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Max Friz ( to )was a mechanical engineer specializing in engine design. He was the key contributer of engine design and innovation that led to the founding of Bayerische Motoren Werke (BMW) in 1917.
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[edit] Early Life
Assumed to be originally from Urach, very little is known about Friz' youth. It is known however, that at a young age, he apprenticed to the Kuhn steam engine company in Cannstatt starting in 1898. In 1902 he enrolled at the Royal Building Trade School in Stuttgart-Esslingen furthering his engineering skills. In 1906 he was employed by Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft, in the Design Office, making major contributions to the design of the racing engine for the 1914 Mercedes Grand Prix car that won the French Grand Prix.[1]
Friz designed the first practical German aircraft engines in 1912-1913 while at Austro-Daimler. The engines had separate cylinders on the crankcase and an overhead camshaft driven by a vertical shaft and bevel gears. This cemented his reputation as an aircraft engine engineer. Friz, as a capable and respected engineer at Daimler, he made many acquaintances, from very talented engineers to powerful and influential businessmen. Friz also had the reputation of being a very talented engineering "team leader", no doubt formed while at Daimler. This is perhaps the reason that Joseph Popp, the Austrian Royal Navy representative delegated to Rapp Motorenwerke to oversee production of aircraft engines on license, recruited Friz to the Munich company in February of 1917.
[edit] Aircraft Engines
Upon arriving at Rapp Motorenwerke, Friz was tasked to develop an aircraft engine that could attain very high altitudes as well as be durable and aerodynamically favorable. Friz already had the idea for this type of aircraft engine: by over measuring and supercharging he wanted to build an engine, with which an airplane could achieve higher altitudes. This was precisely the most urgent requirement- a higher operational flight ceiling was a critical strategic advantage for the pilot (since the atmospheric pressure decreases the higher a pilot flies a plane, a conventional engine at this time literally stalled out above 3,000 meters).
Friz' innovative beginning lay in the fact that he combined the William May Brook idea with proven technologies. On 20 May 1917, Rapp Motorenwerke registered the documentation for the construction design for the new engine, dubbed "type III". Friz' design, based on Karl Rapp's design) was laid out as an in-line six cylinder, which guaranteed optimum balance, therefore few, small vibrations. The engine was successful, but the real breakthrough came in 1917, when Friz integrated a basically simple throttle butterfly into the "high-altitude carburettor", enabling the engine to develop its full power high above the ground. This is precisely the reason why the engine, now dubbed "type IIIa", had unique superiority in air combat. The water-cooled in-line 6 cylinder engine's reputation grew very quickly. Franz-Zeno Diemer, the pioneering aviator, sets a new world altitude record with a 32,000 ft (9760 meters) flight in 1919 using the type IIIa engine. It was the success of this engine that allowed the company to grow exceptionally fast, necessitating the restructuring of the company. In 1917, Rapp Motorenwerke is renamed to BFW, the predecessor to the modern day BMW. Friz, as Design Director for BFW, designed further aircraft engines which strengthened BMW's reputation still further in later years.
[edit] Motorcycles
With World War I now over, the company was forbidden from aircraft design. This necessitated the need for new avenues of growth for the company. Friz and his team of engineers design the first "boxer" (or opposed twin) engine was the fore-and-aft M2B15, based on a British Douglas design. It was manufactured by BMW in 1921/1922 but mostly used in other brands of motorcycles, notably Victoria of Nuremberg. The M2B15 proved to be moderately successful and BMW used it in its own Helios motorcycle. BMW also developed and manufactured a small 2-stroke motorcycle called the Flink for a short time. When BMW Gmbh went public in 1922, Friz was named the first Chief Engineer and Design Director of BMW AG, a post he would until 1937.
With the development of its first light alloy cylinder head, a much more significant "across the frame" version of the boxer engine was designed. In 1923 the R32 [2], appeared. Using the new aluminium alloy cylinders, Friz designed a 486 cc engine with 8.5 hp (6.3 kW) and a top speed of 95-100 km/h (60 mph). [3] The engine and gear box formed a bolt-up single unit. At a time when many motorcycle manufacturers used a total-loss oiling systems, the new BMW engine featured a recirculating wet-sump oiling system. However, it was not a "high-pressure oil" system based on shell bearings and tight clearances that we are familiar with, but a drip feed to roller bearings. This system was used by BMW until 1969. The wet-sump system was not overly common on motorcycles until the 1970s and the arrival of Japanese motorcycles. Until then, many manufacturers had used dry sump, with an external oil-tank made of sheet-metal.
The R32 became the foundation for all future boxer powered BMW motorcycles.
[edit] Automobiles
Friz was appointed to General Manager of BMW-Flugmotorenbau GmbH, Munich in 1934, and was there until 1937. With BMW continued growth into automobiles, Friz succeeded Leo C. Grass as General Manager of Flugmotorenfabrik Eisenach GmbH, overseeing development of automobile engine design and development. 1945 Friz retired from BMW. Friz was honored with an Honorary Doctorate from the Munich College of Advanced Technology in 1954.
Died in Tegernsee.
