Johann Bartholome Rechsteiner (inventor)

Johann Bartholome Rechsteiner (born June 5, 1810 in Herisau , † December 21, 1893 in Strasbourg ; resident in Urnäsch ) was a Swiss mechanic and inventor from the canton of Appenzell Ausserrhoden .

Life

Johann Bartholome Rechsteiner was a son of Johann Martin Rechsteiner. He married Johanna Christina Unterbeck, daughter of Johann Gottfried Unterbeck. Rechsteiner had no school education . He completed an apprenticeship as a miller and baker . After that he was spinning workers . He acquired mechanical knowledge autodidactically . From around 1827 Rechsteiner traveled through Europe as a hiking watchmaker and mechanic . He repaired and constructed, among other things, from 1839 to 1844 with George Dietz , the owner of a moving machine museum, various machines. Among them was the machine The Last Judgment with 260 figures, which he built between 1833 and 1835. In 1838, he repaired Jacques de Vaucanson's automatic duck , which was demonstrated at La Scala in Milan . From 1844 to 1847 he constructed an automatic duck in Urnäsch. Among other things, he invented a shuttle drive. From 1848 to 1849 he devised a screw production machine . This earned him various international awards : in 1853 he received a state premium and citizenship of Saxony . The successful screw production in Connewitz (Saxony) put an end to quarrels with the water power owner in 1860 . After a fruitless struggle for damages, he settled in Alsace in 1863 as a watchmaker . In 1872 he resumed screw production in Strasbourg. In 1874 a fire destroyed the production facilities. Then Rechsteiner and his son shifted to new inventions such as a blood pressure monitor for the Strasbourg citizen hospital .

literature

• Hans Ammann: Glamor and misery of Appenzeller Johann Bartholome Rechsteiner: maker of the mechanical duck and inventor. In: Appenzellische Jahrbücher, Volume 118/1990 (1991), pp. 5-53. Web access via e-periodica.ch.
• Hans Ammann: Johann Bartholome Rechsteiner (1810-1893): Splendor and misery of an Appenzell inventor. In: Appenzell calendar for the year 1988, year 267. Web access via e-periodica.ch.

Web links

• Thomas Fuchs: Johann Bartholome Rechsteiner. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland . February 1, 2010 , accessed May 25, 2020 .

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