Carl Flohr
Carl Flohr (* February 18 or 22. February 1850 in Harsum , † the 30th March 1927 in Potsdam-Babelsberg ; Complete name: Wilhelm Hermann Carl Flohr ) was a German mechanical engineering - engineering and business owners . He founded the Carl Flohr machine factory, which was one of the leading elevator manufacturers in Germany in the first half of the 20th century .
Life
Flohr studied mechanical engineering at the Berlin Trade Academy from 1873 to 1878 . Initially, he worked as an acceptance and test engineer in various factories in Westphalia and the Rhineland . In 1879, however, he returned to Berlin, where he acquired Theodor Lissmann's machine factory, which was built in 1844 on the Chausseestrasse 35 property in the Oranienburger suburb . From then on it traded under the name Maschinenfabrik Carl Flohr . In 1888 he expanded by purchasing the Siegel machine factory in Berlin. In 1910 he bought another piece of land in Berlin-Wittenau and started building cranes there that were powered exclusively by electricity, while other manufacturers were still mainly building cranes powered by steam.
The machines and systems he manufactured had a good reputation, so that he was often involved in important projects. For the Berlin City Palace , the Carl Flohr machine factory built an elevator with hydraulic drive in 1898 , the elevator in the Berlin radio tower in 1926 and the luxurious elevator system in the Kehlsteinhaus in 1938 . Many technical advancements in elevator construction can be traced back to Flohr and his company and some of them were incorporated into technical standardization and legal provisions.
The Technical University of Darmstadt awarded Flohr an honorary doctorate for his life's work (as Dr.-Ing. E. h. ). The Kingdom of Prussia also awarded him the honorary title of Kommerzienrat . In 1921 he converted his company into a stock corporation .
Carl Flohr died in 1927 at the age of 77 and was buried in the St. Hedwigs Friedhof in Berlin .
For an investment of US Otis Elevator Company in his company Flohr had fought strongly after the First World War, nearly a quarter of a century after his death, it came in 1951 finally to a takeover by these competitors. From then on, the Berlin plant operated under the name Flohr-OTIS , and the headquarters were relocated to Berlin-Reinickendorf . The production facility, located in the eastern part of Berlin, was converted into a state-owned company (VEB) after 1945 and continued to operate as VEB elevator construction under state control.
literature
- 50 years of German elevator construction. Commemorative publication by Carl Flohr AG. Berlin 1929.
- Hans Allhausen: Flohr, Wilhelm Hermann Carl. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 5, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1961, ISBN 3-428-00186-9 , p. 252 ( digitized version ).
Web links
- Structural features on the Internet pages for the 100th anniversary of the listed Nordsternhaus in Berlin (for the Flohr machine factory in the file lifts section), last accessed on November 6, 2016
- Early documents and newspaper articles on Carl Flohr AG in the 20th century press kit of the ZBW - Leibniz Information Center for Economics .
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Date of birth February 18, according to the inscription on the grave stone of the family crypt ( image on a private homepage , accessed on November 6, 2016) The inscription gives the honorary doctorate formally incorrectly as “Dr. Ing. Hc ”, the spelling“ Dr.-Ing. E. h. ”Was established by decree .
- ↑ a b Date of birth February 22nd and place of birth Harsum according to Neue Deutsche Biographie (see literature)
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Flohr, Carl |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Flohr, Wilhelm Hermann Carl (full name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German mechanical engineer and entrepreneur |
| DATE OF BIRTH | February 18, 1850 or February 22, 1850 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Harsum |
| DATE OF DEATH | March 30, 1927 |
| Place of death | Potsdam-Babelsberg |