Friedrich Schächter

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Space pen

Friedrich Schächter (born April 26, 1924 in Vienna ; † May 23, 2002 there ) was an Austrian inventor. He is the inventor of the space pen " Space Pen ".

Life

After elementary school and four classes in the secondary school in Vienna, Schächter was a student of the graphic artist Victor Theodor Slama until 1939 . In April 1939 he emigrated to Stockholm , where he was a student of the German graphic artist Hugo Steiner-Prag and the Swedish painter Isaac Grünewald . From 1943 he also studied in Gothenburg with the Swedish painter Ragnar Sandberg . During this time, I also worked as a trainee for commercial graphics at various printing houses and advertising agencies in Stockholm and Gothenburg.

From 1947 he created the technical prerequisites for the production of ballpoint pens on behalf of the Austrian Eugen J. Spitzer. This resulted in the Ballograf-Verken company in Gothenburg in 1948, of which Friedrich Schächter was head of development until 1951. At the end of 1948, during a four-month stay in Vienna, he supported Spitzer in founding the JES ballpoint pen factory in Vienna.

From 1951 to 1952 he was involved in the development of a fountain pen for the Ortho-Pen Co., Gothenburg. From 1953 to 1955 he was head of the mechanical test department at the American ballpoint pen factory Paper-Mate in Culver City , California. Schächter continued to work for various ballpoint pen manufacturers at home and abroad (Ballograf-Verken, Paul C. Fisher in Berlin, "Schächter Research" in Van Nuys, California and JES Ballpoint Pen Factory, Vienna.)

After Friedrich Schächter had finally decided to return to Austria, he founded MINITEK, Feinmechanische Produkte GmbH in Vienna in 1962. The object of the company was the development of special machines for the production of ballpoint pen refills . He succeeded in building a qualified team and in a short period of time started producing ballpoint pen refills. This production took place on self-made machines, the development of which had already begun at Toroid SA in Lugano, where Schächter worked as a managing director and designer from 1960 to 1962 before moving to Vienna. The Viennese master mechanic Erwin Rath already supported Schächer's development work at the Toroid company. In order to win potential customers at home and abroad for the ballpoint pen tips and refills produced, new types of measuring and testing devices were developed. In 1963 the first MINITEK machines for laboratory testing of the quality of writing implements (“ballpoint pen testing machine”) were sold. Among the first customers were world famous factories like Montblanc , Parker etc.

Several patented inventions by Friedrich Schächter, in particular his US patent 3,135,231 Spinner Head and his collaboration in Berlin and Van Nuys, California, formed the basis for the American ballpoint pen manufacturer Paul C. Fisher's participation in MINITEK from 1965 onwards. This collaboration (development of writing tip: Schachter, ink paste: Fisher) led to the production of the space pen ( space Pen ), who in 1968 at the space conference was presented in Vienna. This writing instrument received international interest because it was used by American and Russian space travelers.

The test devices were supplied to many important writing instrument manufacturers and also to state testing institutes in various countries. Today, the quality of around 60 percent of world production of ballpoint pens and a large part of other writing implements is checked on MINITEK machines. The test method is also the basis for official standards such as B. a DIN standard and a British standard.

Grave of Friedrich Schächter

In 1971 the French Baron Marcel Bich , the founder of the BIC group, became aware of Schächter and his team. He acquired Fisher's shares in MINITEK in order to have new products developed there. In 2000 the company Schächter Ges.mbH was founded in Vienna. He worked right up to the end on the prototype of a new ballpoint pen point production machine, which was supposed to summarize his previous findings. This project could no longer be realized, technical plans are available. In 2002 on May 23rd, Friedrich Schächter died in Vienna. He is buried in the honor grove of the Central Cemetery in Vienna (group 40, grave 93; sculpture by Gerhard Gutruf ).

Other patents

Schächer's Austrian patents should also be emphasized:

  • 387744 shaver and
  • 373989 gas lighter.

Awards

  • 1995 Awarded the Kaplan Medal
  • 1995 honorary citizen of the Vienna University of Technology
  • 1997 Gold Medal of Merit of the City of Vienna
  • 2000 Awarded the title of professor
  • Honorary member of the Research Association for Ultra Precision Technology at the Fraunhofer Institute for Production Technology in Aachen
  • Honorary member of the Material Research Society, USA
  • Honorary member of EUSPEN - European Society for Precision Engineering and Nano Technology

Web links

Commons : Friedrich Schächter  - Collection of images, videos and audio files
personal data
SURNAME Schächter, Friedrich
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian inventor
DATE OF BIRTH April 26, 1924
PLACE OF BIRTH Vienna
DATE OF DEATH May 23, 2002
Place of death Vienna