Johann Kirsten

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Memorial plaque on the house of Johann Kirsten in Lychen

Johann Kirsten (* 19th century ; † 20th century ) was a German master watchmaker and the inventor of the thumbtack .

Life

Nothing is known about Kirsten's date of birth, origin or education. His father is said to have been August Kirsten, who received a patent for a cap for carbon dioxide bottles in 1881.

Around 1900 Kirsten lived at Fürstenberger Straße 124 (today 13) in Lychen . He ran a small watchmaker's workshop in the courtyard of his estate. There the inventor invented, among other things, a closure for carbon dioxide bottles and thumbtacks.

Johann Kirsten is said to have invested later in shares in the Lychener carbon dioxide factory, as the factory used its carbon dioxide bottle caps for the bottles that were to be transported on horse-drawn carts .

Nothing is known about Kirsten's death. He was not buried in Lychen.

Kirsten was considered weird, eccentric, chaotic and he was an alcoholic. An anecdote tells that he ordered a carriage to go to the pub next door while his children were starving at home.

The invention of the thumbtack

It is said that Kirsten often injured his right thumb, as he often hung up memos on the wall of his workshop. In 1902/1903, to prevent further injuries to his thumb, he used a punch to connect a short nail to a small curved piece of sheet metal . He called this structure “tiller” and, together with two employees, made a few sachets of it. The source of the tradition was the master shoemaker Hermann Stolte from Lychen, whose father used to live in the neighboring house, Johann Kirstens. He told the story in the 1970s to Wolfgang Knape from VEB Brockhaus-Verlag , who at the time was supposed to do a portrait of the Uckermark on behalf of the publisher . The veracity of this story has meanwhile been called into question.

Because Kirsten was in dire financial straits, he sold the rights to the tiller in 1903 to Arthur Lindstedt, who owned a metal hardware factory in Lychen. The tiller had a flaw, however: if you pressed too hard, the pin penetrated the piece of sheet metal and injured your thumb. That's why Lindstedt initially didn't want to produce the tiller.

Otto Lindtstedt († April 30, 1945) took over his brother's factory in 1903 and, together with his employees, perfected the tiller and patented it on January 8, 1904 under the name "Heftzwecke" . The number of the patent was 154957 Class 70E.

After that 6,000 to 7,000 thumbtacks were produced daily and the Lindstedts became millionaires. Kirsten did not participate in the profit. The Lychener Metallwarenfabrik existed until 1965 , which was nationalized in 1962 and then specialized in the production of special motors for car heaters and the like. In 1965 it became part of the Sirokko oil heating device company in Neubrandenburg . In 1967 she left her old location behind the pharmacy on Berliner Straße and moved to new premises on the outskirts.

Honors

  • Memorial plaque on Fürstenberger Strasse 13 in Lychen, the former home of Johann Kirsten. It should belong to a relative living in the USA , it has been for sale for years (as of 2017)
  • Image of an "oversized pushpin"

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ anais: Tricky Purposes - Blog by anais . In: blog by anais . ( anais2317.com [accessed January 19, 2018]).
  2. ^ A b c Books on Demand GmbH Norderstedt: Nobody has died of dowry Stories with a story from the Uckermark . 1st edition. Norderstedt, ISBN 978-3-7412-9360-3 .
  3. ↑ A rather tricky story , taz, November 28, 2003.
  4. ↑ RISING PURPOSES - PRODUCED IN LYCHEN FOR DECADES . In: Potsdam's latest news . April 6, 2010 ( pnn.de [accessed January 19, 2018]).
  5. ↑ Lychen commemorates the inventor of the thumbtack , WeltN24, August 21, 2003.

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Kirsten, Johann
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German watchmaker, inventor of the thumbtack
DATE OF BIRTH 19th century
DATE OF DEATH 20th century