J. Hückel's sons
| J. Hückel's sons
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| legal form | last (from 1945): Národni podnik (state enterprise), today Tonak AG |
| founding | 1799 or 1848 |
| resolution | 1975 (in Germany) |
| Seat | Neutitschein |
| management | The Hückel family |
| Branch | Clothing company |
J. Hückel's Sons was a hat manufacturer in Neutitschein in Moravia .
history
The Würzburg hat maker Gottfried Hückel settled in the small town of Fulnek in northern Moravia in 1647 . In 1805 his great-great-great-grandson Johann Hückel (1779–1835) and a few years later his brother August Hückel (1786–1848) founded their own hatmaker's shop in nearby Neutitschein . At that time hat making was still entirely manual work, which is why the sales area of a shop was limited to the immediate vicinity given the traffic conditions at the time. The circle could only be expanded somewhat by visiting the market. Under these circumstances, the scope of a business was limited, as well as the fact that each business owner as well as each individual assistant had to completely control the production process himself. The principle of the division of labor was still completely unknown at the time.
Johann Albert Hückel (1814–1880), son of August Hückel, also entered the hat making trade. In 1837 he took over the business of his uncle Johann and, after the death of his father August in 1848, inherited his business and combined both under his name. At this time, industrialization began. In 1865 Johann Albert Hückel began to move from handicraft production to factory production. Together with his sons, he built a factory for the production of fur felt hats with steam-powered machines . He was the first in Austria to try this.
He headed the business until 1868 and was able to retire after a long creative period. At that time he handed over the management to his sons August (1838–1917), Johann (1843–1917) and Carl (1850–1919). However, he continued to work as a consultant until he died in 1880.
His sons had previously worked in hat factories in Germany and France for several years , where they learned the practice. They were able to use these successfully in Austria and brought the latest machines into the factory at the time, and were able to successfully keep up with foreign competition. Their numerous relationships and connections have expanded the company's sales territory.
During the Franco-Prussian War from 1870 to 1871, hat manufacturing came to a complete standstill in both countries. Companies like J. Hückel's Söhne were able to use this opportunity to gain a foothold abroad. Over time, the company was able to expand successfully not only in the European market, but also overseas. Due to the constant expansion of sales, the production facilities also had to be expanded. One stage in the organization of the company was of outstanding importance, not for the company but for Austrian hat manufacturing in general. In the Danube Monarchy until the 1870s, in contrast to Belgium , Germany and France, the preparation of the hair materials necessary for hat production was not an independent branch of industry. The Austrian hat manufacturers were forced to purchase the fabrics they needed from abroad, and so large sums of domestic capital were emigrated every year . The J. Hückel's Söhne company was the first to combine this branch of industry, known as "hairdressing", with hat manufacture, thus producing all of the hair materials necessary for the production itself instead of purchasing them from abroad. This change has been described as a great achievement and a special advance in the field of hat making.
Initially, the company wanted to meet its demand for raw materials domestically. The supply of silk fabrics , ribbons , leather , etc. was, as far as possible, entrusted to Austrian companies. The most important raw material, such as hare , rabbit and beaver fur , could only partially be procured domestically, the rest was obtained from France, England , South America and Australia . On such skins , the company used before 1900 year about 1.5 million units.
The company management tried to take the necessary safety precautions for the employees for the individual operating machines, to ensure an atmosphere that was not harmful to health and also to take precautionary measures for the risk of fire. As a founding member of the support association for the commercial and hygienic museum founded by Franz Migerka in Vienna , the company promoted national health protection efforts from 1893 . Johann Hückel Sr. founded a health insurance for his workers in 1868 , long before it became legal, with an annual contribution of 6000 fl . Furthermore, a retirement and benefit fund with an amount of 30,000 kroner was dedicated as share capital for the elderly and the disabled. There were 100 specially built workers' houses with water, gardens and fields for the employees. The relationship between employee and employer was described as "friendly" and "satisfactory". Many of the employees had worked for the company for 20 to 30 years or even longer around 1900.
In 1898 the number of workers in the factory was around 1200, and 200 to 300, mostly women of the workers, were engaged in housework.
The company received several awards for its services. They were awarded the highest prizes at the 1873 World Exhibition in Vienna, the Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia in 1876, the Paris World Exhibition in 1878 and the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago. It won the Grand Prix at the World Exhibition in Paris in 1900 , as well as in St. Petersburg in 1902 and in Vienna in 1910. The merits of Johann Hückel sen. were also rewarded by Emperor Franz Joseph I by awarding the gold cross of merit with the crown in 1877 . In 1893 the company was given the honor of being awarded the title of kuk Hof-Hutfabrikanten .
