Forschungsanstalt Prof. Junkers

Founded:
1915 by Prof. Junkers at Dessau (1st July)
1922 absorbing Versuchsanstalt Aachen
1934 partially outsourced into Forschungsanstalt Prof. Junkers GmbH, Munich

Main Business:
Research of thermodynamic problems
Research Studies on aircraft designs
Research Studies on aircraft engine designs
License agreements for Junkers patents


Management Positions:
1915 Dr. Otto Mader, head of the Research Institute Prof. Junkers at Dessau.

In 1912 Hugo Junkers left the Technical University of Aachen, but he still continued his researches on stationary oil and ship engines at the Versuchsanstalt in Aachen. Initial research work for Junkers J1 was still done at the Aachen Versuchsanstalt. However, early in 1915 Hugo Junkers and his family returned to Dessau, where Junkers intended to be closer to the production workshops. At Dessau he established the Forschungsanstalt Prof. Junkers on 1st July 1915 and most aircraft related staff from the Versuchsanstalt in Aachen was transfered to the new Forschungsanstalt in Dessau. The Forschungsanstalt became the technological brain of the Junkers factories for the next twenty years. Otto Mader was the head of the Forschungsanstalt at Dessau until it was dissovled and integrated into the Junkers Flugzeugwerke in the mid thirties.

The Forschungsanstalt was responsible for the developement of new technological ideas. The technical departement of the Forschungsanstalt developed ideas and performed the necessary technical experiments and researches up to a final prototype product. The Patent Office was responsible for the patent rights of the technical departement including the research of possible rights of other companies, the request for patents on behalve of Junkers and the Forschungsanstalt and finally legal discussions with third parties. The License Office was responsible for the sale of license utilizations of Junkers' patents. License Agreements were not only signed with third party users, but also with the different Junkers' companies, which used the ideas coming up from the Forschungsanstalt. The internal Junkers' companies were responsible for the commercial utilization of the Forschungsanstalt's ideas.

Initially the Forschungsanstalt at Dessau took over the principle design questions of all-metal aircraft constructions, which had already been researched at the Versuchsanstalt in Aachen. This work was performed in close connection with the Junkers + Co. facilities. A major benefit of the transfer of the research branch to Dessau was the integration of theoretic research at the Forschungsanstalt and the practical experiences at the metal workshops of ICO. The developement of the Junkers J1 was still divided between the Forschungsanstalt at Dessau for static tests and the Versuchsanstalt Aachen for aerodynamical tests in the wind channel. But in February 1916 the first wind channel became available at the Forschungsanstalt in Dessau and since then the further developements took place at Dessau completely. All Junkers' prototypes during WW I were developed by the Junkers Forschungsanstalt, the prototypes themselves were built by Junkers + Co. However, when the Junkers J4 and the Junkers J9 were ordered in larger numbers by the IDFLIEG in 1917, the Junkers-Fokker-Werke A.G. was formed as a joint venture with Anthony Fokker for the serial production of these aircraft.

After WW I the Junkers-Fokker-Werke A.G. was taken over by Hugo Junkers and became the Junkers Flugzeugwerke A.G.. As a lot of mechanical knowhow were gained by IFA during the serial production of the J4 and J9 metal aircraft, the Forschungsanstalt no longer needed the ICO experience. IFA became responsible for the prototype construction and the serial production. ICO fully concentrated on the warm water stove developements.

While the Forschungsanstalt initially was busy with the principle metal aircraft design questions, small capacities were also used for the further research of thermodynamical questions and the layouts of improved warm water stoves. After WW I the Forschungsanstalt's engagement for these ICO products increased, but when the ICO branch was sold to Robert Bosch in 1932, the thermodynamic activities were completely stopped.

