Chropei Brochure
Chropei (Χρωματουργία Πειραιώς Chromatourgía Peiraiós, Piraeus Color Factory), also known as Chropi, was a Greek pharmaceutical company.
History[]
The company was founded in 1883 by Spilios and Leontios Economides, the latter having been a student of Adolf von Baeyer.
For most of the company's existence, they had been manufacturing synthetic dyes and other pharmaceutical products, and was an important contributor to Greece's defense effort during World War II and diversified in 1950. Chropei made a bold move in 1975 to introduce two types of weapons to the Greek army, the Chropi rifle and the GP10 submachine gun. The guns were developed by a team under Sotoris Sofianopoulos, with the origin of their basic structure apparently connected to a Greek-Cypriot design, while existing company infrastructure had been improved to allow massive production.
Small numbers of these weapons were manufactured (around 100) and tested by the Hellenic Army. Initial tests indicated "positive" performance, but ultimately the weapons were not adopted due to the weapons "being of an outdated design", but the decision was probably made due to the creation of the state-owned company EBO, and as such, the Chropi firearms ended up in army storage facilities.
When Chropei was nationalized in the 1980s, they were virtually bankrupt. After changing their name to ELVIPY (Ελληνική Βιομηχανία Προϊόντων Υγείας Ellinikí Viomichanía Proïónton Ygeías, Greece Medicinal Products Company), the company went through a few more years in a financial mess before closing down altogether in 1995. The original factories owned by Chropei located on Peiraios Street, all of which are battered and ruined, are often cited as a testament to Greek's neglect to a large part of their industrial history.
Products[]
A rifle Chropi made which had an outdated design, and was clearly inferior to the Heckler & Koch G3.
A submachine gun which actually tested positively but was ultimately rejected.
A submachine gun used by the Greek resistance during World War II.