Hans Ledwinka
| Hans Ledwinka | |
|---|---|
| Born |
14 February 1878 Klosterneuburg, Lower Austria, Austro-Hungarian Empire |
| Died | 2 March 1967 (aged 89) Munich, West Germany |
| Nationality | Austro-Hungarian, Austrian |
| Children | Erich Ledwinka, Fritz Ledwinka |
| Engineering career | |
| Projects | Tatra 11, Tatra 77, Tatra 87, Tatra 97, Tatra 111, |
| Significant design | Backbone chassis, air-cooled engines, swing-axles |
Hans Ledwinka (14 February 1878 – 2 March 1967) was a Czech-Austrian automobile designer.
Ledwinka was born in Klosterneuburg (Lower Austria), near Vienna, then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
He started his career as simple mechanic, and later studied in Vienna. As a young man he worked for Nesselsdorfer-Wagenbau in Nesselsdorf, the company that later became known as Tatra in Moravia. He was first employed in the construction of railroad cars, and later involved in the production of the first cars produced by this firm. He designed the 5.3-litre six-cylinder Type U motor car. In 1917, in the midst of World War I, he left the company to join Steyr.
Ledwinka returned to Tatra company (originally Nesselsdorfer-Wagenbau) in Kopřivnice (Nesselsdorf), then in Czechoslovakia, now in Czech Republic, and between 1921 and 1937 he was their chief design engineer. He invented the frameless central tubular chassis (so-called "backbone chassis") with swing axles, fully independent suspension and rear-mounted air-cooled flat engine. Another of Ledwinka's major contributions to automobile design was the development of the streamlined car body. Under him, Tatra brought to market the first streamlined cars that had been mass-produced. Together with his son Erich, who took over as chief designer at Tatra, Ledwinka and Erich Übelacker, a German engineer also employed by Tatra, designed the streamlined Tatra models T77, T77a, T87, and T97. All of these models had rear mounted, air-cooled engines.
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