Ernst Paul Lehmann

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Gustav Ernst Paul Lehmann (born June 9, 1856 in Berlin ; † July 10, 1934 in Brandenburg an der Havel ) was a German entrepreneur and inventor in the toy industry.

Life

Lehmann was the only son of a Berlin master tailor and apparently came into contact with sheet metal processing through a commercial apprenticeship. His first known invention was a sheet metal container with a patent lock, which he presented at the Frankfurt trade fair at the age of 25 .

Zeppelin EPL II (652),
made of lithographed sheet metal

Lehmann founded with Jean Eichner on 1 September 1881 in Brandenburg, the tin toys factory Lehmann & Eichner that after initial difficulties later under the company LGB work was successful and internationally known. The company mainly produced mechanically movable objects such as airplanes , airships , cars and motorcycles , which at the time were popular because of their technological relevance. A significant part of the production was exported. With an average of 600 to 800 employees, the company was at times one of the city's largest employers.

From 1900 to 1927 Ernst Paul Lehmann was active in local politics as a city councilor. In 1904 he was given the honorary title of Kommerzienrat . In 1912 he joined the Brandenburg Historical Association , to which he left the Frey House in 1919 to set up the local history museum that opened in 1923. He was a member of the Brandenburg Freemason Lodge Friedrich zur Virtue .

The company remained in family ownership after his death. The Brandenburg plant was expropriated in 1948 and continued as VEB Mechanische Spielwaren Brandenburg . From 1950 onwards, Lehmann's heirs succeeded in making a new start in Nuremberg under the traditional Ernst Paul Lehmann Patentwerk company .

Ernst Paul Lehmann house, Plauer Strasse 6

Ernst Paul Lehmann's former home in Brandenburg, Plauer Strasse 6, is reminiscent of that. It was rebuilt in 1901–1902 by the Berlin architect Bruno Möhring and with the help of well-known artists such. B. Otto Stichling and Max Laeuger , it is an outstanding example of Art Nouveau architecture and furnishings under monument protection . The company's tin toys can be seen in many toy museums and collections around the world, as well as in the City History Museum in Frey-Haus.

literature

  • Helmut Schwarz, Marion Faber: Turbulent times. Ernst-Paul-Lehmann patent work. History of a toy factory. (= Writings of the Nuremberg Toy Museum , Volume 5.) Nuremberg 2003, ISBN 3-921590-90-6 .
  • Udo Geiseler, Klaus Heß (ed.): Brandenburg an der Havel. Lexicon on city history. (= Individual publications of the Brandenburg Historical Commission , Volume XIII.) Lukas, Berlin 2008, ISBN 978-3-86732-001-6 .

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