Friedrich Wilhelm Schindler

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Friedrich Wilhelm Schindler

Friedrich Wilhelm Schindler (born June 1, 1856 in Mollis , Switzerland ; † November 19, 1920 in Kennelbach , Austria ) was an Austrian-Swiss entrepreneur and inventor , a pioneer in the electricity industry and electrical engineering .

Family and education

Friedrich Wilhelm Schindler was born in the family's ancestral home in the Swiss canton of Glarus. He was the son of the textile manufacturer and painter Samuel Wilhelm Schindler , nephew of Dietrich Schindler , great-grandson of Samuel Schindler and brother of the textile industrialist Cosmus Schindler . He attended schools in St. Gallen and Lausanne , received a commercial training with his brother Cosmus in Livorno (Italy) and then stayed for study purposes in France and for three years in England. He began his professional career in his parents' spinning company Jenny & Schindler in Kennelbach, in which he acquired his father Samuel Wilhelm's shares in 1888 . This company had developed in Hard and later in Kennelbach since the 1820s and combined an automated spinning, weaving, bleaching, dyeing and printing plant in one company.

Hydropower plants

Schindler power plant in Kennelbach

At the first electrotechnical exhibition in Paris in 1881, he recognized the importance of electricity and purchased an Edison power generator with which he lit the first incandescent lamps in Austria at home in Kennelbach. In 1884 he was the first Austrian company to equip his spinning mill with electric lighting. In 1891 he put a small hydroelectric power station into operation and, from 1901, sold the surplus energy to the community of Kennelbach to operate their street lamps. To supply the Bregenz district of Rieden-Vorloster, he built a more powerful power plant in Rieden and acquired a concession for electrical installation work.

Elektrowerke Jenny and Schindler OHG were set up to finance larger projects. In 1904 he bought the plans that had been drawn up for the construction of a plant in Andelsbuch , which was to use the water power of the Bregenz Ache . Under the direction of the renowned Swiss hydropower expert Gabriel Narutowicz , who was the first elected President of the Second Polish Republic to be assassinated in 1922 - around two decades later - the Andelsbuch power plant went into operation in 1908 as the largest power plant of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy.

Schindler was a pioneer in the electricity industry and electrical engineering . In 1893 he presented the first fully electric kitchen at the world exhibition in Chicago and received a gold medal for it. In 1898 he founded the company Elektra Bregenz . He made a significant contribution to the development of the Vorarlberg electricity network and was the driving force behind the Jenny & Schindler electrical works, which were converted into the Vorarlberg power plants in 1916 .

Schindler built Austria's first electric generator in Kennelbach . A small power plant was only built in New York a year later. Friedrich Wilhelm lived in the Villa Grünau , where he also made many of his inventions. He had received the magnificent building as a present from his father Samuel Wilhelm in 1887 on the occasion of his wedding to Maria Margaretha Verena Jenny.

  • Schindler received a gold medal and an honorary diploma for presenting the first fully electric kitchen at the Chicago World's Fair in 1893.

  • The power generation system commissioned by Jenny & Schindler Elektrowerke in Weidach in 1891.

  • The Pfänderbahn project could no longer be realized by him.

Descent list

The Kennelbach branch of the Schindler family came from Mollis in the canton of Glarus (Switzerland).

  1. Fridolin Schindler, Weber; ⚭ Magdalena Zopfi
    1. Samuel Schindler (* 1762 in Mollis, † 1830 in Hard); Swiss weaver, textile manufacturer, Glarus councilor, choir judge, member of the criminal court; founded the company Jenny & Schindler with his sons Friedrich and Dietrich and their son-in-law Melchior Jenny;
      ⚭ 1) Barbara Schmid, ⚭ 2) Elisabeth Elmer
      1. Dietrich Schindler (* 1795 in Mollis, † 1882 in Zurich); Swiss statesman, entrepreneur and art collector (mother: Barbara Schmid)
        1. Maria Schindler, ⚭ 1861 Samuel Jenny (* 1837 in Hard; † 1901 in Hard), industrialist and archaeologist (son of Melchior Jenny , his father's business partner)
        2. Caspar Schindler-Escher (* 1828 in Mollis, † 1902 in Zurich), silk fabric manufacturer and philanthropist; ⚭ 1853 Wilhelmine Elise Escher, daughter of the silk manufacturer Martin Escher
          1. Samuel Dietrich Schindler-Huber (* 1856 in Mollis, † 1936 in Zurich); Director of the Maschinenfabrik Oerlikon
      2. Friedrich (Fridolin) Schindler (* 1788 in Mollis; † 1874 there); Textile manufacturer
        1. Samuel Wilhelm Schindler (1826-1903); Textile manufacturer and painter, owner of Villa Grünau
          1. Friedrich Wilhelm Schindler (* 1856 in Mollis (Switzerland), † 1920 in Kennelbach); Entrepreneur and inventor; ⚭ 1887 Maria Margaretha Verena Jenny (daughter of Peter Jenny); four daughters and one son, including:
            1. Anna Margaretha Schindler (* 1892 in Kennelbach, † 1929 in Vienna); sculptor
            2. Friedrich-Peter (Fritz) Schindler (* 1895 in Kennelbach; † 1969); Industrialist
          2. Cosmus Schindler (* 1866 in Ennenda, Canton Glarus, † 1950 in Zurich); Textile industrialist
        2. Caspar Conrad Arnold Schindler; Engineer and hydraulic engineer
      3. Daughter NNN, ⚭ Melchior Jenny (* 1785 in Ennenda, † 1863 in Hard), manufacturer (father of Samuel Jenny )

literature

Web links

Commons : Friedrich Wilhelm Schindler  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

References and comments

  1. ↑ a b c see literature K. Plitzner: Schindler Friedrich Wilhelm in the ÖBL
  2. ↑ see web link N. Miljković: Schindler, Friedrich Wilhelm in AustriaForum
  3. ↑ according to HLS died in Wiesbaden
  4. ^ Hermann Wartmann:  Jenny, Peter . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 13, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1881, p. 773 f.
  5. ↑ see literature Veronika Feller-Vest: Schindler, Friedrich Wilhelm in the HLS
personal data
SURNAME Schindler, Friedrich Wilhelm
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian-Swiss entrepreneur and inventor
DATE OF BIRTH June 1, 1856
PLACE OF BIRTH Mollis , Switzerland
DATE OF DEATH November 19, 1920
Place of death Kennelbach , Austria