Anton Knubel

Anton Knubel (* 1857 in Münster ; † September 8, 1915 there ) was a German racing cyclist , inventor and aviation pioneer .

Life

Anton Knubel was one of nine children of a railroad worker. He and his two brothers Bernard , who took part in the first modern Olympic Games in Athens in 1896 , and Johannes , who later became a sculptor in Düsseldorf , were enthusiastic about cycling. Anton Knubel was the first cyclist from Münster to become known nationwide and won victories from 1888, initially as a high cyclist. In 1889 and 1891 he was Westphalia champion over 5000 meters and in 1892 Westphalia champion on the Niederrad. In the road race Magdeburg - Cöln in August 1892 over 457.2 kilometers he came second. In 1893 he started the distance bike ride Vienna – Berlin , but had to give up, like most of the other starters.

In 1885 Anton Knubel, who was a trained wood turner , founded the first Velociped trade in Münster, which he handed over to his 15 years younger brother Bernard in 1896. He was the most technically gifted of the family, owned numerous patents and founded a factory for bicycle handles, wooden rims and steering wheels. He was also one of the first Münster residents to buy an automobile, an Opel Phaeton .

Finally, Knubel opened an "aircraft construction company" for single and double deckers on Loddenheide near Münster . His specialty were "invisible" aircraft, the fuselage and flight surfaces of which were covered with transparent cellon ; so they should be used in the First World War . Other pilots called these planes "flying greenhouses". At the age of 56, Anton Knubel crashed on a test flight with one of his machines over the Loddenheide and died.

In his honor, the Anton-Knubel-Weg was named after him in Münster.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} Bernd Haunfelder: Bernard Knubel Motor Vehicles - Eine Chronik, Münster 1995, p. 12
2. ^ Peter Supf: The book of German flight history , Volume II. Berlin 1935, p. 468
3. ↑ onlinestreet.de