Leopold Gasser
Leopold Gasser was the days of the Austro-Hungarian Empire one of the most respected weapons factories and soft iron foundries . The locations were in Vienna- Ottakring and St. Pölten .
history
Leopold Gasser (1836–1871) began his work in 1862 in a small workshop without a motor, in which three to four journeymen stood by his side. The master's main focus was on the production of revolvers , in which he soon achieved such a mastery that a revolver ( Gasser M1870 ) designed by him was used as an orderly weapon in the Austro-Hungarian army , the kk Landwehr , in the ku Landwehr ( Honvéd ) and the Navy was introduced. Probably the most famous product of the factory later became (after the patent for August Rast 1898) the orderly revolver Rast & Gasser M1898 .
As a result, when the orders of the court increased more and more and the necessary forces to carry out all the Aryan orders were not available, Gasser felt compelled to purchase steam engines . Soon, however, Gasser's products had acquired such a reputation for their excellent construction and workmanship, and the orders piled up to such an extent that, after about ten years, a further increase in the machinery proved necessary to cope with the required workload the first steam engine had to be replaced by one of 40 horsepower. The once so inconspicuous workshop gradually became a mighty factory, the services of which carried the reputation of the Gasser company far and wide. By 1900 the machine equipment of the factory was at such a level that every weapon could be manufactured there in all its parts.
In 1874 the factory was entrusted with the supply of revolvers for the Montenegrin government. Due to the increased production it was also possible to export to the Balkans and the Ottoman Empire .
The company demonstrated its productivity not only in the production of revolvers and weapon components intended for governments and authorities (e.g. for the entire security guard of Vienna and many other cities), but also in the manufacture of luxury revolvers, hunting rifles , etc., which were supplied in large quantities for domestic needs as well as for foreign countries. The annual production of around 30,000 revolvers, in addition to which there was an extensive manufacture of rifles and other weapons and weapon parts, shows the scope of production of the factory. This had its own firing range, in which all firearms without exception were shot at the target before they were sold. Since 1873 the company has had a retail outlet for its products at Kohlmarkt 8 in the 1st district of Vienna.
All work rooms in the factory, which at times employed up to 500 workers, were of a high sanitary standard and were equipped with electric lighting to ensure that the work was carried out precisely.
The increasing prosperity of the company soon prompted the company to expand its production facilities. In 1870 a former calico factory including a waterworks was acquired in St. Pölten , where the forging work for the Vienna factory was initially carried out using drop hammers and friction presses. However, the existing hydropower was not fully utilized. In order to make better use of these, as well as the large rooms, the company set up a soft iron foundry in 1879.
The foundry was on the outskirts of the town of St. Pölten and had a hydropower plant of 50 horsepower, 12 melting furnaces, 14 tempering furnaces and two cupolas . It employed around 300 workers at the turn of the century, making it the city's largest factory. Most of the workers were housed in the buildings belonging to the factory in spacious apartments that met all sanitary requirements. The plant also had its own well-trained fire brigade consisting of 25 men, equipped with the latest equipment. In 1903 it was organizationally separated from the main plant and renamed the St. Pölten Soft Iron and Steel Foundry Leopold Gasser .
Sales of Gasser cast products were not limited to the domestic market, but also extended to Germany , Italy , Serbia , Romania , Bulgaria , Russia , etc.
The achievements of the Leopold Gasser company received significant recognition on many occasions. The successor to Leopold Gasser, his brother Johann Gasser, was awarded the Golden Cross of Merit with the Crown . In 1893 he was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Franz Joseph Order by the Kaiser . Many other awards, such as the presentation of the Princely Montenegrin Order of Danilo , the silver medal of the Lower Austrian Trade Association , as well as numerous first exhibition prizes and honorable recognitions, testify to the high reputation that Leopold Gasser enjoyed at home and abroad.
Several Gasser products are on display in the permanent exhibition of the Army History Museum in Vienna. Particularly noteworthy is a pompous revolver dedicated to Crown Prince Rudolf von Gasser.
literature
- Joschi Schuy: Gasser revolver. Lifework of an Austrian gunsmith family . Trauner print shop, Linz, 1992.
- Gerhard Stadler , 2006: The industrial legacy of Lower Austria , Chapter Gasser Factory , pp. 597–598. ISBN 3-20577460-4
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Biographies: Gasser, Leopold ( Memento from May 30, 2018 in the Internet Archive )
- ^ Leopold Gasser, in: Die Gross-Industrie Oesterreichs. Ceremony for the glorious fiftieth anniversary of the reign of His Majesty the Emperor Franz Josef I, presented by the Austrian industrialists in 1898. Volume 3. Weiss, Vienna 1898, pp. 145–146.
- ^ Manfried Rauchsteiner , Manfred Litscher (Ed.): The Army History Museum in Vienna. Graz, Vienna 2000 p. 58.