Johannes Bürk

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Johannes Bürk (1819–1872)
Former factory building, now a watch industry museum

Johannes Bürk (born July 3, 1819 in Schwenningen am Neckar ; † November 29, 1872 there ) was a German inventor , entrepreneur and politician .

Life

Johannes Bürk was a son of the Schwenningen shoemaker Jakob Bürk (1790–1864) and his wife Anna Oefinger (1796–1836).

Johannes Bürk grew up in poor conditions. After he was trained in the art of writing, he dealt with the publication of studies, went on trips to broaden his horizons of experience and maintained a "commission office". from here in 1854 he published the text “Gemeinfaßliche Instructions for the production and preparation of flax and hemp”. Two years later his publication "Instructions for measuring standing and lying trees using new measuring instruments" appeared.

Since 1848 he was with Katharina geb. Weiler (1822–1885) married. He was a Protestant and had ten children, including Richard Bürk . After his father's death in 1872, he took over the technical management of the watch factory previously run by his father.

Württemberg watch factory

Guard watch - Württemberg clock factory Bürk with mechanical movement - around 1980

In 1849 Johannes Bürk invented a portable night watchman's watch with which the presence of the watchman at certain times could be documented - and thus monitored. These watches were produced from 1855. In the years 1860 to 1861, with the support of the Central Office for Trade and Commerce in his region, he founded his own watch factory for the manufacture of control watches and for the production of watch parts. Through a consistent division of labor and machine production based on the model of the French and Swiss watch factories, he revolutionized the purely manual production that had hitherto been common in Germany. This factory also served as a general training workshop. From 1861, some electronic clocks could also be manufactured in the Württemberg clock factory in Bürk . The control clocks were in production until 1996.

As early as 1854, Bürk registered with "mathematical devices for the World Exhibition in Paris".

During this time, too, he documented the experience and impressions he had gained on his travels in the 1857 article “Die Uhrenfabrikation von Schwenningen”, which appeared in the Württembergisches Gewerbeblatt and the book “About American watchmaking” from 1861.

Social work

Bürk was a co-founder of the gymnastics community 1859 Schwenningen eV. The establishment of gymnastics clubs was forbidden from 1819 to 1842 because they were viewed as a liberal center of possibly rebellious activities. Bürk successfully campaigned for the Rottweil – Villingen railway line , which opened in 1869, to be routed via Schwenningen. The original plan provided for a route further north, via Niedereschach . Johannes Bürk was an elected member of the first Rottweil Chamber of Commerce and Industry in 1866.

Political offices

After his apprenticeship, Johannes Bürk was initially a "writing chief" and "council clerk in Schwenningen". In this office he was also responsible for the control of the city's night watchmen, which is how he came up with the invention of the control clock.

As early as 1848 he often took part in meetings of the Frankfurt National Assembly as a listener. In 1868 he was elected a member of the Württemberg state parliament. He was against the accession of Württemberg to the German Confederation . he held this mandate until 1870.

See also

literature

  • Franz Ludwig Neher : Johannes Bürk: a Swabian pioneer of industrial production; for the 100th anniversary of the Württemberg watch factory Bürk Söhne Schwenningen am Neckar 1855/1955, Schwenningen aN: Württemberg watch factory Bürk 1956
  • Frank Raberg : Biographical handbook of the Württemberg state parliament members 1815-1933 . On behalf of the Commission for Historical Regional Studies in Baden-Württemberg. Kohlhammer, Stuttgart 2001, ISBN 3-17-016604-2 , p. 109 .
  • Paul Gehring: Johannes Bürk and Erhard Junghans: a contribution to the early history [!] Of the Swabian watch industry in: Zeitschrift für Württembergische Landesgeschichte, Stuttgart: Kohlhammer, Vol. 14 (1955), 1, pp. 145–161
  • Paul Gehring:  Bürk, Johannes. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 2, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1955, ISBN 3-428-00183-4 , pp. 747 f. ( Digitized version ).
  • Werner Schmid: The Württemberg clock factory in Schwenningen and its products , PDF
  • Richard Bürk: The Schwenningen watchmakers until 1929 , Villingen-Schwenningen: Kuhn 1990.
  • Michael JH Zimmermann: "Unbending as a loyal champion for humanity and legality". The democrat Johannes Bürk, a diverse pioneer of progress from Schwenningen a. N. In: Schwäbische Heimat, vol. 70, 2019, issue 4, pp. 421–425.

Web links

Commons : Johannes Bürk  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Paul Gehring, Johannes Bürk, Neue Deutsche Biographie, Volume 2, 1955, p. 747, In: http://www.deutsche-biographie.de/.html
  2. ↑ a b Frank Raberg : Biographical Handbook of the Württemberg State Parliament Members 1815-1933 . On behalf of the Commission for Historical Regional Studies in Baden-Württemberg. Kohlhammer, Stuttgart 2001, ISBN 3-17-016604-2 , p. 108 .
  3. ↑ Kontrolluhren.de - Night watchman - (PDF - 344 kB)
  4. ^ History of Bürk Mobatime. In: buerk-mobatime.de. Retrieved August 14, 2012 .
  5. ^ Paul Gehring, Johannes Bürk, Neue Deutsche Biographie, Volume 2, 1955, p. 747, In: http://www.deutsche-biographie.de/.html
  6. ^ Founding history of the "Turngemeinde 1859 Schwenningen eV" ( Memento from November 22, 2010 in the Internet Archive )
  7. ↑ Timeline for Schwenningen up to 1972 - Villingen-Schwenningen. In: villingen-schwenningen.de. Retrieved August 14, 2012 .
personal data
SURNAME Bürk, Johannes
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German inventor, entrepreneur and member of the state parliament
DATE OF BIRTH July 3, 1819
PLACE OF BIRTH Schwenningen am Neckar
DATE OF DEATH November 29, 1872
Place of death Schwenningen am Neckar