Alois Riedler

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Alois Riedler, 1907, photo by Rudolf Dührkoop

Alois Riedler (born May 15, 1850 in Graz , † October 25, 1936 in Vienna ) was an Austrian mechanical engineer and designer as well as a reformer who studied mechanical engineering .

Life

After his school days, the son of a bleacher studied mechanical engineering at the TH Graz from 1866 to 1871 . This was followed by several years of assistantship, initially until 1873 at the German Technical University in Brno and then at the Technical University of Vienna , where he also worked as a machine designer under Johann von Radinger from 1875 .

In 1880 he moved to the Technical University of Munich as an associate professor for mechanical engineering and in 1884 followed a call to full professor for mechanical engineering with the main field of "building high- speed blowers and pumps as well as steam turbine construction " at the still young Technical University of Aachen .

In the meantime, word of Riedler's successes in the innovative and methodical field got around to the Prussian Ministry of Culture , so that in 1888 he was appointed to the Technical University of Berlin-Charlottenburg . Riedler taught and researched here until his retirement in 1921 and in the meantime headed the university as its rector in the years 1899/1900 .

He then moved back to Vienna, where he finally died on October 25, 1936, almost forgotten.

Riedler's work

Already during his years as assistant in Vienna and after examining the machine exhibits at the world exhibitions in Philadelphia in 1876 and Paris in 1878 on behalf of the Austrian government , Riedler advocated practical training in mechanical engineering because, unlike his later opponent Franz, who was also present there, he advocated practical training Reuleaux , a recognized specialist in the field of kinematics , realized that the practical and empirical study in the field of machine technology, which was characterized by laboratory exercises, was the cause of the progress, especially in the USA. Reuleaux, who had formulated the presentation of German mechanical engineering at the world exhibitions as “bad and cheap” and also aimed at a reform of the study in Germany, however, preferred a theoretical and mathematically justified deepening. At the TH Aachen, which was already considered to be particularly practical, Riedler was now able to implement his new methodological ideas for the first time. His practice-oriented attitude, geared towards economic needs, was also shared by the German entrepreneurs and their representatives, and through the Prussian Ministry, Riedler was initially able to set up a privately run design office there after moving to the TH Berlin.

After visiting the world exhibition in Chicago in 1893 , where Riedler again had the opportunity to visit numerous technical schools, he stepped up his reform efforts at the TH Berlin. In the meantime, the Association of German Engineers has also taken on the subject and, with Riedler's participation, drafted its so-called “Aachen resolutions on engineering laboratories and the design of teaching at technical universities”, in which the necessity was recorded, “that training was the only right one to recognize those who prove to be the most fruitful, "which clearly meant Riedler's method.

Three years later, this led to the establishment of the first German machine laboratory at the TH Berlin, which was placed under his leadership. At the same time he reformed the relevant drawing lessons and thus also became the founder of modern technical drawing . In the meantime, Riedler had finally made his opponent Franz Reuleaux, who taught at the same university, who finally got the short straw after many years of disputes and left the university in the same year, whereupon Riedler had the subject of kinematics deleted from the curriculum. In the years that followed, all of Riedler's technical universities adopted innovations and also set up technical laboratories.

As the next major reform, he prepared the equality of engineering with the natural sciences and humanities by applying for the right to award doctorates for engineers , since they could not obtain a doctorate up to that point. He was significantly supported by the electrical engineer Adolf Slaby , who had personal access to Kaiser Wilhelm II , and by the mechanical engineer Carl von Bach . Wilhelm II. Was convinced of the necessity of this reform here too and, as part of the 100th anniversary of the TH Berlin in 1899, granted the Prussian Technical Universities the right to award doctorates as Dr. Ing.

Riedler's next big project to set up an "Academy of Technical Sciences" failed, despite the emperor's support, due to reservations and concerns, especially on the part of the natural scientists who already had important academies of science and therefore believed that technical science is only a continuation of the scientific knowledge on which it is based. It was not until around 100 years later that the German Academy of Science and Engineering - Acatech , was founded in several steps .

After Riedler had previously mainly developed high-speed pumps for use in waterworks and for dewatering in mines as well as steam turbines and was one of the first to use indicator programs to compare the efficiency of machines, his research concentrated in the following years on the field of automotive technology . To this end, he set up the "Laboratory for Internal Combustion Engines" at the TH Berlin in 1903, which was expanded to become the "Institute for Internal Combustion Engines and Automotive Technology" in 1907 and was one of the first of its kind in Germany. For the first time, Riedler also used Sankey diagrams on a larger scale in order to visualize performance and energy losses in motor vehicles through this form of representation. In addition, he was considered one of the pioneers in the field of automotive tests on roller dynamometers . From 1910, Riedler also researched the possibility of using electric cars , but found that the batteries used at the time were still far too heavy for widespread use.

After the First World War , things gradually calmed down around him, as German industry was more and more influenced by the US models he had propagated decades earlier and he was now one of the "old" himself. For a while he was still concerned with the history of technology and after his retirement in 1920 he retired to his home country Austria.

Honors

Fonts

  • Rock drilling machines and air compression machines , Vienna: Commissions-Verlag von Faesy & Frick: KuK Hofbuchhandlung, 1877
  • Underground dewatering machines with controlled valves , Freiberg, 1888
  • The power supply of Paris , Berlin, 1889
  • Newer waterworks machines , Berlin 1890
  • Sketches for the lectures on lifting machines , Berlin, 1892
  • Studies on force distribution , Berlin 1892
  • Newer ship lifts , Berlin, 1897
  • Our universities and the requirements of the 20th century , Berlin, 1898
  • The technical universities and their scientific endeavors , Leipzig, 1899
  • Rapid operation: increasing the speed and efficiency of machine operations , Berlin, 1899
  • On the historical and future importance of technology , Berlin, 1900
  • Scientific automobile evaluation , Berlin, 1912
  • Machine drawing , Berlin, J. Springer, 1913.
  • Diesel engines , Vienna: Verl. F. Technical literature, 1914
  • Emil Rathenau and the development of large-scale economy , Berlin: Springer, 1916. Online at archive.org
  • The new technology , Berlin: Siegismund, 1921
  • Large gas machines , Saarbrücken: VDM, Müller, 2007, reprint

Literature and Sources

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Riedler, Alois
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian mechanical engineer and designer
DATE OF BIRTH May 15, 1850
PLACE OF BIRTH Graz
DATE OF DEATH October 25, 1936
Place of death Vienna