At the age of just 20, Otto Eckerle founded his first company in Malsch. During those early years, the company focused on the design and construction of operating materials and specialist equipment used for metal processing.
Patents for motor vehicle carburettor technology and for devices to run motor vehicles on wood gas, petrol or light diesel oil soon followed.
The destructive power of the Second World War also affected Eckerle badly. Although the company had begun to develop encouragingly before the war, the bombs that fell in February 1945 destroyed the factory that had only been built three years earlier.
Business operations resumed with the agreement of and support from the Allied Forces, initially in aid workshops, while at the same time work progressed on restoring the destroyed factory
During the years of Germany’s “economic miracle”, the innovative phase began - with fundamental developments and patent registrations, especially for the fully compensated external gear pump.