Georg Michael Pfaff
Georg Michael Pfaff (born February 1, 1823 in Kaiserslautern ; † October 30, 1893 there ) was a German brass instrument maker and founder of the Pfaff sewing machine factory (today Pfaff Industriesysteme und Maschinen AG).
Childhood, youth and education
Georg Michael Pfaff was born as the ninth child of the turner Johannes Pfaff and Regina Vogt. He attended the Protestant elementary school until 1834, then the newly founded district trade school until he graduated as the fifth best of 30 students in June 1837.
At the age of 15, Pfaff began an apprenticeship as a brass instrument maker in Mannheim and finished it in April 1840.
Pfaff undertook two journeyman hikes. The first took him to Mainz, Würzburg, Hof, Nuremberg and Augsburg, where he worked for two years. The second journey of journeyman journeys was for higher education and took him to Frankfurt am Main, Berlin, Dresden, Prague, Trieste, Verona, Milan, Rome, Marseille and Paris.
The time as a brass instrument maker
In 1848 he opened his own workshop for brass instrument making in Kaiserslautern. He delivered his instruments to Kaiserslautern, but also to the northern Palatinate, where the Palatinate musicians were in great demand.
In 1849 she married Johanna Crusius. This marriage resulted in five children, two of whom died at a young age:
- Jacob Pfaff (1856-1889)
- Georg (Michael) Pfaff (1853–1917)
- Lina Pfaff (1854–1929)
In the following years Pfaff delivered beyond the Palatinate borders and was awarded a prize in London in 1851.
The time as a sewing machine manufacturer
Around 1858 he began making his first attempts at designing a sewing machine, which he must have known about since 1850. In 1862 Pfaff built his first sewing machine based on the Howe system. In July 1862 he delivered his first machine to the master shoemaker Jakob Peter in Kaiserslautern. The Kaiserslauterer Wochenblatt presented this machine in its July 13th 1863 edition and announced that a new branch of industry had opened up in Kaiserslautern with the manufacture of sewing machines. Georg Michael Pfaff sold sewing machines from various manufacturers until 1866 and then began to build Singer sewing machines and to set up his own factory in Mozartstrasse. In 1873 he handed over his instruments and tools to his brother Franz and from then on only manufactured sewing machines. In 1867, 110 sewing machines were manufactured with 20 employees. With his sons Jakob and Georg he led the company to success.
The production numbers were:
- 1868: 250 sewing machines
- 1869: 400 sewing machines
- 1870: 490 sewing machines
- 1871: 510 sewing machines
- 1872: 1,000 sewing machines
- 1890: 18,500 sewing machines
- 1891: 25,000 sewing machines
After Pfaff's death, the factory was continued by his son Georg Pfaff (1853–1917).
The Landesmuseum Koblenz has an extensive collection of Pfaff sewing machines .
Honors
- In 1962 the "Georg Michael Pfaff Memorial Foundation" was founded in order to serve "the exclusive goals (...) of promoting popular education". However, the foundation was later renamed the Ecology & Agriculture Foundation , which took into account the changed goals of the founders.
literature
- Rolf Müller, Kaiserslautern, Pfaff documentation
- Gerhard Neumeier: Pfaff. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 20, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 2001, ISBN 3-428-00201-6 , p. 293 f. ( Digitized version ). (Family item)
Web links
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Pfaff, Georg Michael |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German brass instrument maker and sewing machine manufacturer |
| DATE OF BIRTH | February 1, 1823 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Kaiserslautern |
| DATE OF DEATH | October 30, 1893 |
| Place of death | Kaiserslautern |