Ludwig Karl Bohm
Ludwig Karl Böhm (born June 16, 1859 in Lauscha , † unknown, probably after 1907 in the USA) was an inventor in the electrical and chemical industries in the USA.
Life
Ludwig Karl Böhm learned the glassblowing trade in his hometown, the glassblowing town of Lauscha in Thuringia , and then worked with the vacuum pump inventor Heinrich Geißler . For scientific purposes in the field of chemistry and vacuum physics, the manufacture of complex glass apparatus was necessary. Böhm presumably also acquired basic electrical engineering knowledge as part of the job.
He then went to the USA and in August 1879, at the age of 20, worked for Thomas Alva Edison in his development laboratory in Menlo-Park. He was the first specialist in the field of glass processing in his team. Although he only worked briefly for Edison, he was obviously able to make valuable contributions, because Edison counts him in an autobiographical article of March 5, 1904 in The Electrical World as one of the most important employees of the early years. At the end of 1879 Edison presented his first successes in developing the incandescent lamp with carbon filament to the public. All glass work on these first Edison lamps was probably made by Ludwig Karl Böhm. On January 16, 1880, the New York Times reported a visit to Menlo Park. A young Thuringian glassblower, probably Ludwig Karl Böhm, explained that it would take him about half an hour to blow a lamp cover, insert the interior structure and seal the lamp. Böhm also helped the Edison team with the construction of a combined Spengel-Geissler vacuum pump, which contributed significantly to the quality of the lamps produced.
Böhm worked from 1880 for the Edison competitors Hiram Maxim in the United States Electric Lighting Co. and was in 1881 a kind of chief developer of American Electric Light Co . In this role he filed several US patents for incandescent lamp technology. Obviously, Böhm's skills were in demand with the incandescent lamp developers.
In 1882 Ludwig Karl Böhm returned to Germany, probably studied chemistry in Munich and received his doctorate in Freiburg in 1886 . In 1887 he emigrated again to the USA and presumably took on US citizenship between 1898 and 1900, as the phrase "a subject of the Emperor of Germany" is missing on later patents.
He first worked for some chemical companies in the USA and then again for the Thomson-Houston Co. in the field of incandescent lamp technology. The Thomson-Houston Co. merged with the Edison General Electric Co in 1892 . to General Electric . During the early days of the US electrical industry, Böhm worked for the important companies of the time.
Around 1890 Ludwig Karl Böhm founded his own company in New York ; he worked as a consultant for the electrical and chemical industry and took on development tasks. For journals like The Electrical World he wrote several articles on technical details of incandescent lamp technology and occasionally gave public lectures, for example the New York Times announced on February 8, 1890 a lecture by Dr. Ludwig K. Böhm on New York's underground power supply. Carbide and acetylene inventions were his main focus in the late 1890s; Carbide was needed for carbide lamps used in mining, among other things . He then worked on chemical processes related to papermaking.
No source is available about his private life, date and place of death; the last known patent issued in his name is dated December 31, 1907. Hoboken is named in a patent from 1904 and Jersey City , both in the US state of New Jersey , as his place of residence.
The life path of Ludwig Karl Böhm, who made his profession out of inventing and solving technical problems, is clearly shaped by the experience in Menlo Park and Edison's methods. His technical skills, supplemented by scientific knowledge acquired later, were the ideal combination for this.
Light bulb patent litigation
Ludwig Karl Böhm was an important witness and expert in the patent litigation with “Goebel Defense” . Several incandescent lamp manufacturers challenged the validity of the Edison incandescent lamp patent with an anticipation claim in 1893. According to the claims , Heinrich Göbel , who comes from Germany, was supposed to have manufactured incandescent lamps with high-resistance carbon filaments and vacuum sealing by introducing platinum wires earlier than Thomas Alva Edison.
