Louis Schönherr

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Louis Schönherr (drawing from 2018)

Louis Ferdinand Schönherr (born February 22, 1817 in Plauen ; † January 8, 1911 in Thossfell ) was a German designer and is considered the German inventor of the mechanical loom .

Life

Schönherrpark, right next to the Schönherrfabrik

Louis Ferdinand Schönherr was born in 1817 as the son of the weaving family Christian Wilhelm and Johanne Magdalene Schönherr. He had 2 brothers and 5 sisters. After leaving school, Schönherr completed an apprenticeship as a weaver, but then worked as a lathe boy in the machine factory of Carl Gottfried Haubold , Carl Gottlieb Haubold's cousin . From 1833 to 1834, financed by his brothers Christian and Wilhelm, he completed a polytechnic training at the Royal Technical College of Saxony in Dresden .

As a trained weaver, he felt the desire early on to make the manual work easier with a new loom construction. From 1836 he devoted himself to the development of looms together with his brother Wilhelm in his own workshop in Niederschlema . From 1837 to 1839 he completed internships in Leeds and Manchester (Great Britain). In 1840, after Schönherr and his brother had started at the Chemnitz mechanical engineering company, he succeeded in constructing a mechanical loom for cloth production .

In 1840 Schönherr married the butcher and innkeeper daughter Christiane Wendler, who gave him sons Robert (born October 20, 1844 Plauen), Max Louis (born November 22, 1847 Bermsgrün / Schwarzenberg ), Ernst Volkmar (born August 24, 1853), Willi Otto (* 1855 Schlosschemnitz), Paul (* July 9, 1857 Schlosschemnitz), Hans Richard (* January 5, 1859 Chemnitz) and Hermann Curt (* August 15, 1860 Chemnitz) as well as the daughters Lulie Berta (* October 25, 1843) and Lydia (* 1858) gave birth.

From 1844 he worked in the Erla ironworks , where he also produced cloth looms for the first time. 1848–1849 he was a city representative in Plauen. In 1849 he and his brother moved to the Götze & Hartmann company under Richard Hartmann , both of whom held managerial positions in the company's loom construction.

The success encouraged him to found his own factory in 1851, in which mechanical looms developed by him were manufactured from 1852 onwards. Thus he made an enormous contribution to independence from expensive loom imports from England.

As early as 1875, Schönherr was financially able to donate the Schönherrpark , which was located right next to his factory and named after him . His wife died in 1877, and in 1880 he finally retired from business life and left all patents to the company. He founded his own sanatorium in St. Gallen .

Saxon loom factory

1851 to 1871 - Schönherr & Seidler

Machine factory of Louis Schönherr and Seidler in Chemnitz 1856

On November 2, 1851, Louis Schönherr and Ernst Seidler founded the company in Chemnitz under the name Schönherr & Seidler . In 1854 he moved his production location to the current location, the site of the former Sächsische Maschinenbau Compagnie , which had been liquidated shortly before. He started the industrial series production especially of cloth looms and looms for the manufacture of upholstery fabrics with 20 employees. As early as 1855, the loom manufacture was supplemented by its own foundry, one year later the company already had 150 employees and sold its thousandth loom. Shortly afterwards, Seidler sold his company shares to Schönherr for 30,000 thalers and founded his own company in Dresden.

In 1861, Schönherr revised its design so that patterned fabrics could also be made with the looms. In the following year, he bought the entire area of ​​the former Sächsische Maschinenbau Compagnie and expanded the company considerably, and gave notice to other tenants of the area. In 1871 the ten thousandth loom was made and a factory fire brigade was founded. In addition to the looms, 5,023 winding machines, 2,917 warping and construction machines as well as 399 linen and sizing machines were also produced. By the end of 1871, 18,339 machines were produced, at that time a value of around 100 million marks (today more than 744,000,000 euros).

1872 to 1945 - Sächsische Webstuhlfabrik AG

The Schönherrsche loom factory in Chemnitz. Drawing by E. Limmer. 1. Factory. 2. Carpenter's room. 3. Motif from the park. 4. Montirsaal. 5. Forge. 6. Loading. 7. Iron turning room. 8. Iron foundry. 9. Eisenhobeleisaal.
Share for 800 RM in the Sächsische Webstuhlfabrik AG from July 1928

In 1872 the company was converted into the Sächsische Webstuhlfabrik AG, formerly Louis Schönherr , with a share capital of one million thalers. Schönherr retained the majority of the shares, took over the chairmanship of the supervisory board and also appointed his two sons Max and Paul to both the management and the supervisory board. Bruno Gottschaldt, Max Schönherr and Paul Schönherr became directors. By 1887, the factory had already produced 30,000 looms, a large part of which was exported. Thus the company achieved a worldwide reputation.