In addition to the main factory in Neutitschein, there was another one in Skotschau , Ratibor and Vienna . The company survived the turmoil of World War I and the collapse of the dual monarchy.
After the Second World War, however, the family was expropriated and expelled as Sudeten Germans . Part of the family fled to Weilheim in Upper Bavaria , where Fritz Hückel (1885–1973), a grandson of Johann Albert Hückel (1814–1880), continued to manufacture hats under the same name for a few decades until the 1970s. Fritz Hückel had previously made a name for himself not only as a hat manufacturer, but also as the founder of the Austro-Cyclecar and Fritz Hückel small car factories . The nephew of Fritz Hückel, Hugo Augustin Hückel (1899–1947), who was the sponsor of the German rocket designer Johannes Winkler , tried in Vienna in 1946, together with the hat factory A. Sindermann and P. & C. Habig, to trade as Hückel & Co., to restart hat production. Hans Ferdinand Hückel (1907–1983), a great-grandson of Johann Albert Hückel (1814–1880), emigrated to Canada with his three sons in 1951 to continue hat making based on fur. However, due to lack of demand, the experiment had to be terminated. The urn of this last hatter of the Neutitschein hatmaker dynasty Hückel was last willingly buried on September 6, 2013 in the family crypt in Neutitschein.
The factories in Czechoslovakia and Poland were confiscated and nationalized by the communists. The main factory in Neutitschein was taken over by the state-owned company Tonak (Továrna na klobouky). After the end of the Cold War, it was privatized as a public company. The factory in Racibórz was located in Poland and was also nationalized by the communists. After the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, it was privatized and run by PolkaP.
The Nový Jičín City Museum houses an extensive collection of hats by Hückel. In 2009 a special exhibition was organized.
Manufacturing process
The manufacturing process could be divided into approximately seven phases. In the machine room of the hairdressing shop, the hair was cut from the already stained skins, sorted and prepared for hat production. This part of hat production was incorporated into production, while previously the prepared hair was obtained from abroad. At that time the hairdressing shop was equipped with the latest plucking and cutting machines , drying devices, etc.
In the specialist machine room, the hair was finely atomized by the machine. Powerful fans sucked in the air from the inside of the adjacent, cone-shaped, sieve-like copper bells with fine holes , so that a thin layer of hair was laid on the outside of the bell. This was soaked in hot water and held together tightly enough to be removed. Under the term "compartment", this delicate structure represents the future hat in its state of origin.
The next step was fulling , which was done partly by hand and partly with the machine and had the purpose of making the shed denser and stronger. It shrank to the third or fourth part of its original size.
In the shearing room, the so-called " velor hats", which had already been roughened by brushing and scratching, were shaved on machines . In the dressing room, the felts were then converted from the cone shape into the final hat shape on presses with high water pressure, in order to finally be completed in the staffing room with the set such as lining , leather , edging and binding tape .
The finished product was carefully packed in the designated packing rooms (for overseas transport in tin boxes or oil cloth ) and shipped. The company had its own mechanical carpentry , locksmith's shop , turner's shop , mold foundry , cardboard box production and printing shop . There were seven steam boilers in operation, for which the annual coal consumption (before 1900) was 500 wagons , five steam engines with 350 HP , five dynamo machines for the electrical lighting of the system and also an own oil gas production facility . There were 386 machines for work and other auxiliary machines.
Individual evidence
- ^ J. Hückel's sons . In: Presented by the industrialists of Austria under the high protectorate of His K. and K. Highness of the Most Serene Archduke Franz Ferdinand (Hrsg.): Die Groß-Industrie Oesterreichs . Festival ceremony for the glorious fiftieth anniversary of the reign of His Majesty the Emperor Franz Josef I. Volume 4 . Leopold Weiss, Vienna 1898, X. Garment Industry, p. 447-450 .
- ↑ a b c d Johann Hückel's sons - Hückel hat factory in Weilheim. Invision Power Board> Hats> Austrian Hat Companies, August 22, 2009, accessed January 27, 2011 .
- ↑ Announcement of the "Alte Heimat Kuhländchen" association: cultural trip 6.-11. Sept. 2013 , page 7, urn burial for Hans Ferdinand Hückel (PDF file, 961 kB)
- ↑ History společnosti. (No longer available online.) Tonak, 2007, formerly in the original ; Retrieved January 27, 2011 (Czech). ( 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.
- ↑ Historia Skoczowskiej Fabryki Kapeluszy. (No longer available online.) PolkaP, 2011, archived from the original on February 14, 2011 ; Retrieved January 27, 2011 (Polish). Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
