Heinrich Witzenmann
Heinrich Witzenmann (born May 1, 1829 in Karlsruhe ; † May 10, 1906 in Pforzheim ) was a German inventor and one of the founders of today's metal hose and expansion joint industry.
origin
Heinrich Witzenmann was the son of the court opera director Johann Friedrich Witzenmann (1782–1865).
Training and cooperation with Louis Kuppenheim and Eugène Levavasseur
In 1845 he began a commercial apprenticeship with his uncle Christoph Friedrich Witzenmann (1778-1856) in Pforzheim. He ran a trading company since 1803 and in 1829 co-founded the trade association, a forerunner of the Chamber of Commerce . In addition, Christoph Friedrich Witzenmann was Pforzheim's first deputy in the Baden state parliament .
In 1854 Heinrich Witzenmann and Louis Kuppendem founded a jewelry factory for the production of chains, chain bracelets, keys, medallions, cuff and shirt buttons on the Pforzheim market square. Around 1869 Witzenmann was one of the leading jewelry factories in the gold city of Pforzheim. Together with his friend and business partner, the inventor Eugène Levavasseur, he designed and built semi-automatic chain machines that still had to be hooked into the machine by hand. Due to this effort, the daily production quantities were low compared to the fully automated production of the Friedrich Roediger company (Hanau). In order to be able to make optimal economic use of production, Heinrich Witzenmann founded a second jewelry factory in Paris together with Eugène Levavasseur in 1877. In 1889 jewelry production was stopped.
Invention of the metal hose
Heinrich Witzenmann and Eugène Levavasseur noticed one day the many leaks in the rubber hoses that were used to sprinkle dusty roads. That was the beginning of the later metal hose. A hose-like covering had to be found that was much more robust and less sensitive to damage from abrasion and that could protect the hose that was conventionally used. The first coiled version of this metal hose was patented in France with patent number 170 479 on August 4, 1885, and in Germany with German imperial patent No. 34 871 on August 27.
Heinrich Witzenmann was already 60 years old when he decided to give up his previously very successful jewelry production in order to turn to a completely new business area with the metal hose . In 1894 the double metal hose was patented, in 1889 another metal hose in a second coiled version. Witzenmann developed all noteworthy profiles for hose manufacture that are still technically valid today. The metal hose should meet all technical requirements. Witzenmann viewed his work as a life's work:
"In my work, I have been entrusted with solving a great task of incessantly responsible care."
In 1891 he was one of the co-founders of the Allgemeine Gold- und Silberscheideanstalt AG in Pforzheim and was a member of the company's first supervisory board.
The Hydra trademark
In 1899 the trademark "Hydra", which is still used today, was registered.
Private
In addition to his industrial activities, Heinrich Witzenmann held a leading position in the voluntary fire brigade for decades and was a member of the citizens' committee in the 1880s.
Heinrich Witzenmann died on May 10, 1906 in Pforzheim.
swell
- Company archive of Witzenmann GmbH
- Company profile of Witzenmann GmbH ( Memento from May 23, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Patent DE34871 : Flexible metal tube with inserted rubber strips . Registered on August 27, 1885 , published March 17, 1886 , inventors: Eugène Levavasseur, Henri Witzenmann.
- ↑ Pforzheimer Zeitung No. 201, August 30, 1996, page 5.
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Witzenmann, Heinrich |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German inventor |
| DATE OF BIRTH | May 1, 1829 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Karlsruhe , Germany |
| DATE OF DEATH | May 10, 1906 |
| Place of death | Pforzheim , Germany |