In 1888 the first double plush weaving machine with double warp threads was presented. In 1895 the 1200 employees were already producing the 50,000th loom, the monthly production was 250 pieces. In 1898 it was connected to the network of the Royal Saxon State Railways . By 1899, 84,777 machines were produced, including 70,000 looms. In 1900 the old main building was converted into a forge and the characteristic clock tower, which is still preserved today, was added, and an exhibition hall was built. In 1907 the entry of the stock corporation was attested.

After Louis Schönherr's death in 1911, his son Paul was appointed full director. In 1912, the product portfolio comprised 84 different basic types of loom. With the outbreak of the First World War, the workforce was halved from 1,600 to 800 employees. In 1916, a windpipe destroyed large parts of the factory. In 1923 a new administration building for management, planning, construction, sales and archives was built. In 1924 the 150,000th loom was produced, now with an individual electric drive. In 1926, Max W. Feistel built a street-side supplementary building in the style of the new objectivity, which offered 55,600 m² for workshops and storage rooms. By 1927, the foundry's capacity was increased to 45 tons per day with 350 employees. With the help of 1,150 machine tools, a total of 175,120 machines were produced this year, including 158,000 looms, 7,820 winding machines, 8,250 shearing and construction machines and 1,050 linen and sizing machines. A new crank buckle loom for the cloth and upholstery fabric industry was introduced and shaped the company in the following years. The model was produced until 1968. As a result of the economic crisis in 1929, wages had to be cut on October 25, 1929 and some employees had to be laid off. Part-time work was introduced. Kommerzienrat Max Schönherr retired from the board of directors on June 20, 1930 into private life.

In 1932, the company began producing 2-guard double carpet looms, a decisive innovation for the large-scale industrial production of woven carpets. The company then developed into the second largest company in the city of Chemnitz after Richard Hartmann AG . On June 1, 1933, the export sales company TeMaCo (textile machinery company) was founded, which in addition to the Saxon loom factory, prev. L. Schönherr also the Sächsische Maschinenfabrik vorm. Richard Hartmann AG , Carl Hamel AG in Siegmar-Schönau and Kettling u. Braun textile machine factory and iron foundry in Crimmitschau . In 1936 the association "Voluntary fire brigade in loom construction" was founded, but it was dissolved again in 1941. In 1940 a company sports field was inaugurated on the company premises. In the course of the iron allocation after the start of the war, all pre-war orders had to be canceled. The production of looms then decreased increasingly. In order to cover the stipulated production share of armaments, grenades , mine chairs and spare parts for anti-tank guns were manufactured in the Schönherrfabrik from 1940 . In 1941 the Fischweg in front of the plant was renamed Schönherrstrasse . The Dachsbaude in Neuhausen / Erzgeb was used for company outings in 1942 . Bought. A total of 2269 carpet looms were manufactured between 1925 and 1944 and 996 of them were exported. During the war, prisoners of war were also used as slave labor. During the Allied air raids on Chemnitz on March 5, 1945, part of the carpentry, the cleaning shop, a cast store and an outbuilding were destroyed or severely damaged. After the end of the war, the production facilities had to be completely dismantled by the workforce by order of the Soviet headquarters. These went to the USSR in 1945/46 as reparations .

  • Warp warping machine from 1907

  • Crank Buckskin loom from 1910 for the manufacture of chenille Axminster carpets

  • Rear view of the 1910 crank buckskin loom

  • Multicolor carpet loom

  • Punch card control of the multi-color carpet loom

  • Jacquard loom from 1925

  • Bucksin loom from 1930

  • Jacquard loom from 1939

1946 to 1989 - VEB Loom Machine Construction Karl-Marx-Stadt and Kombinat Textima

