Leo Haas (engineer)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Leo Haas (born May 13, 1817 in Laufenburg (Baden) , † March 11, 1882 in Nuremberg ) was a German engineer and entrepreneur.

Leo Haas, ca.1880
Marie Vorhölzer, ca.1880

Life

After training as a master mechanic, he was employed as an assistant for a while by his older brother, the organ builder Friedrich Haas . In 1844, at the age of 27, he emigrated to Innsbruck, where he married and worked as a mechanic and fitter for the k. & k. privileged machine band and spinning factory (later Innsbrucker spinning factory Herrburger and Rhomberg) was employed. He referred to himself as a cartridge engineer (designer).

In the same year he moved on and came to Nuremberg, which was a great attraction for technicians at the time. He joined Klett in 1845 as an "engineer". There was no regulated training as it is carried out today. It just came down to the skills to be demonstrated. And Leo Haas had it.

His wife Antonia, born in the previous year, died in the first year in Wöhrd . Uhl and the newborn child in childbed.

On November 21, 1847 he married Marie Vorhölzer, the stepdaughter of James Edward Earnshaw . This second marriage resulted in 2 girls and 5 boys, three of whom later joined the factory, namely Eduard, Robert and Willy Haas.

After a busy life, Leo Haas died on March 11, 1882 and was buried in the Wöhrder cemetery in grave no. C401, not far from the Earnshaw grave.

J. Edward Earnshaw & Co

His acquaintance and now relationship with Earnshaw led to leaving Klett in 1847 and establishing a business relationship with his father-in-law, who at the same time also left Klett and Comp. had left.

Leo Haas writes: My wife's stepfather, the mechanic Edward Earnshaw, applied for a concession to set up a mechanical workshop eight days ago and I intend to do business with him . And in his request for a license it can be read: Mechanics is generally one of the free forms of acquisition and therefore, given the small number of such establishments in Bavaria, the award of the concession is not in doubt.

founding

The founding site of the new company J. Edward Earnshaw & Co. was the "Schwanen", the inn "Zum golden Schwan" in Wöhrd No. 213 (later Wöhrder Hauptstrasse 10), almost only a stone's throw away from the Klett factory , with whom, by the way, they remained on good terms. The workshop was set up there in the rear building. According to tradition, Earnshaw is said to have drawn the first steam engine and its controls on a table in chalk.

production

Since there was initially no foundry, the castings were made at Klett. Machines and machine parts for factories, mills, waterworks, spinning mills etc. were manufactured.

Residential and office building of the Earnshaw company on Gießereistraße 2. (StadtAN C 20 / V No. 15701, Nuremberg City Archives)

success

It was soon possible to set up and build the factory on its own property, including an iron foundry, namely on the property at Gießereistraße 2 between Fabrikstraße and Rahmzwinger on a large, once manorial estate.

Change of ownership

The factory soon became a renowned company. As technical director, Leo Haas played a key role in the company's rise. After Earnshaw's retirement and the purchase of his shares, Haas became sole owner.

After the death of their father in 1882, his sons Eduard, Robert and Willy took over the management of the company for many decades. Willy was a businessman, Eduard and Robert Haas were engineers. Robert Haas was married to Sophie Tafel, a daughter of Julius Tafel and Bertha Kinzelbach, the founding family of the Nuremberg ironworks .

swell

Dr. med. Hermann Haas: At home with us (self-published)
Bertha Manchot, geb. Haas: (Memories, self-published)
Karl Eduard Haas: The former company J. Edward Earnshaw & Comp. Machine factory and iron foundry 1848–1959 (self-published)
Karl Eduard Haas: The Nuremberg families EARNSHAW, HAAS, GIULINI, KOCH (self-published)