Hermann Föttinger

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Memorial plaque in a building of the Technical University of Berlin, Strasse des 17. Juni 125 in Berlin-Charlottenburg
Grave of the engineer Hermann Föttinger (1877–1945) in the Wilmersdorf cemetery in Berlin.

Hermann Föttinger (born February 9, 1877 in Nuremberg , † April 28, 1945 in Berlin ) was a German engineer , inventor and university professor .

Life

Hermann Föttinger studied electrical engineering from 1895 to 1899 at the Technical University of Munich .

He then worked first as a designer and later as head of testing at Werft AG Vulcan Stettin . His area of ​​responsibility included u. a. the testing and introduction of new steam turbines .

In 1904 he received his doctorate in Munich with a dissertation on effective engine power and effective torque and their experimental determination, with special emphasis on large ship engines . Part of the work was the so-called torsion indicator, which made it possible for the first time to record the power delivered to the propeller during operation. This was also one of his first patents. (No. 165347 of November 8, 1904)

During this time he developed the hydrodynamic torque converter (see also Föttinger principle ). The so-called original patent (DRP No. 221422 of June 24, 1905) established the name Föttinger converter or Föttinger gear used until today . This is the combination of a pump and a turbine in one component. There is also a fixed idler wheel between the two. In contrast to this, the Föttinger coupling manages without a guide wheel and was patented by the Stettin “Vulcan” at the same time (DRP No. 238804 of June 24, 1905).

Later, Föttinger's former employees, Spannhake and Kluge, as well as von Sanden developed the so-called “ Trilok ” gearbox (patent no. 558445 of June 18, 1929), which in principle combines a Föttinger converter and a Föttinger clutch with the The difference is that the idler wheel could be operated both freely (clutch) and stationary (converter). This is used in its further development, for example, in automatic automobile transmissions.

In 1909 Föttinger was offered a position at the Technical University of Danzig , where he set up an institute for fluid dynamics. In 1924 he was appointed to the chair for fluid dynamics and turbomachinery at the Technical University of Berlin-Charlottenburg . He worked here until his death from shrapnel in April 1945. His grave is in the Wilmersdorf cemetery .

In the course of his life he has applied for or acquired over one hundred patents .

Föttinger carried out the transfer from the classical theoretical foundations of fluid mechanics from Leonhard Euler via William John Macquorn Rankine and Hermann von Helmholtz to their current applications in boundary layer , wing and propulsion theory.

literature

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personal data
SURNAME Föttinger, Hermann
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German electrical engineer, inventor and university lecturer
DATE OF BIRTH February 9, 1877
PLACE OF BIRTH Nuremberg
DATE OF DEATH April 28, 1945
Place of death Berlin