In 1946 the remnants of the company were administered by the Chemnitzer Treuhand . The provisional reconstruction of the factory from old building material began with 70 employees. Machine tools were recovered from the ruins of other factories and poorly repaired so that production could start again. The first repaired weaving machines could be completed as early as 1947. These went to the higher weaving school in Chemnitz to train specialists for the textile industry. The pay of the workers was converted to piece wages and progressive performance wages developed. From 1947 the company belonged to VVB Textilmaschinen , which in 1978 became VEB Kombinat Textima . By 1948 the number of employees rose again to 450 and the first newly developed automatic weaving machines and winding machines were presented at the Leipzig trade fair. However, it was not until 1950 that complete machines were again manufactured in the company and production of the double carpet looms was resumed. At this point in time, the company was again the second largest company in Chemnitz after the textile machine factory vorm. Rich. Hartmann AG. The company was converted into public ownership on January 1, 1952 and was given the name VEB Loom Chemnitz (from 1953 Karl-Marx-Stadt). Under the supervision of VVB Textima, production was restructured according to the guidelines for state-owned companies. In the meantime the workforce had grown to 844 workers who produced on 220 partly outdated machines. The foundry's annual output was 1,200 tons of gray cast iron. In the following year, casting production was increased to 2,200 tons and 318 textile machines were manufactured again, most of which, however, had to be delivered to the Soviet Union. In 1953/54 the company got its own combat group , and in 1955 a new boiler house was built. Textile machine production more than doubled to 829 machines by 1955, and the workforce grew to 1,274 by 1956. In the course of the prescribed consumer goods production , potato peeling machines were manufactured for large kitchens, and later household ironing boards as well. From 1956 there was again an in-house children's holiday camp in Oberhermsgrün . With a newly developed double carpet loom, the gold medal of the Leipzig autumn fair was won in 1963 . In the following year, the foundry was extensively reconstructed and a new hall built for the central large-part production. As an additional consumer good, the Dagmar double lounger was manufactured for VEB Interform Greiz from 1967 . A COMECON resolution in 1968 forced the company to stop developing and producing medium-weight weaving machines. From then on, the main focus was on double carpet looms. With the installation of a belt feed for the casting molds in the foundry, casting production could be increased by 300 t in 1971. The number of employees could be increased to 1700 by 1979, the company became part of the newly founded VEB Kombinat Textima. In 1980 the thousandth double carpet loom was delivered. In 1983 the new double-carpet rapier weaving machine was presented at the international textile fair in Milan, which was awarded the gold medal of the Leipzig trade fair in 1985. In 1986 the foundry's smelting plant was reconstructed. The new development of the first 4 m wide carpet weaving machine made a new range of products possible in the carpet trade. Consumer goods production was also expanded.

  • Detail of a weaving machine from 1953

  • Loom of VEB Loom Machine Building Karl-Marx-Stadt at the technical fair in Leipzig 1953

  • Punch card-controlled carpet loom at the Leipzig autumn fair in 1954

  • 25 Pfennig postage stamp from the Leipzig autumn fair 1980 with a loom from the VEB Kombinat Textima Karl-Marx-Stadt

1990 until today

Refurbished main building today

On March 1, 1990, the Textima combine was privatized by the Treuhandanstalt , and VEB Loombau Karl-Marx-Stadt continued production for the time being, but only with 800 of the 1700 employees. Chemnitzer Webmaschinenbau GmbH was founded on October 18, 1990 and then sold by the Treuhandanstalt to a German-Swiss group of companies, while retaining 600 employees. Due to a bank loan that was not granted, the company came under the custody of the Treuhandanstalt again in August, and the number of employees was reduced to 450 by 1993. The main building was placed under monument protection in 1992 (see list of cultural monuments in Chemnitz-Schloßchemnitz , Schönherrstraße 8), ailing parts of the building were partially demolished in the following years and listed buildings gradually evacuated.

In 1994 the Vienna Ventana Group took over the company and completely restructured it. In addition, the company was divided into three subsidiaries: Schönherr Metallverarbeitung GmbH (foundry), Schönherr Webstuhlbau GmbH (WEBA, weaving machine construction) and Schönherr Teilefertigung GmbH (mechanical processing). In 1995 a new machine was presented for the first time at the International Textile Machinery Exhibition . In 1997, Schönherr Location Development GmbH was founded for the renovation and conversion of the listed site . In 1998 the company Stäubli SA from Bayreuth (part of the Swiss Stäubli International AG ) bought the majority in the company and renamed it Schönherr Textilmaschinenbau GmbH . The company was later renamed Schönherr Carpet Weaving and the company was relocated to Bayreuth. The foundry Schönherr Metallverarbeitung GmbH was founded in 2000 with 90 employees in 1946 than in Bayreuth Iron Foundry Rudolf Trompetterkorps founded Tromp Guss sold. In 2001 the managing director of Schönherr Teilefertigung GmbH took over and founded Matthias Tuchscherer Maschinenbau GmbH (MTM).

The Schönherr Standortentwicklung GmbH operates today as Schönherr WEBA GmbH and has extensively renovated the listed building complexes in the front part of the area since 1998 and redesigned them to become the Schönherr Kulturfabrik . Today there are extensive cultural, gastronomic and health-promoting offers on the site. In addition to Matthias Tuchscherer Maschinenbau GmbH and Trompetter Guss, there are still several small and medium-sized industrial companies on the area of ​​the old Schönherrfabrik, all in the rear part of the area.

literature

Individual references / comments

  1. ↑ Note: In 1785 the Englishman Edmund Cartwright invented the first mechanical loom.

swell

Web links

Commons : Sächsische Loomfabrik  - Collection of images, videos and audio files
Wikisource: Die Sächsische Maschinenbau-Werkstatt  - Sources and full texts
personal data
SURNAME Schönherr, Louis
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Schönherr, Louis Ferdinand (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German designer and entrepreneur
DATE OF BIRTH February 22, 1817
PLACE OF BIRTH Plauen
DATE OF DEATH January 8, 1911
Place of death Thossfell