Magirus
| GmbH | |
| Industry | Automotive |
| Founded | 1866 (As Magirus Kommanditist) 1974 (Magirus-Deutz) 1983 (Iveco Magirus) |
| Founder | Conrad Dietrich Magirus |
| Headquarters | Ulm, Baden-Württemberg, Germany |
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Number of locations
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Production locations: Germany:Ulm Austria:Graz France: Chambéry Italy: Brescia |
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Area served
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Worldwide |
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Key people
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| Products | Trucks |
 €1.042 billion (2009)
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| Owner | CNH Global |
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Number of employees
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2,100 (2009) |
| Parent | Iveco |
| Website | www.magirusgroup.com |
Magirus GmbH is a truck manufacturer based in Ulm, Germany, founded by Conrad Dietrich Magirus (1824–1895). The company began manufacturing fire-fighting vehicles in 1866. In the late 1910s, it started the production of trucks and buses. These vehicles developed a reputation for high engineering standards, able to operate under the most arduous conditions.
The company also invented the turntable ladder, as Magirus Leiter, which quickly became an essential item of fire brigade equipment worldwide.
The parent company was Klöckner Humboldt Deutz AG, maker of the well-known Deutz engines, so the brand commonly used was Magirus Deutz, and for a short time Klöckner. The logo of Magirus Deutz was a stylised M with a sharp, long centre point to represent the spire of Ulm Cathedral.
In 1975, Magirus became part of Iveco which continued producing some Magirus trucks for a short while under the name "Iveco Magirus" before abandoning it completely in most countries. KHD's collaboration with Fiat ended abruptly and less than harmoniously in 1979, leaving Fiat as owner of the Magirus-Deutz brand. However, Iveco trucks were sold under the Magirus brand in Germany and other European and Middle Eastern markets until the end of the 1980s. Today, the Magirus brand is only used for the company's firefighting equipment section, not for the whole fleet of manufactured trucks.
Most trucks from Magirus were also known as Magirus-Deutz because their air-cooled engine came from the factory of Deutz AG. These engines are still being sold for agricultural and marine use.
Iveco Magirus is one of the leading manufacturers of fire fighting equipment. The underpinnings for the line of fire fighting trucks are primarily Iveco's own chassis designs and engines, but occasionally platforms from other truck manufacturers serve as the base for specialized or customized fire-fighting equipment layouts. With its Magirus brand turntable ladder, Iveco Magirus is the unrivalled global market leader by sales.
Though seldom seen today, the Magirus company produced almost all of the early, movable ladders used in the construction of large, rigid airships in both the Germany and the United States. The multi-extension, wooden ladders were mounted on massively constructed, wooden carriage frames with a "fifth-wheel" style, forward axle assembly. Although it appeared to be designed for horses, the ladders could be easily moved by two men. The carriage was equipped with four, hand screw type "outriggers" that would resist the ladder from tipping. The ladder did not swivel on the carriage. It was elevated and extended only towards the front of the carriage. In the "working" position, the ladder had to be elevated to about an 80 degree angle in order to allow full extension to 85 feet. (I do not know what the maximum extended length of the largest wooden Magirus ladder was, but the ones used during the erection of the Goodyear-Zeppelin Corporation's USS AKRON and USS MACON reached to 85 feet.)
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Wikipedia