Ferdinand Oechsle

Christian Ferdinand Oechsle (born December 26, 1774 in Buhlbach near Baiersbronn , † March 17, 1852 in Pforzheim ) was a German mechanic, goldsmith and inventor.

After the method he developed to determine the must weight of Switzerland, Liechtenstein and Luxembourg quality is still in Germany, grape must in the unit degrees Oechsle measured.

Live and act

His father Israel Oechsle was the master of the glassworks in Erlach near Großerlach in 1781 and later became a factor , anmenger and lead laser in the Buhlbach glassworks in Obertal .

After an apprenticeship in goldsmithing in Öhringen , Ferdinand Oechsle moved to Pforzheim in 1794, where he became cabinet master in the Dennig gold ware factory in 1800. In 1803 he married Karoline Gmelin. In 1810 he founded his own mechanical workshop in which he mainly produced bridge and precision scales. In 1820 the Grand Duke of Baden gave him the post of Grand Ducal Baden gold controller .

He published his inventions from 1825 in Dinglers Polytechnisches Journal .

His son Christian Ludwig Oechsle (1814–1897) continued the workshop, and Ernst Leitz senior learned the trade of a mechanic from him.

Oechles must weigher

In 1836 he published his work on the use of must and wine scales in which he described his method for determining the specific density in freshly squeezed grape juice. With the invention of his must weigher , which he developed together with his son Christian Ludwig, the must weight is still measured in ° Oechsle today .

The must scale itself was invented earlier. Oechle's realization “If one could measure the sugar content of the must, it should be possible to better predict the development of the wine to be made”, led to the series production of Oechles must scales from the 1830s.

Oechle's merit lies primarily in the fact that he introduced the practically applicable graduation on the spindles and made his measuring device available to winemakers through series production.

In honor of this invention, which is important for viticulture, the OechsleFest , a wine festival, which lasts several days , has been celebrated in Pforzheim every year since 1986 from the end of August to the beginning of September .

He also invented a gold alloy balance (1838), a calculating machine for jewelry manufacturers (1840), a safe oxyhydrogen gas blower for soldering and variants of the wheel of life , which is considered a forerunner of the cinematograph .

Works

• About the silver sample on the wet road in general . Pforzheim, 1833
• Practical instructions for calculating the gold alloy, stripping off and melting the filings and for preparing a good gold hammer solder: together with alloy tables for jewelry manufacturers and gold workers . 2., presumably u. verb. Edition by Chr. L. Oechsle, son. 1851.
• Little manual for gold workers . Karlsruhe, 3rd edition, 1860

literature

• Hans R. Jenemann: On the history of the determination of the density of liquids, especially grape must in Oechsle degrees . Wiesbaden: Society for the History of Wine , 1990. Writings on the history of wine; 98

swell

• German Biographical Archive (DBA) III 674, pp. 295–298
• Paul Claus: personalities of the wine culture German language and origin. Brief biographies from 16 centuries. Munich, 1991. - (Writings on wine history; 100)
• German Biographical Encyclopedia. Edited by Walther Killy and Rudolf Vierhaus . Munich [et al.]: Saur, 1995-1999.

Web links

• Society for the history of wine eV: personalities of the wine culture