Böhm knew Göbel personally, because both worked for the American Electric Light Co. in 1881. Böhm testified that at this point in time, 2 years after the patent was granted to Edison, Göbel had no prior knowledge of lamp manufacture and none of his alleged earlier ones Developments told.
Böhm, who is familiar with lamp development, presented the technical deficiencies in the evidence in an expert report, which he classified as fraudulent. He also explained what, in his opinion, was a technical impossibility of the alleged production process. Before the invention of the vacuum pump, Göbel wanted to have vented lamps using the Torricelli process. Böhm said in his report that this is impossible because a fragile carbon thread cannot withstand a mercury bath with a density 13 times higher than that of water and the pulling forces of the leaking mercury. In his opinion, the manufacture of carbon filament lamps was impossible before the invention of the vacuum pump.
The electrical trade journals of 1893 deal in several articles with Ludwig Karl Böhm and his statements in the context of these processes.
US patents
- 248.156: Electric Lamp, October 11, 1881
- 248.279: Combination Vacuum Pump, October 18, 1881
- 250.192: Electric Lamp, November 29, 1881
- 250.193: Electric Lamp, November 29, 1881
- 516.079: Process of Making Incandescent Elements, March 6, 1894
- 552.036: Material for Incandescent Conductors, December 24, 1895
- 572.101: Composition of Material for Incandescent Gas-Lights, December 1, 1896
- 606.441: Acetylene Gas Tip, June 28, 1898
- 609.494: Acetylene Gas Generator, August 23, 1898
- 630.966: Carbide Furnace, August 15, 1899
- 659.784: Process of Manufacturing Paper from Straw, October 16, 1900
- 659.785: Pulp Washing and Straining Machine, Oct. 16, 1900
- 668.033: Refrigerator Car, February 12, 1901
- 758.348: Window Attachment, April 26, 1904
- 875.315: Process of Making Paper-Pulp from Straw, December 31, 1907
Ludwig Karl Böhm applied for some patents in other countries as well. However, a comprehensive source is not available. The patent "187062 process for bleaching straw for paper production" was acquired from him in the German Reich, for example.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Main source: Edward Covington: Ludwig K. Böhm. ( Memento from March 17, 2017 in the Internet Archive )
- ^ Online archive The New York Times : Thomas A. Edison's Workshop. January 16, 1880 , accessed August 9, 2011
- ^ Paul Israel: Edison: A Life of Invention , p. 183, John Wiley & Sons, 1998, ISBN 978-0-471-36270-8
- ^ In a biographical article in the Electrical Review of April 15, 1893, it is mentioned that he had a diploma from the Royal Bavarian School of Industries . This presumably refers to today's Technical University of Munich .
- ↑ See for example Ludwig K. Böhm: Separable or Detachable Incandescent Lamps . In: The Electrical World , Volume XX, No. 23, p. 356, December 3, 1892
- ^ Online archive of The New York Times : CITY AND SUBURBAN NEWS, February 8, 1890 , accessed January 3, 2009
- ↑ Hans-Christian Rohde: The Göbel legend - the struggle for the invention of the light bulb. To Klampen, Springe 2007, ISBN 978-3-86674-006-8
- ↑ Böhm patent 248156
- ↑ Böhm patent 248.279
- ↑ Böhm Patent 250192
- ↑ Böhm Patent 250193
- ↑ Böhm Patent 516079
- ↑ Böhm Patent 552036
- ↑ Böhm Patent 572101
- ↑ Böhm Patent 606441
- ↑ Böhm Patent 609.494
- ↑ Böhm Patent 630966
- ↑ Böhm Patent 659784
- ↑ Böhm Patent 659785
- ↑ Böhm Patent 668033
- ↑ Böhm Patent 758348
- ↑ Böhm Patent 875315
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Boehm, Ludwig Karl |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Boehm, Ludwig K .; Bohm, Ludwig |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Inventor, glassblower, chemist |
| DATE OF BIRTH | June 16, 1859 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Lauscha |
| DATE OF DEATH | 20th century |