Thank God Bauknecht

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Gottlob Bauknecht (born April 30, 1892 in Neckartenzlingen , † September 9, 1976 in Stuttgart ) was a German inventor and entrepreneur in the electrical engineering and household appliance industry.

Life

At the age of 27, Gottlob Bauknecht took the step to become an entrepreneur in his native Swabia in 1919. As a one-man business in Tailfingen on the Swabian Alb , he first rode his bike and later a moped to his customers in the region. Initially, he made a living from repairs, spare parts deliveries and developed a sewing machine motor . His self-developed universal electric motor "Landfreund" replaced manual labor with electrical energy. Thanks to his ingenuity, he advanced his company with further in-house developments. It was not until 1930 that the company moved from a craft business to its own industrial production; In 1933 he had more than 100 employees. In the 1930s, the necessary comprehensive conversion from direct current to three-phase current technology resulted in a rapidly expanding business area. During the Second World War, Bauknecht produced armaments for the war economy. The Stuttgart factory site was partially destroyed by Allied bombs , the Welzheim factory completely. Nevertheless, production could quickly be resumed in 1945. In 1947, Gottlob Bauknecht's company again had around 1,000 employees.

In post-war Germany, Bauknecht GmbH began producing electrical household appliances. Contemporary witnesses among his employees at the time reported that the immediate reason for the development was his reluctance to waste materials in production, born out of frugality . When manufacturing a large device, so much steel stamped sheet fell off that it had to be made into a small device of its own. His first success in this new field was the “Allfix” electric stirring aid in 1948. Successes followed with washing machines , kitchen stoves, extractor hoods , dishwashers and other electrical household appliances. Since a large market for household appliances emerged in the post-war economic miracle , the company's rise was steep. Gottlob Bauknecht took advantage of the signs of the times and set up a flourishing mass production of kitchen equipment, electric stoves and laundry room equipment in Stuttgart, Schorndorf and other locations. In the last years of his life, Gottlob Bauknecht contributed his fortune to four different foundations .

He died on September 9, 1976 in Stuttgart. He is buried alongside numerous other celebrities in the forest cemetery in the Degerloch district of Stuttgart . His two sons, Gert and Günter Bauknecht, who were involved in the management of the company, took on foreign commitments during the period of upheaval when the market was saturated and had to sell six years after the father's death.

Honors

literature

  • Willi Schickling: From craftsman to industrialist. Thank God Bauknecht. Verlag Gentner, Stuttgart 1952, p. 81 f.
  • K. Jäger, F. Heilbronner (Hrsg.): Lexicon of electrical engineers. 2nd edition, VDE Verlag, Berlin / Offenbach 2010, ISBN 978-3-8007-2903-6 , p. 40.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ German Biographical Encyclopedia , cf. Web links
  2. ↑ List of all decorations awarded by the Federal President for services to the Republic of Austria from 1952 (PDF; 6.9 MB)
  3. ↑ List of all decorations awarded by the Federal President for services to the Republic of Austria from 1952 (PDF; 6.9 MB)
personal data
SURNAME Bauknecht, thank God
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German inventor and entrepreneur in the electrical engineering and household appliance industry
DATE OF BIRTH April 30, 1892
PLACE OF BIRTH Neckartenzlingen
DATE OF DEATH September 9, 1976
Place of death Stuttgart