ČKD PRAHA

ČKD Praha  

The history of tractor production in the ČKD concern has been linked to two of its historical parts: the car-making section of Pražská automobilová továrna [Prague Car-Making Factory], whose name was reflected in the name of Praga tractors, and with Breitfeld–Daněk machine producers, whose name was reflected in the name of the earliest tractors, BD.  

The oldest element of the concern was the Breitfeld machine factory, founded already in 1833. Its initial concentration on the production of textile machines was after 1842 replaced by focus on steam engines and later also other machinery. Čeněk Daněk had founded his factory that produced sugar mill equipment in 1854 in the Prague quarter of Karlín. In 1872, the company issued shares and merged with the Breitfeld company. Already in the previous year, Emil Kolben had founded in Prague his electrotechnical manufacture. In 1899, he issued shares and renamed his firm ‘Elektrotechnika, dříve Kolben a spol.’ [Elektrotechnika, formerly Kolben & Co.]. Before long, the company expanded into other kinds of production: in 1899, it built a locomotive factory and in the following year, it started a serial production of locomotives. In 1903, Kolben also started to make gas engines. At that time, the company’s name changed once again: it was now known as První českomoravská továrna na stroje, dříve Kolben a spol. [The First Czech-Moravian Machine Factory, formerly Kolben & Co.]. In 1907, The First Czech-Moravian, as it was now colloquially known, founded together with the Ringhoffer Wagon Co. (founded already in 1843) a new Prague Automobile Factory. In the following year, however, Ringhoffer had due to entrepreneurial disagreements left the joint company and the automobile production was incorporated into the First Czech-Moravian as its automobile department. Since 1911, it produced cars under a licence and already one year earlier, the factory had also made the first Praga cars. But it also made lorries and since 1912 also the Praga motor ploughs. The first plough models to be made were Praga K5 40 HP and Praga X 32 HP, which were later joined by Praga X 20 HP and Praga X 10 HP models intended for smaller farms.

During the First World War, the factory switched to war production but as soon as the war ended, it resumed its prewar production plan. In 1921, the First Czech-Moravian fused with Elektrotechnica, formerly Kolben & Co., and in the same year, the name of the company was changed to Auto Praga, Českomoravská – Kolben, a.s. Six years later, Českomoravská – Kolben merged with Strojírna, Joint Stock Co., formerly Breitfeld–Daněk, thus creating the ČKD concern that included Praga as its automobile section. Its Prague-Libeň factory was making steam engines and cars, the factory in Prague-Vysočany made electric appliances and components, and the Prague-Karlín section focused on steam engines, turbines, and machines for food industry. Tractor production, originally located in the Breitfeld–Daněk machine factory, was after 1928 transferred to a branch factory in Slaný, near Prague, where tractors were made until 1936.  

Tractors made by Breitfeld–Daněk were labelled BD; their wheeled version had output of 25hp and the caterpillar version 32hp. Tractors made by ČKD bore the name Praga; they were produced in three levels of output, namely as automobile tractor AT 20-25 HP, agricultural tractor KT 32-36 HP, and a tractor for heavy farm work with output of 50hp. In 1936, the factory had also produced the first ČKD crawler tractor for military use or construction.

With the beginning of tractor production in the second half of the 1920s, the company had in 1927 stopped making motor ploughs. During the Second World War, ČKD shifted its focus to the production of components for military vehicles. During an air raid on the 25th of March 1945, the factories were largely destroyed. Production was renewed already in the same year, that is, 1945, but tractors were no longer made. In the same year, ČKD was nationalised, and it remained a national – later state-owned – company until 1989.

As of 1 September 1990, there was established ČKD joint stock company; it transformed its former branches into daughter stock companies with separate legal entities. In 1993, the name of the company changed to ČKD Praha Holding a.s. To this day, the wide range of its products is dominated by the company’s traditional products: locomotives, compressors, electrotechnical products, and trams.  

The sowing machine

Sowing machines are a key equipment for agriculture. They provide a regular and even placement of seeds into the soil, positioning the seed at even depth and at regular intervals, which in turn facilitates later work in the fields and minimises losses during those operations. A sowing machine consists of a seed box covered by a lid, which contains seeding equipment of several types. This is powered by an axle linked to a wheel that touches the ground. In the seed box are seed guides, mouldboards of various types suspended in two rows on shorter and longer arms, a driving modification, and various attachments. Using various types of seeding apparatus, the seeds are pushed through seeding holes into the seeding guides, through which they fall into furrows made by mouldboards in the ground. The seed can be either covered as it falls or pressed into the ground by pressing rollers.

Sowing machines are of key importance for effective and productive agriculture and their use contributes to better crops yields.