Alfred Kärcher

Alfred Kärcher (born March 27, 1901 in Cannstatt ; † September 17, 1959 in Winnenden ) was a German engineer , entrepreneur and founder of Alfred Kärcher GmbH & Co. KG .

Life

Alfred Kärcher was the third of four children of Johanna and Emil Kärcher and grew up in Cannstatt - now a district of Stuttgart . His father had been selling technical articles since 1904. After attending the Reformrealgymnasium, he studied mechanical engineering and electrical engineering at the Technical University of Stuttgart . As a student, he joined the Alemannia Stuttgart fraternity , but did not join the re- establishment of the fraternity after the war.

After completing his studies in 1924, he worked in his father's company, where he planned and sold industrial cooking, laundry and water extraction systems. He soon designed his own devices, including immersion heaters and crucible furnaces for industrial sales. His internal heating for salt bath stoves was the first great success, until 1945 he had sold 1,200 units, mainly in the aviation industry .

In 1934 Lufthansa commissioned him to build a device for heating engines . In 1935 he founded the Alfred Kärcher limited partnership and created the MOWÄB A hot air blower , followed by the MOWÄB B in 1936 . The product was a success, the Reich Aviation Ministry ordered 120 pieces. Kärcher then decided to limit itself to this device and sold its patents for heating salt bath stoves to Siebert GmbH in Hanau (a subsidiary of Degussa ). With the proceeds he bought a factory building in Winnenden , where he moved in 1939 with his now 120 employees. With the beginning of the Second World War , the focus switched to the manufacture of armaments.

After 1945 the production with around 40 employees was switched to urgently needed ovens and handcarts, later heated concrete cladding and fresh air heaters for the construction industry were also manufactured. The denazification process Kärcher was carried out by the denazification Waiblingen. In his company, which had grown again to 141 employees by 1948, Kärcher attached great importance to a family atmosphere. In 1950, Kärcher designed and sold the first European hot water high pressure cleaner KW 350 , which was a resounding success. Kärcher had adopted the functional principle from American devices, which he repaired on behalf of the Allied occupiers.

In 1949 Kärcher married Irene Herzog. He had a son and a daughter. In 1959 Alfred Kärcher died in his company after a heart attack .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Willy Nolte : Fraternity members regular role. Berlin 1934, p. 231.
2. ↑ ^{a b} http://www.kaercher-stiftung.de/karcherstiftung/Stiftung/Alfred_Kaercher.htm
3. ^ Denazification documents Alfred Kärcher Bü 4085 in the EL 902/24 inventory (Spruchkammer 49 - Waiblingen: procedural files) in the Ludwigsburg State Archives .

literature

• Alfred Kärcher GmbH & Co. KG (ed.): Creating values ​​with ideas - 75 years of Kärcher in pictures: 1935–2010 , Winnenden 2010