The oil engine research remained independent from Dessau during the initial war phase. The Versuchsanstalt at Aachen continued the developements of stationary and mobile oil engines with reduced capacities. Initial ideas for an aircraft engine and the construction of several test engines, i.e. the Mo 3 were also started from the Versuchsanstalt at Aachen. But when the Aachen researches reached an acceptable status, the Junkers Fo 2 research as the first useable aircraft engine was transfered to the Forschungsanstalt at Dessau for further improvements and tests. This marked the beginning of a long developement period at the Forschungsanstalt in Dessau, which headed for the world's first useable Diesel aircraft engine, the Jumo 205, which entered serial production at Junkers Motorenbau GmbH in 1932.

The research of stationary oil engines remained at the Versuchsanstalt Aachen until 1922, when the last remains of the Versuchsanstalt were transfered to Dessau. The Junkers Motorenbau GmbH picked up the final design questions for the serial production of the HK-Series engines. The few remaining research questions were integrated into the Forschungsanstalt. During the financial crisis of 1931/1932 the stationary oil engine production was completely transfered to Junkers Kraftmaschinen GmbH at Chemnitz and most parts of it were later sold. Therefore the general oil engine research was stopped at the Forschungsanstalt in 1932.

Thus in 1933 the Forschungsanstalt's engagement was mostly focused on the aircraft and aircraft engine design. When the Nazi Government forced Hugo Junkers to transfer his patent rights onto Jumo and IFA, it was just a small further step to integrate the Forschungsanstalt into both companies as developement and design offices. As the Forschungsanstalt was never an offical entity it is not known, if the Forschungsanstalt was already dissolved in 1933/34 after the Nazi took over control at Junkers. It might also be, that the Forschungsanstalt remained offically established until the restructuring of the Junkers consortium in July 1936, when Jumo and IFA were integrated into JFM. However, at least since then the Forschungsanstalt was completely absorbed by the new Junkers Flugzeug- und Motorenwerke A.G..

A final footprint of the Forschungsanstalt came up in 1939 with the foundation of the Otto Mader Werke, which like the Forschungsanstalt were responsible for the design and developement of Junkers aircraft engines up to the prototype construction. Like the Forschungsanstalt, the Otto Mader Werk was headed by Otto Mader. So it is not surprising, that both facilities were very common. With the destruction of the Junkers Flugzeug- und Motorenwerke A.G. in April 1945 the design offices and the Otto Mader Werk were also destroyed, however small traces of the Forschungsanstalt structure could also be found in the post WW II design offices OKB-1 and OKB-2 in Prodberesja and Kuibyschew in Russia, which also were only focused on prototype constructions and not on serial production.

Hugo Junkers himself continued his research work even after being forced to leave Dessau. In Munich he established the Forschungsanstalt Prof. Junkers, Munich.



A total of 334 patents out of 390 patents issued to Prof. Junkers
were holded by one of the Junkers Institutes:

Experimental Laboratories, Aachen:
A total of 93 patents were issued for Prof. Junkers at Aachen:
25 patents related to engine designs and processes
13 patents related to aircraft designs
1 patent related to ship designs
3 patents related to thermodynamic systems (i.e. Calorimeter)
27 patents related to warm water stoves
14 patents related to house techniques (heater, coolings)
7 patents related to tooling and equipment
3 patents related to production procedures and techniques

Research Institute, Dessau:
A total of 227 patents were issued for Prof. Junkers at Dessau:
78 patents related to engine designs
41 patents related to aircraft designs
11 patents related to thermodynamic systems
15 patents related to warm water stoves
6 patents related to metal constructions (i.e. furnitures)
20 patents related to house techniques
39 patents related to tooling and equipment
17 patents related to production procedures and techniques

Research Institute Prof. Junkers, Munich:
A total of 14 patents were issued for Prof. Junkers at Munich during 1933/35:
8 patents related to engine designs
3 patents related to special tooling and procedures
3 patents related to house techniques

introduced Aug 1996, transfered Dec 2017
http://hugojunkers.bplaced.net/
contents last updated 2 Oct 2004