfgang Uhlmann, “Reinecker, Julius Eduard,” Neue Deutsche Biographie 21 (2003), p.349
  12. Peter Stölzel, “Der Bau von Fräsmaschinen in den Wanderer-Werken,” Vereinskurier No. 12 (December 2004), pp. 5–6, Förderverein Industriemuseum Chemnitzp. 5
  13. Franz Reuleaux, Briefe aus Philadelphia, Vieweg, Braunschweig (1877), digital edition of the Bavarian State Library (BSB). Numbers are scan frames (book page + 14)p. 17, 19
  14. Andrew G. Bonnell, “'Cheap and Nasty': German Goods, Socialism, and the 1876 Philadelphia World Fair,” International Review of Social History 46(2) (2001), pp.207–226
  15. German Patent and Trade Mark Office (DPMA), “Geschichte des deutschen Patentamts”
  16. Dinglers Polytechnisches Journal, Vol. 224 (1877), p.645, “Deutsches Patentgesetz” (full text of the law)p. 645
  17. Wolfhard Weber, “Reuleaux, Franz,” Neue Deutsche Biographie 21 (2003), pp.453–454
  18. Dinglers Polytechnisches Journal, Vol. 225 (1877), p.99, “Verordnung, betreffend die Einrichtung ... des kais. Deutschen Patentamtes”p. 99
  19. Berthold Leibinger, “Die Entwicklung der Werkzeugmaschinenindustrien in Deutschland, Japan und USA,” doctoral thesis, TU Wien (2014; cites the VDW commemorative book Glunk, Ein Jahrhundert VDW, 1991)p. 104
  20. VDW (German Machine Tool Builders' Association), “125 Years of the German Machine Tool Builders' Association”
  21. German patent DE 74951, “Metallbearbeitungsmaschine mit Revolverkopf,” W. von Pittler (Leipzig-Gohlis), filed February 24, 1893 (DEPATISnet)
  22. Neue Deutsche Biographie 20 (2001), p. 491 f., “Pittler, Wilhelm von” (H. C. Graf v. Seherr-Thoß)
  23. DRP 112082 (R. H. Pfauter, filed September 1, 1897)
  24. Seherr-Thoß, “Pfauter, Hermann,” Neue Deutsche Biographie, Vol. 20 (2001), p.305 f.
  25. Gleason-Pfauter Maschinenfabrik, "This is our story" (company history)
  26. R. S. Woodbury, History of the Gear-Cutting Machine, MIT (1958)Frames 60
  27. StarragHeckert Holding AG, “Historie” (2011 copy in the Web Archive)
  28. Anderson Ashburn, “The Machine Tool Industry: The Crumbling Foundation,” in Donald A. Hicks (ed.), Is New Technology Enough?, American Enterprise Institute (1988). Numbers are PDF pagesp. 51
  29. Weltausstellung Brüssel 1910. Deutsches Reich. Amtlicher Katalog (official German catalog of the 1910 Brussels World's Fair)Frames 226
  30. Hans Christoph Graf von Seherr-Thoß, “Schlesinger, Georg,” Neue Deutsche Biographie 23 (2007), pp. 63–64
  31. Heinz Sarkowski, Der Springer-Verlag. Stationen seiner Geschichte, Teil I: 1842–1945, Springer (1992), Chapter 4, “1907–1918”p. 200
  32. Günter Spur, S. Voglrieder, “Gründung des Schlesinger-Lehrstuhls,” ZWF 94(3) (1999), pp. 136–139
  33. Christian Kompe, “Zwischen Wissenschaft und Industrie. Mechanismen des Wissens- und Technologietransfers am Aachener Werkzeugmaschinenlabor von 1906 bis 2006,” doctoral thesis, RWTH Aachen (2009)
  34. W. Eversheim et al. (eds.), 100 Jahre Produktionstechnik. Werkzeugmaschinenlabor WZL der RWTH Aachen von 1906 bis 2006, Springer (2006)
  35. DRP 243514, “Method of cutting gears with a gear-shaped tool having cutting edges on the end faces of its teeth” (George Adams and the legal successors of the late Wilhelm von Pittler; patented from March 1, 1910; published February 16, 1912)
  36. Han, Jiang, Deng, “Machining and meshing analysis of face gears by power skiving,” Journal of Advanced Mechanical Design, Systems, and Manufacturing 16(1) (2022, Japan Society of Mechanical Engineers)
