Arthur Junghans

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Arthur Junghans (born October 19, 1852 in Schramberg ; † January 30, 1920 there ) was a German watch manufacturer.

Life

The son of Erhard Junghans (1823–1870) did a two-year watchmaker's apprenticeship and then attended the trade school in Stuttgart. In 1870 he was standing as a war volunteer, non-commissioned officer and officer candidate before Paris when he heard the news of his father's death from the regimental doctor and returned to Schramberg. His uncle Xaver returned to the United States in late 1871.

By order of his mother Luise Junghans-Tobler, who meanwhile managed the Junghans company with Paul Landenberger , the husband of her daughter Frida, he hired himself under a false name in American factories in 1872/73 as a cleaning assistant, carpenter, carver, blacksmith, locksmith and Lithographer . He returned in autumn 1873, received power of attorney together with his brother-in-law Paul Landenberger, and began to reorganize operations in the Black Forest based on the American model. Against the massive resistance of the workforce, Junghans implemented American working methods.

Junghans married Marie Luise Hauff on September 24, 1874. Her daughter was Erika (born April 3, 1884 in Schramberg; † August 13, 1907 in Stuttgart; ⚭ 1906 Albrecht Gustav Melchior von Zeppelin 1869–1952). His grandson, Kurt Albrecht Melchior (1907–1988), became operations director at Junghans as an engineer.

On July 1, 1875, the mother Luise Junghans sold the Junghans company to the brothers Erhard the Elder. J. (1849-1923) and Arthur Junghans. It determined that the business management as well as the technical management is incumbent on the brother Erhard.

Junghans' youngest sister Anne had married the Zurich iron merchant Otto Pestalozzi in October 1878, who granted him a loan in February 1879.

A large number of patents have been registered in the name of Arthur Junghans; however, it can be assumed that he only financed the construction. In 1879, for example, Junghans acquired the patent for a clock with a calendar movement. The alarm movement 10 , which was produced from 1879 to 1936, developed particularly successfully . In 1894 he hired Albert Hirth , who improved watch production.

His brother Erhard left the company in 1897.

After acquiring a Daimler car around 1894, he and Gottlieb Daimler took the first car ride up the Feldberg around 1900 . When Wilhelm Maybach's clothes caught fire on a hot glow head during another trip to Zurich because of a defective gasoline line , Junghans saved him by throwing him into the water. He then proposed an electric ignition to Daimler, which Daimler commissioned his workshop manager Robert Bosch to implement. After another unsuccessful trip ended in the dung heap because the lever steering failed at high speed, Junghans invented the worm drive for steering.

The first pocket watches manufactured by Junghans between 1886 and 1890 were at war with their accuracy. In 1900 the watch factory of the Junghans brothers was combined with the factory of Thomas Haller in Schwenningen and converted into a stock corporation; it now formed one of the largest watch factories in the world. The Schramberg headquarters, consisting of 53 buildings, had over 3200 machines in operation and employed over 2400 workers. In 1905 the first mechanical time fuse came on the market. In 1907 he mixed zinc sulfide with radium and thus invented the luminous material for numerals and hands. In this way, the time on Junghans alarm clocks could also be read at night without a light source.

In 1910/11 he had his Villa Gut Berneck built according to plans by Paul Schmohl . In September 1917, Junghans was appointed Dr. Ing. Was made an honorary citizen.

literature

  • Hans-Heinrich Schmid Lexicon of the German Watch Industry 1850–1980 Publisher: Deutsche Gesellschaft für Chronometrie eV ISBN 978-3-941539-99-0
  • Fritz Köhler: Erhard and Arthur Junghans: the pioneers of the German clock.
  • Harry Niemann: Wilhelm Maybach, King of Constructors: for his 150th birthday. Motorbuch-Verlag, 1995, p. 90

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Hans-Heinrich Schmid: Lexicon of the German Watch Industry 1850-1980 . Ed .: German Society for Chronometry eV
  2. ^ Genealogisches Handbuch des Adels, Volume 103, Ostsee, CA Starke., 1992; P. 413
  3. ^ Hans-Heinrich Schmid: Lexicon of the German Watch Industry 1850-1980 . Ed .: German Society for Chronometry eV
  4. ↑ Reinhard Seiffert: The era of Gottlieb Daimler: New perspectives on the early history of ... ; Pp. 147, 151, 152
  5. ↑ - ( Memento of the original from July 5, 2010 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. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.salzundpfeffer.de
  6. ↑ http://www.familie-dilger.de/ahnenforschung/sonstiges/wanderung_alpirsbach_schramberg.htm
  7. ↑ http://www.junghans-microtec.de/index.php?id=330  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / www.junghans-microtec.de  
  8. ↑ http://www.de.cigarclan.com/articles/2008/5/13/index.shtml
  9. ↑ http://www.schramberg.de/ceasy/modules/cms/main.php5?cPageId=130&view=publish&item=eventDate&id=4744
  10. ↑ http://www.schramberg.de/ceasy/modules/cms/main.php5?cPageId=912
personal data
SURNAME Junghans, Arthur
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German watch manufacturer
DATE OF BIRTH October 19, 1852
PLACE OF BIRTH Schramberg
DATE OF DEATH January 30, 1920
Place of death Schramberg