Georg Gfäller

Georg Gfäller senior (born July 14, 1895 - † October 7, 1976 in Kiefersfelden , Upper Bavaria ) was a German master wagoner . Together with his brother Hans Gfäller, he is considered to be the inventor of the modern luge , ridden lying down, with skids positioned at an angle and without a front cross piece so that it can be steered with your feet.

His other inventions include carriage wheels that spring in themselves (exhibited in the Deutsches Museum in Munich ), as well as one of the first layer-glued skis with steel edges (Gfäller multi-layer skis) and subsequently with the then new plastic surfaces and the so-called racing edges, some of which were dated Plastic covering are covered. With the main patent of the German Patent Office on February 15, 1950, the "single-track steerable sled", the Skibob , was registered as his invention, and in 1951 also in the commercial register. He built the first skibob in the winter of 1947, its structure is very reminiscent of a bicycle. At around the same time, Engelbert Brenter developed his “sit-down ski” independently of Gfäller in Hallein / Austria. Georg Gfäller can also trace back to other models of his skibob that can be dismantled, the so-called short or glacier skis.

His son Georg Gfäller jun. (1923–1986) was a banker and later a bank director. He founded the organized skibob sport and was founding president of the Fédération Internationale de Skibob (FISB), the international skibob association, in 1961.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ skibob-tirol.at The sporty development of the skibob
2. ↑ radfahren.de  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. The first skibob was a completely normal bike ...