  37. PITTLER T&S (DVS Technology Group), “Der Wälzschälprozess”
  38. Seherr-Thoß, “Pittler, Julius Wilhelm von,” Neue Deutsche Biographie, Vol. 20 (2001), p.491 f.
  39. INDEX Group, “100 years INDEX”
  40. DIN (German Institute for Standardization), “History of DIN”
  41. DIN, “Chronik” (January 2020 edition, PDF)
  42. F. Haßler, “Hellmich, Waldemar,” Neue Deutsche Biographie 8 (1969), p. 485 f.
  43. H. Busch, “Klingelnberg, Adolf,” Neue Deutsche Biographie, Vol. 12 (1980), p.77 f.
  44. Klingelnberg, “History” (company history)
  45. thyssenkrupp, "Krupp corporate history"
  46. “The history of the evolution of cemented carbides for tools” (in Japanese), SEI Technical Review No. 188 (Sumitomo Electric Industries, 2016)p. 11
  47. National Diet Library Search: bibliographic record of G. Schlesinger, Die Arbeitsgenauigkeit der Werkzeugmaschinen, J. Springer (1927)
  48. National Diet Library Search: bibliographic record of G. Schlesinger, Prüfbuch für Werkzeugmaschinen (Die Arbeitsgenauigkeit der Werkzeugmaschinen), J. Springer (1931)
  49. Shigeru Ueno, “Trends in performance evaluation technology for machine tools” (in Japanese), Transactions of the Japan Society of Mechanical Engineers, Series C, Vol. 71, No. 705 (2005), pp. 1416–1420 (appendix: a short history of machine tool performance testing)p. 1419
  50. Boehringer (Göppingen), “Geschichte” (history by the company on the former factory site)
  51. Vereinigte Drehbank-Fabriken (Gebr. Boehringer, Heidenreich & Harbeck, H. Wohlenberg), VDF Turret Lathes RS 50, RS 63, RS 80, RS 100, English catalog VDF 107/Ie (c. late 1950s, Internet Archive)
  52. Friedrich Deckel, “Fräsmaschine mit waagerechter Arbeitsspindel und einer aufsetzbaren Winkelfräseinrichtung,” German patent 665218 (filed December 4, 1932; published 1938)
  53. H. C. Graf von Seherr-Thoß, “Lindner, Herbert,” Neue Deutsche Biographie, Vol. 14 (1985), pp. 612–613
  54. Wolfgang Uhlmann, “Chemnitz – die Industriestadt in Sachsen. Ein Abriss zur Industrie- und Wirtschaftsgeschichte,” Sächsische Heimatblätter, Vol. 66, No. 2 (2020), pp. 144–152p. 7, 8
  55. Sächsisches Staatsarchiv Leipzig, Bestand 20827, “VEB Mikrosa Leipzig” (description of the record group and company history)
  56. Thomas Wissert, Einführung der numerisch gesteuerten Werkzeugmaschinen in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland zwischen 1950 und 1980, Logos Verlag Berlin (2023; doctoral thesis, University of Stuttgart; open access)p. 95, 96, 175, 194
  57. MODUL MT Verzahntechnik, “Historie” (company history)
  58. German Pavilion SIMTOS 2026 exhibitor profile, “MODUL MT Verzahntechnik”
  59. fertigungstechnik.de company data, “Samputensili Machine Tools” (Chemnitz)
