Alois Wolfmüller

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"Hildebrand and Wolfmüller" from 1894 in the Neckarsulm two-wheeler museum
Postage stamp 1983
Memorial plaque in Landsberg am Lech
Alois Wolfmüller's birthplace at Herzog-Ernst-Strasse 179 b in Landsberg am Lech

Alois Wolfmüller (born April 24, 1864 in Landsberg am Lech ; † October 3, 1948 in Oberstdorf ) was a German inventor , engineer and aviation pioneer .

Life

Wolfmüller attended elementary and secondary school in Landsberg, where he is said to have already thought about bird flight. From this time it is reported that a teacher is said to have once said to the without exception very good pupil Wolfmüller: "You will either become a big scoundrel or something really big." In 1880 he finished school, whose testimony gave him good arithmetic , Drawing and the German language certified.

Even before graduating, Wolfmüller wavered between being a painter and a mechanic when choosing a career. In the end he decided to do an apprenticeship in his father's mechanical workshop. From the age of 21, Wolfmüller worked as a mechanic, repair worker and wood turner in various German companies. In 1889 he also joined a mechanical engineering school as a student, which he left as an excellent student in 1891 without a diploma. It is presumed that he did not take the foreman examination due to the surplus of jobs in this area. Wolfmüller then worked again as a designer, among other things in the gas engine factory Benz and Co.

As a contemporary of Otto Lilienthal , he corresponded regularly with him in letters about the properties and designs of flying machines and their wing designs and purchased a normal sailing machine from him. He solved Lilienthal's problems with the glider control. Otto Lilienthal's normal sailing apparatus was steered with the center of gravity controlled by shifting the body's weight. This concept has always been seen as problematic. Wolfmüller solved this problem with his glider by creating the Wolfmüller glider as the first glider with mechanical control in 1895 . This concept has endured to this day.

He is also considered to be the inventor of the world's first mass-produced motorcycle (" Hildebrand and Wolfmüller ") and is therefore also entered in the Guinness Book of Records . Wolfmüller took part in at least two races with the machine for advertising purposes in 1895 . On May 18, 1895, he started at the Esperimento di corsa di veicoli automotori , which ran from Turin to Asti and back. This race is considered to be the first ever Italian automobile race. Behind Simone Federmann , who on a Daimler - automobile with an average speed won 15.5 km / h and Giovanni Battista Ceirano , who was also on a Hildebrand & Wolf Müller on the way, Alois Wolfmüller finished third. Of the five starters, only these three reached the finish. Only a few weeks later, both Wolfmüller and Ceirano had to give up in the Paris – Bordeaux – Paris race around the middle of the race.

Alois Wolfmüller's aircraft can be viewed in the Schleissheim aircraft yard , a branch of the Deutsches Museum ; Two- wheelers are exhibited in the Neckarsulm two-wheeler museum and the Deutsches Museum in Munich.

literature

  • Werner Schwipps: Alois Wolfmüller - inventor and flight technician , Aviatic Verlag 1991, Planegg.

Web links

Commons : Motorrad Hildebrand & Wolfmüller  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b IN THE CURRENT FAMILY OWNERSHIP SINCE THE LATE 1960S, c. 1894/1895 HILDEBRAND & WOLFMÜLLER, Engine no.47. In: Bonhams . www.bonhams.com, January 6, 2011, accessed May 19, 2020 .
  2. ↑ May 18 Torino, Villanova d'Asti, Villafranca Asti, Asti, Torino - 93 km. racecarstory.netsons.org, January 6, 2011, accessed May 19, 2020 .
  3. ↑ Flugwerft Schleißheim ( Memento from March 6, 2008 in the Internet Archive ): Wolfmüller Gleitflugapparat, accessed on August 28, 2015
  4. ^ Motorcycle history 1885-1929. In: www.zweirad-museum.de. German Bicycle and NSU Museum, accessed on June 18, 2015 .
  5. ↑ Hildebrand and Wolfmüller's motorcycle. Deutsches Museum, archived from the original on February 2, 2008 ; Retrieved June 18, 2015 .
personal data
SURNAME Wolfmüller, Alois
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German engineer, aviation pioneer and inventor of the first mass-produced motorcycle
DATE OF BIRTH April 24, 1864
PLACE OF BIRTH Landsberg am Lech
DATE OF DEATH October 3, 1948
Place of death Oberstdorf