page_title: Huta Ludwików
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Huta Ludwików / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Polish steel helmet model 1931/50 Català: Casc d'acer polonès model 1931/50
context_page_description: Huta Ludwików is one of the oldest and best-known Polish factories of metal parts. Currently owned by a Kielce-based Zakłady Wyrobów Metalowych „SHL” joint-stock company, it is a major producer of, among other things, automotive parts for most European markets. In the past the name of the factory was primarily associated with various types of military equipment produced for the Polish Army, ranging from the wz. 34 sabres and wz. 31 helmet to SHL motorcycles. It was also the main sponsor of the now-defunct SHL Kielce sports club.
context_section_description: In 1895 Ludwik Starke from Sosnowiec started a new iron foundry in Pstrążnica near Suchedniów. The new factory, since 1899 owned jointly by Starke, Tadeusz Jarmołowicz and Henryk Brunner, entered the markets of the Russian Empire with a variety of cast iron castings, including pots, frying pans, cast iron pipes and machinery parts. As part of the Old-Polish Industrial Region the new factory enjoyed considerable success and soon the crew rose to over 500 workers.
  In 1907 Ludwik Starke's son, Stanisław, bought the Głęboczka farm  at the outskirts of the city of Kielce with the intention of opening his own steelworks. However, it was not until the 12 August 1919 that the authorities of reborn Poland agreed to his plans. The new steelworks was named "Ludwików", after Starke's father, and remained part of the original joint stock company. Already in December of that year a provisional, wooden building of the first foundry became operational. The factory was powered by a single 65 HP traction engine built by Sächsische Maschinenfabrik. The first products were basic home appliances. The following year enamel workshop was completed and in 1922 the "Ludwików" works were expanded to include a power plant.
  By the mid-1920s the steelworks increased production to 1860 tonnes of castings, distributed both in Poland and in Romania, Lithuania and Latvia. In 1926 the company owned also three large shops in Warsaw, Krakow and Łódź offering a wide range of agricultural machines: horse mills, threshing machines, reapers, winnowers and chaff cutters. In addition, the company also produced a wide variety of pipes, pots, kettles, stoves, ovens, horse cart parts and many more products. The same year the company received its first army order for drums of telephone wire.
  Initially the company was very successful and the new Kielce-based works have soon outgrown the original works at Suchedniów. However, the Great Depression stroke the company hard. In 1927 the owners had to split the company and 96% of shares of the Huta Ludwików were taken over by the Huta Pokój in Bytom, the largest steel company of Poland at that time. The new management, since 1931 led by Otmar Kwieciński, quickly restructured the factory and started expanding the product range to include more complex products. It also started to compete for renewed contracts with the Polish Army. In 1934 the first large success came: the newly renamed "Huta Ludwików Corporation" (Polish: Huta Ludwików - Spółka Akcyjna) became the sole producer of the new Hełm wz. 31 military helmet. Until 1939 over 300,000 were delivered. Another success came in 1936, when Huta Ludwików won another government contract, this time for the sabres for the cavalry. The Szabla wz. 34 was one of the best swords of the 20th century and was dubbed "ludwikówka", after the name of the company. Roughly 40,000 were delivered by the end of 1939. Also in 1936 the executives have signed a large contract with the Polish State Railways for delivery of thousands of railroad switches and signals. Soon afterwards additional contracts were signed for production of aerial bombs, grenade casings and
  The machine park was being constantly enhanced and by 1937 the new machines allowed for production of more complex products. That year design of a fast, agile and versatile motorcycle started. The SHL motorcycle, introduced in 1938, was designed by Rafał Ekielski, using British Villiers 98 cm³ 3 HP engines (parts of engines were locally manufactured). The motorcycle was named SHL 98 - SHL being a short of Suchedniowska Huta Ludwików (Ludwików Ironworks of Suchedniów, for the works were initially owned by a foundry in Suchedniów). The first batch of 1000 engines arrived together with the machines for their construction from Wolverhampton. The motorcycle, while not very powerful, proved popular as a cheaper alternative to imported motorcycles or the home-produced heavy-duty Sokół. The popularity of the new product made the entire factory adopt its logo and the now-iconic SHL abbreviation (probably derived from the words "Spółka Huta Ludwi
caption: The wz.31/50 helmet in original colours
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