  60. TU München FZG (Gear Research Centre), “Geschichte”
  61. Seherr-Thoß, “Niemann, Gustav,” Neue Deutsche Biographie, Vol. 19 (1999), p.232 f.
  62. Sächsisches Staatsarchiv, Bestand 31011, “VEB Großdrehmaschinenbau „8. Mai“ Karl-Marx-Stadt” (description of the record group and finding aid)
  63. VDI Westsächsischer Bezirksverein, “130 Jahre VDI in Chemnitz: Zeittafel zur Entwicklung von Handwerk, Manufaktur, Industrie,” 3. Entwicklung des Werkzeugmaschinenbaus (PDF)p. 10
  64. Thomas Wissert, Einführung der numerisch gesteuerten Werkzeugmaschinen in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland zwischen 1950 und 1980 unter besonderer Berücksichtigung von Baden-Württemberg, Logos Verlag Berlin (2023; doctoral thesis, University of Stuttgart; open access)p. 6, 122, 179, 180, 190, 193, 199, 439
  65. Umi ni riku ni soshite uchu e: Zoku Mitsubishi Jukogyo shashi 1964-1989 (On sea, on land and into space: A further history of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, 1964-1989), Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (1990)Frames 383, 542
  66. Mitsubishi Heavy Industries press release, “Cumulative 10,000 gear machine tools” (November 1, 2012)
  67. HELLER, "HELLER history"
  68. Blohm Jung, “BLOHM: History” (Blohm company history)
  69. computer&AUTOMATION, “Numerische Steuerungen: Die Historie der Sinumerik” (photos courtesy of Siemens, 11 in all)p. 2
  70. TRUMPF, “The history of the company at a glance” (company PDF, May 2022)
  71. “TRUMPF GmbH + Co. KG,” International Directory of Company Histories (on Encyclopedia.com)
  72. Starrag, “History” (history of Dörries, Scharmann, Droop+Rein and Heckert)
  73. ZEISS, “History of industrial metrology” (technical milestones)
  74. ZEISS press release, “ZEISS looks back at 100 years of measuring technology” (May 6, 2019)
  75. CECIMO (European Association of the Machine Tool Industries), “EMO History”
  76. HEIDENHAIN, "Milestones in the history of HEIDENHAIN"
  77. JUNKER, “Erwin Junker Maschinenfabrik GmbH” (timeline)
  78. R. Haninger, E. Rütschle, H.-H. Winkler (Chiron-Werke), “Machine tool with tool magazine,” US patent 4,557,035 (filed September 2, 1983; German priority September 13, 1982)
  79. Erwin Junker Maschinenfabrik, “Firmengeschichte” (old website, March 2005)
  80. JUNKER, “QUICKPOINT” (product description: high-speed external grinding and the point-contact principle)
  81. EOS blog, “5,000 Machines and Counting” (March 9, 2025)
  82. J. Woodcock, “EOS — Two decades of risk and rewards,” TCT Magazine (January 22, 2014)
  83. EMAG, “VSC 250, VSC 400, VSC 500” catalog (German, PDF)p. 2
  84. EMAG, “EMAG – Turning, milling, drilling, grinding” (brand history)
  85. German patent DE 4212175, “Aus Baugruppen zusammengesetztes Bearbeitungszentrum,” EMAG (N. Heßbrüggen, H. Steinbach), filed April 10, 1992 (DEPATISnet)
  86. UNITED GRINDING, Motion, “How it all started” (30 years of Körber Schleifring; a conversation between Werner Redeker, former chairman of the executive board of Körber AG, and CEO Stephan Nell)
  87. UNITED GRINDING, "Our history"
  88. International Directory of Company Histories, “Gildemeister AG” (on Encyclopedia.com)
  89. DMG MORI, “Pfronten – Precision as a passion” (plant guide)
  90. DE 196 49 865 C1, “Verfahren zur Herstellung eines Formkörpers” (Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft; inventors Meiners, Wissenbach, Gasser; filed December 2, 1996)
  91. Fraunhofer ILT press release, “Ein prägendes Patent: 25 Jahre metallischer 3D-Laser-Druck” (November 15, 2021)
  92. INDEX-Werke, "100 years INDEX / 110 years INDEX"
  93. INDEX-Werke, “Effizienz und Flexibilität – Automationslösungen bei INDEX,” presentation (December 12, 2022, p. 3, “Historie INDEX-Werke”)p. 3
  94. Gear Technology, September/October 1997, “Gleason Corporation Acquires the Pfauter Group”
  95. Gleason Corporation, Gleason 160 (160th-anniversary book, 2025)p. 31
  96. Gleason, "Milestones in Gear Technology"
  97. DMG MORI: History
  98. Profilator, "SCUDDING® von Innen- & Außenverzahnungen"
  99. Liebherr customer magazine 2019, “Pioneers in gear manufacturing (50 years)”
  100. Fritz Studer AG, “History” (Studer company history)
  101. DMG MORI AKTIENGESELLSCHAFT, Geschäftsbericht 2020 (annual report, ESEF version). Numbers are PDF pagesp. 9
