Andreas Stihl

Andreas Stihl, inventor of the chainsaw

Andreas Stihl (born November 10, 1896 in Zurich , † January 14, 1973 in Rohrbronn, today in Remshalden ) was a German-Swiss entrepreneur and inventor in the field of chainsaws .

Life

Stihl attended elementary school in Zurich. He then went to relatives in Germany, where he first attended the secondary school in Singen am Hohentwiel and later the grammar school in Düsseldorf-Oberkassel . From 1915 to 1917 he served in the German Army and was injured several times. He then studied mechanical engineering at the technical college in Eisenach , where he passed the engineering exam in 1920. Together with Carl Hohl, he ran a small engineering office from 1923 to 1926, which was active in the steam engine sector without much success .

In 1926, Stihl founded the A. Stihl engineering office in Stuttgart , which he headed until his death. In the beginning he designed and constructed low-pressure steam boilers. But in 1926 he invented the world's first electric chainsaw, and three years later he built his first gasoline-powered chainsaw. In the 1930s he made his breakthrough with the chainsaws, with large export figures. He was a member of the NSDAP and later an SS Hauptsturmführer. The denazification process was carried out by the Waiblingen Chamber .

By 1949 he was able to achieve a profit of 3.4 million euros (converted to today) with around 200 employees.

Andreas Stihl had four children with his first wife - including Eva Mayr-Stihl and Hans Peter Stihl , who took over the management of the company after the death of their father and remained on the board until 2002.

literature

• Waldemar Schäfer: Stihl. From the idea to the global brand. Eight decades of a family business. Schäffer-Poeschel, Stuttgart 2006, ISBN 3-7910-2582-1 .

Web links

• Detailed biography (Gerhard Muthenthaler, inventor consultant)
• Dietrich Heißenbüttel: The other side of the coin - January 25, 2017

Individual evidence

1. ↑ SS number: 109 964
2. ↑ Federal Archives, personal archives, research on the Nazi era ( Memento of the original from February 20, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. For personal inspection in the Federal Archives, SSEM files of the Berlin Document Center: ("SS Enlisted Men") or to inquire by telephone 
3. ↑ Denazification documents Andreas Stihl Bü 8833 in the holdings EL 902/24 (Spruchkammer 49 - Waiblingen: procedural files) in the Ludwigsburg State Archives .