Joseph Wenzel Zich

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Joseph Wenzel Zich (* around 1754; † November 21, 1824 in Joachimstal (municipality of St. Martin) ) was an Austrian inventor and glass manufacturer .

Life

Zich leased in 1788 by the Count of Fürstenberg the glassworks Joachimstal and the glassworks in Schwarzau in Moorbad Harbach and established henceforth Zich'sche hut called factory into a leading glass manufacturer.

In 1821 a glazier Joseph Zich (whether father or son is unclear) won a competition awarded by the emperor with 2000 fl to make a transparent glass with Glauber's salt instead of potash . The procedure remained secret.

The Zich glazier became known across the monarchy, among other things because of its excellent black glasses, which were solid, easy to work, but still shiny, refractive and also heat-resistant. What part Joseph Wenzel Zich had and what part his son played in this remains unclear. In 1823 a Joseph Zich (whether father or son is unclear) received a patent for the manufacturing process for the glass he had developed. Particularly elaborate glass products manufactured for the Austrian imperial family such as For example, the so-called Kaiser-Franz-Mug, a gift presumably from Joseph Wenzel Zich to Emperor Franz I , is now in the Technical Museum in Vienna. Some of these glasses are signed with JWZich .

The actor and travel writer Johann Anton Friedrich Reil describes in his book Der Wanderer im Waldviertel , the first “tourist guide”, a meeting with the two Zichs and his observations in their glassworks.

After Zich's death in 1824 and the sudden death of his son Joseph Zich in 1834, Carl Stölzle took over both glassworks and their workforce in 1835 . As a qualified chemist, however, Carl Stölzle had no practical experience in the manufacture of glass and was continuing the processes established by Zich, so that the resulting products can no longer be assigned to Zich or Stölzle. Stölzle had to close the two glassworks in 1852 due to a lack of wood and built glassworks in other places. The Zich'sche Hütte is the forerunner of Stölzle-Oberglas .

literature

  • Johann Anton Friedrich Reil, The Wanderer in the Waldviertel: A Diary for Friends of Austrian Areas , Verlag Joseph Georg Traßler, Brno 1823
  • Adolf Kastner, Helmut Sauer: Waldviertler Heimatbuch: Nature, art and culture in the adventure realm of surprises , Edition Nordwald, Verlag R. Leutgeb, 1994
  • Arnold Busson : The Waldviertel glassworks in Joachimsthal and Schwarzau in the first half of the 19th century, in: Weltkunst, 1978, No. 10, p. 1144 f. and No. 11, pp. 1324 f.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Art and trade sheet of the polytechnic association for the Kingdom of Bavaria, Volume 7, No. 39, June 30, 1821 p.167, middle left online
  2. ^ State and learned newspaper of the Hamburg impartial correspondent , issue of December 5, 1823, No. 194, p. 7, left column online
  3. ↑ Systematic presentation of the latest advances in trades and manufacturers , Keeß and Blumenbach, Vienna 1830 ( online )
  4. ^ Message about the patent official gazette. In:  (Imperial Royal Silesian) Troppauer Zeitung , January 27, 1823, p. 6, bottom left (online at ANNO ).Template: ANNO / Maintenance / okf
  5. ↑ The Zich's showpieces at the Technical Museum Vienna by Walter Spiegl on glas-forschung.info
  6. ↑ Carl Stölzle's career on pressglas-korrespondenz.de
personal data
SURNAME Zich, Joseph Wenzel
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian inventor and glass manufacturer
DATE OF BIRTH around 1754
DATE OF DEATH November 21, 1824
Place of death Joachimstal (municipality of St. Martin)