  102. VDW (German Machine Tool Builders' Association), “Die deutsche Werkzeugmaschinenindustrie”
  103. Industriemuseum Chemnitz (Saxon Museum of Industry), “Standortgeschichte”
  104. Deutsches Technikmuseum Berlin, “Werkzeugmaschinen” (permanent exhibition)
  105. Deutsches Museum, “Werkzeugmaschinen” (exhibition guide)
  106. Saxon State Archives, Chemnitz branch, 31007 “J. E. Reinecker AG, Chemnitz-Gablenz” (record group notes)
  107. Saxon State Archives, Chemnitz branch, 31035 “Sächsische Textilmaschinenfabrik vorm. Richard Hartmann AG” (record group notes)
  108. Saxon State Archives, Chemnitz branch, 31030 “Wanderer-Werke AG, Siegmar-Schönau” (record group notes)
  109. Saxon State Archives, Chemnitz branch, 31016 “VEB Werkzeugmaschinenfabrik UNION” (record group notes)
  110. TU Berlin Institute for Machine Tools and Factory Management (IWF)
  111. RWTH Aachen Laboratory for Machine Tools and Production Engineering (WZL)
  112. Leipziger Industriekultur, "Alte Messe"
  113. Dinglers Polytechnisches Journal, Vol. 340 (1925), p. 41, “DIN auf der Leipziger Messe”
  114. Leipziger Industriekultur, "Pittlerstr. 26 – Pittler AG"
  115. museum.de, "Göppinger Technikforum"
  116. Industriesalon Schöneweide, “TRO Betriebschronik” (chronicle of the former Deutsche Niles plant, PDF)
  117. Industriemuseum Chemnitz, "Standortgeschichte – Von der Gießerei zum Museum"
  118. Industriemuseum Chemnitz, "Die Sammlung"
  119. Industriemuseum Chemnitz, "Dauerausstellung"
  120. Industriemuseum Chemnitz, "Die Sammlung"
  121. Industriemuseum Chemnitz collection, “Modell Waagerecht-Bohr- und Fräsmaschine BFT 90/3at,” 04/0049 (museum-digital)
  122. Industriemuseum Chemnitz collection, “Modell Maschinenbearbeitungszentrum CBFK 90/1,” 04/0048 (museum-digital)
  123. Deutsches Technikmuseum Berlin, "Dauerausstellung Werkzeugmaschinen"
  124. Deutsches Technikmuseum (German Museum of Technology), “Werkzeugmaschinen” (guide to the permanent exhibition)
  125. Deutsches Museum, "Werkzeugmaschinen – Grundlage für die Produktion von Gütern"
  126. Deutsches Museum, "Werkzeugmaschinen – Grundlage für die Produktion von Gütern"
  127. VDW, “Messen des VDW” (rotation of EMO Hannover and EMO Milano)
  128. CECIMO (European Association of the Machine Tool Industries), “EMO History”
  129. Industriemuseum Chemnitz (Sächsisches Industriemuseum) collection, “Revolverdrehmaschine,” Pittler, 1915–1930, inventory no. 02/0050 / W1 (museum-digital)
  130. Industriemuseum Chemnitz collection, “Einspindel-Drehautomat,” Pittler, before 1945, inventory no. 95/408 / W1 (museum-digital)
  131. Industriekultur Leipzig e. V., “Pittlerstr. 26 – Pittler AG” (F. Heyme, H. Pawlitzky, 2020)
  132. National Museum of Nature and Science, HITNET Industrial Technology History Database: “Engine lathe,” Ikegai Iron Works, built 1937 (in the collection of the Nippon Institute of Technology Museum of Industrial Technology)
  133. Günter Rudolph, “Fünf Jahre Arbeitsgruppe Werkzeugmaschinen,” Vereinskurier No. 3 (December 2001), pp. 6–7, Förderverein Industriemuseum Chemnitz
  134. Eberhard Kühlfluck, “Editorial,” Transmission No. 54 (December 2024), pp. 2–3, Industriemuseum Chemnitz
  135. Industriemuseum Chemnitz, "Dauerausstellung"
  136. hessenschau.de (Hessischer Rundfunk), “Naxos, Schmirgel und Marie – das Porträt einer ungewöhnlichen Frau”
  137. Deutsches Technikmuseum (German Museum of Technology), “Werkzeugmaschinen” (guide to the permanent exhibition)
  138. Sächsisches Staatsarchiv Leipzig, Bestand 20779, “Arno Krebs, Werkzeugmaschinenfabrik, Leipzig” (description of the record group)
  139. Wirtschaftsarchiv Baden-Württemberg, “Fortuna-Werke” (description of the 1898–1986 record group)
  140. VDW, “GrindingHub” (grinding technology trade show; organized by VDW, Messe Stuttgart and Swissmem)
  141. German Historical Museum (DHM), album of photographs of “VEB Zahnschneidefabrik „Modul“ Karl-Marx-Stadt,” 1955 (SI 90/2119)
  142. Saxon State Archives, Chemnitz, 33330 WMW-Export-Import publicity no. 570, “Zahnrad-Wälzfräsmaschinen” (1965–1985)
  143. TECHNOSEUM (Mannheim) collection, “Radialbohrmaschine,” EVZ:1984/0057 (museum-digital)
  144. 3-Städte-Depot e.V. (Hückeswagen) collection, “Waagerechtstoßmaschine Fa. Klopp / Solingen,” 105-2017 (museum-digital)
  145. Technisches Denkmal Brikettfabrik „Louise“ (Domsdorf) collection, “Hobelmaschine (Stoßmaschine)” (museum-digital)