Koenig & Bauer AG

rapido
von Heyden
Madaus

Koenig & Bauer AG , formerly VEB Druckmaschinenwerk Planeta, F.-List-Straße 47

In 1898, Joseph Hauß and Alfred Sparbert founded the Dresdner Schnellpressen-Fabrik from the Palatinate rapid press factory in Frankenthal. The company, which specialised in the manufacture of letterpress printing machines, moved to Coswig in 1900 and was transformed into a public limited company. Shortly afterwards, it took over the site of the bankrupt "Victoria" stamping and enamelling plant on the Naundorf field, where production began in 1912. From 1922, the production of offset printing machines dominated the company's product range.

In 1924, the company merged with Leipziger Schnellpressenfabrik and adopted the name "Planeta" in 1938. It was named after the so-called planetary gear, a device for moving the printing foundation, for the invention of which the company had already received a patent in 1902. In 1932, the company launched the world's first four-colour sheet-fed offset press. The armaments production that began during the Second World War led to complete dismantling and forced administration by the Soviet military administration after 1945.....