TAŃSKI, Tadeusz

After finishing schooling at the School of Commerce in Warsaw, he studied at the Polish school in Batignolles, and at the „Charliat“ College of Electrotechnics in Paris. He finished these studies in 1913 with an engineering diploma in motor vehicle technology and air navigation. After finishing his studies, he worked for two years as an assistant to Ludwik Lacoin. From 1915 onwards, he worked as an independent constructor at Renault, where he constructed internal combustion engines, cars, and compressors. In 1916, he built the biggest aircraft engine in the world at that time, with 12 cylinders in a horizontal H arrangement and 520 HP. Two years later, a two-stroke, four-cylinder star-shaped rotating engine was created, which was given the name „Wir“ and was suitable for installation in light aeroplanes. In 1919, he returned to Poland, where he worked at the Chief Army Supply Bureau, at the Department of Armoured Vehicles. In the central car workshop of the Ministry of Defence, he designed the „FT-8“ light armoured vehicle on the basis of the undercarriage of the Ford T vehicle, which was later also used in the war.
In 1921, in the Society of Polish and American Mechanics in Pruszkow, he constructed tractors and lorries, among other things, but due to the currency crisis, these vehicles were never manufactured. In 1922, he returned to the army, where he received the task of manufacturing the first Polish car. Within one year, in co-operation with his fellow student from Paris, Robert Gebeaud, he drew the plans for a four-cylinder engine with 61 HP and a chassis with rear axle drive, which was later named „CWS-T1“. The car body for this model was manufactured by Stanisław Panczakiewicz. The vehicle was received positively due to its simplicity and reliability.
The car body for 6 persons was shown in Lwów at a fair for the eastern market. They also manufactured car bodies for ambulances. In 1926, the first prototype of the „CWS-T1“ vehicle was created, and approximately two years later, the serial production of this vehicle was begun. Before 1931, approximately 800 pieces were sold. In 1929, T. developed plans for two new engines, „T-4“ and „T-8“, with 80 and 100 HP, which contained additional standardisation of constituent parts and drove on petrol or on a mix of spirits.
At the end of the 1920s, T. developed a universal vehicle in the national factory in Warsaw, on the basis of the undercarriage of the „Fiat 618“ vehicle, which could drive on roads, and on tracks. Here he also assembled a two-stroke, four-cylinder high-pressure piston engine, and a cylindrical engine for propelling a generator, which was used in the army and ran successfully without intermission at an international competition. For the army, T. manufactured an air-cooled seven-cylinder engine with a star-shaped arrangement and 80 HP, a differential with an automatic block for an off-road vehicle, and towing vehicles for artillery cannons in 1929.