Ernst Fehrer

Ernst Fehrer (born March 24, 1919 in Linz in Upper Austria ; † December 1, 2000 there ) was an inventor, industrialist and founder of the textile machine factory Dr. Ernst Fehrer AG.

Life

Ernst Fehrer studied mathematics and physics at the Graz University of Technology after the war . In his father's company, the horsehair spinning mill Ernst Fehrer & Sons (founded in 1912), he began developing new, fully automatic textile machines from 1947 . In 1953 he founded the Dr. Ernst Fehrer AG in Leonding for the production of high-performance needle felting machines, fleece machines and DREF friction spinning machines. With pioneering inventions in textile machine construction, Ernst Fehrer became internationally known and achieved commercial success.

Ernst Fehrer patented the first commercially successful friction spinning machine in 1973 and named it after himself (DREF for Dr. Ernst Fehrer). He obtained a large number of patents for the manufacture of new textile machines and, thanks to continuous development work, built his company into one of Austria's strongest export companies. In the 90s of the last century he optimized the ring spinning process , which meant that completely new yarn qualities such as hybrid yarns could be produced. Although Ernst Fehrer was extremely successful as a manager, he also always remained a research engineer.

The Dr. Ernst Fehrer AG was one of the world's leading suppliers of needle felting machines for the nonwovens and textile industries. In 2005 around 180 people were employed with a turnover of around 30 million euros.

He founded the Dr. Ernst Fehrer Prize for outstanding research achievements, which was first awarded in 1982. The subject of this award is new ways of solving problems in the fields of civil engineering, chemistry, electrical engineering, mechanical engineering or physics.

In 2000 his daughter Monika took over the business, in 2005 the company was taken over by the Swiss textile machine and drive manufacturer Adolph Saurer AG .

Honors

In 1979 his company, the Dr. Ernst Fehrer AG, awarded the first Austrian State Prize for Innovation for the development of the "DREFII" coarse yarn spinning machine.

In 1980 the pioneer of mechanical engineering received the Wilhelm Exner Medal

In 1981 Ernst Fehrer was awarded an honorary doctorate from the Vienna University of Technology .

In 1983 Ernst Fehrer, the holder of many awards, received the ring of honor from the city of Linz.

In 2001 Ernst-Fehrer-Strasse was named after Ernst Fehrer in Linz, Bergern district, and is located on the former Dr. Ernst Fehrer AG, leads from Salzburger Strasse to Wegscheider Strasse.

Tomb

Ernst Fehrer was buried at the parish cemetery in Leonding.

bibliography

• Personenlexikon Österreich (2002), (Ed.) E. Bruckmüller, Buchgemeinschaft Donauland (a.o.), Vienna, 575 pp.
• 25 years of textile machine factory Dr. Ernst Fehrer 1953-1978, Linz

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Project "European Linz Cultural District of the Month" Ingo Mörth, University of Linz (DOC file; 122 kB), (requested on February 26, 2011)
2. ^ Textile Industry News Online , (requested on January 16, 2010)
3. ^ BMWFJ, State Prize Winner . Retrieved March 26, 2015.
4. ^ Wilhelm Exner Foundation, laureate , (queried on February 27, 2011)
5. ↑ Vienna University of Technology, Honorary Doctors ( Memento of the original from October 14, 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. , (Queried on February 27, 2011)  
6. ↑ Magistrat Linz, press archive , (accessed on February 26, 2011)
7. ^ Archives of the City of Linz, street names , (queried on February 26, 2011)
8. ^ Office for Press and Information Linz, press archive , (accessed on February 26, 2011)