Zschocke, Friedrich- Suhl
Very little is known at this time about the life of the gun maker Friedrich (Fritz) Zschocke of Suhl. The earliest record I could find was in the Deutscher Reichs=Anzeiger und königlich Preussischer Staats=Anzeiger dated to May 30,1871. Below is the original text in the old Fraktur script with a google translation following.
The businessman Friedrich Zschocke in Suhl from the master saddler Friedrich Göbel and the gunsmith Anton Schaller in Suhl for the general partnership registered under No. 53 in the company register – F.Göbel & Schaller in Suhl Profura has expired. Deleted from No. 33 of the profession register as of today. Suhl, May 11th, 1871. Royal District Court. I. Department.
From this document we learn that he was officially recognized as a business man so I feel safe in assuming that he was born Between 1835 and 1845. That would put his age in 1870 as 25 to 35 years old. The 1873 Handbook of Industry, vol. 1 lists Friedrich Göbel & C. Schaller as a Wffenfabrik founded in 1867 with 20 employees. This anomaly may be explained by the information for the Industrial handbook being taken years before 1873 and before Zschocke took over Göbel & Schaller.
Zschocke was issued at least 6 D. R. G. M.’s numbers 58624, 61259, 71627, 92919, 122341. The Oct. 1, 1896 edition of the Deutsche Waffenzeitung had an article about the new center fire self cocking double gun, the Universal Safety Gun “Unicom” constructed by Fr. Zschocke, Gunmaker, Suhl. The article lists a patent (D. R.P.) no. 72583. This patent was issued on Oct. 14, 1892 to Jacob Röhmer in Suhl. (Click Here to read more about Jacob and the Röhmer Works). the article also lists D. R. Gebrauchs-Musters (D. R.G. M.,s) no. 58624 & no. 61259.
The fifth paragraph of the article (a google translation) states the following recognizing the patent as Röhmer’s and this may imply that Zschocke had a working relationship with Jacob Röhmer.
“The patented self-tightening system with double wedge and engagement of the extended notes has emerged from the well-known Röhmer self-tightening universal drilling. It maintains the type of tension using bow lever a, which is characterized by the fact that when the breech block is opened and the breech block K is retracted The hammers e located on the same shaft b with the locking lever can be turned back by lifting the bow lever a through the approach a1 and e1, tensioning the striking springs e, until the rods d kick in and the hammers e remain tensioned.”
Below: the patent drawing for Jacob Röhmer’s Drilling.
Below: the drawing for Fr. Zschocke’s D.R.G.M. 58624 & 61259
The drawing for D.R.G.M. no. 71627 shown below is for a manually operated Ejector mechanism.
D.R.G.M. no. 92919 shown below is for a automatic Safety.
The following drawing for D.R.G.M. no. 122341 shows a Switching device (selector) for a outside hammer Drilling.
I have never seen an advertisement for the Friedrich Zschocke business and perhaps they strictly produced guns to be finished and sold by others as a wholesaler rather than a retailer. The Company was located at Poststrasse 140b in Suhl. At some time between 1910 and 1914 the business was sold to Paul Stadelmann and the Pape and Kellner archive implies that Paul’s father Richard who was a Gun manufacturer, had some association with the Company and that Paul was head of the Company. Paul Stadelmann also became the head of the firm E. Schmidt & Habermann in 1935. After Paul Stadelmann took over the Company (F. Zschocke) it was located at Roschstrasse 1. and continued in operation until 1925.