Josef Bohle

Josef Bohle (born July 11, 1882 in Geseke ; † April 12, 1959 ) was a German entrepreneur , founder of the Bohle Group and the inventor of the silver-cut glass cutter.

Path to independence

Bohle was born on July 11, 1882 as the son of the postman Kaspar Bohle and his wife Klara in Geseke, Lippstadt district ( Soest district since 1975 ). At the age of 13 he began his apprenticeship as a locksmith . At the end of the three-year apprenticeship (1896–1899) and after a few weeks as a journeyman with his teacher Franz Rohde, he took various positions in Münster and Benrath and finally came to Ohligs (a district of Solingen since 1929 ). From 1901 to 1905 Josef Bohle worked there - with a brief interruption in 1903 at the Alexanderwerk in Remscheid - in the Fleck machine factory. There he met his future wife, whom he married in 1903. From 1905 to 1910 Josef Bohle was employed as a master locksmith at the Robert Herder company in Ohligs before he settled down in Ohligs again after positions in Cologne-Ehrenfeld and Geseke; from September 11, 1911, he worked as a foreman at the Kronprinz company . In 1908 the son August Bohle was born.

Company formation

On December 10, 1923 Finally, Josef Bohle made with a small business independently in which he produced glass cutting wheels. The first customers were knife manufacturers who made pocket knives. In addition to blades and corkscrews, these knives also contained a glass cutter. In 1925 the young company moved into a larger workshop, now 15 m² in size, and in 1928 it was further expanded. In 1930, a separate company was established at Grenzstrasse 13, which was followed by the construction of the residential building. Son August Bohle followed in his father's footsteps and started in his father's business in 1925 after completing his apprenticeship as a locksmith.

Series production of complete glass cutters begins

In 1933 the production of complete glass cutters finally began , which were sold under the IBOR brand (Josef Bohle Ohligs Rheinland). In 1936 Josef Bohle registered the brand name Silbnitte , under which glass cutters are sold all over the world to this day. The BO 100.0 glass cutter, developed by Josef Bohle, is still manufactured in the Bohle AG factory in Haan and is sold millions of times around the world every year. The name silver cut was based on the silvery shimmering fissure that a quality cut leaves in the glass. In 1952 Josef Bohle introduced the Diamantor brand . While Silbschnitt was always a 6-wheel glass cutter, which mainly gained its sales markets in Europe, the Diamantor is a 1-wheel glass cutter with a typical Anglo-Saxon and American handle design and the associated tool posture.

Technical progress

With the development of the material hard metal, Josef Bohle started manufacturing hard metal cutting wheels in 1952. Due to the high hardness of the raw material, the manufacturing process was correspondingly complex and, together with the high costs of the raw material, added up to an expensive cutting wheel. Nevertheless, the hard metal cutting wheel became a successful product in machine glass cutting due to its enormous increase in productivity. To this day, hard metal cutting wheels from Bohle are marketed under the name SILBERSCHNITT.

Expansion of the product range

Also in the 1950s, besides glass cutters, suction lifters began to be manufactured, which were developed for the transport and handling of larger glass panes. This product series was increasingly expanded and developed into a second mainstay for the Bohle company. To this day, products related to vacuum technology are manufactured and sold under the then registered brand VERIBOR.

Josef Bohle died on April 12, 1959 at the age of 76. With Norbert Bohle (1957), Ulrich Bohle (1968) and Lothar Bohle (1970), the third generation joined the company, which has had its headquarters in Haan since 1969. Ulrich and Norbert Bohle were on the Supervisory Board of Bohle AG until July 19, 2013. The company is still family-owned.