Willy F. Bielicke

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Willy F. Bielicke (also William Friedrich Bielicke ) (* 1881 in Germany; † in the 20th century) was an important German-American optical designer and entrepreneur in the first half of the 20th century.

Live and act

The records of the US immigration authorities show that WF Bielicke was born in Germany in 1881. At least since 1905, however, London was his residence; contacts to the USA already existed at that time. In 1912 he lived in Clapham Common, at the headquarters of the London optics company Ross . From there, together with the managing director of Ross, John Stuard, he applied for a patent on a telecentric lens (British patent no. 23470/1912; identical US patent 1,073,950). At that time, Bielicke specified “mathematician” as his profession.

On July 29, 1913, he emigrated to the United States with his wife Anna Dora Bielicke (* around 1881 in Frankfurt) and his son William P. Bielicke (* September 12, 1905 in Munich).

He filed the next patent in April 1916 for a "telephoto lens" (US Patent No. 1,202,021). The family at that time resided in Rochester , Monroe County , New York State, according to the patent application . Bausch & Lomb , a leading US company in the optical industry, is headquartered in Rochester . Bielicki accepted US citizenship. The 1920 US Census data shows the family still lived in Rochester in 1920. In January 1922, Bielicke filed a US patent (No. 1,558,073) for a four-lens Tessar variant for Bausch & Lomb .

Pan-Tachar 1.8 / 50 mm; Construction based on a Bielicke patent

Bielicke then moved to Berlin. There he founded the Astro-Gesellschaft Bielicke & Co in 1922 together with Otto and Hugh Ivan Gramatzki . "Astro-Berlin" was a company that existed until 1991, which was mainly known for photographic and cinematographic lenses with high speed and very long focal lengths . Willy F. Bielicke's wife and son also applied for passports; the son travels back to the USA via Hamburg in 1924.

A productive creative period followed for Bielicke in Berlin. In August 1922 he filed a patent for a new capacitor (German Patent No. 393652), in February for an expanded Cooke triplet with four individual lenses (German Patent No. 440229, US Patent No. 1,540,752) . At that time, Bielicki was living in Berlin-Neukölln - d. H. near the second Astro-Berlin headquarters. He referred to himself as a US citizen in the patent application. The construction patented at the time became the basis for the company's well-known, high- speed Tachar lenses. In August 1926 a beam splitter followed for distance measurement in viewfinder cameras (German patent no. 479755).

He submitted another important lens design in April 1930 (German Patent No. 538872, US Patent No. 1,839,011, British Patent 367237). This later - at least z. Sometimes slightly changed - the lens built as a " speedometer " was also extremely bright (up to 1: 0.75) and consisted of six lenses in 5 groups. At that time, Bielicki was living in Berlin-Halensee . According to the information in the British patent filing, he referred to himself as a German citizen again in 1930. Another lens patent followed in January 1931 (German Patent No. 634843, US Patent No. 1888156). In 1932 he lived in Berlin-Neukölln and applied for his last patent at the end of 1933, namely for an anamorphic lens system (German Patent No. 624178).

Memberships

Willy F. Bielicke was a number 75 member of the Optical Society of America and a Fellow of the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMTE).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Ancestry.com: William Bielicke
  2. ^ Ancestry.com: Willy Bielicke
  3. ↑ Patent GB000191202347A
  4. ↑ a b Ancestry.com: Anna Bielicke
  5. ^ Ellis Island: FREE Port of New York Passenger Records Search
  6. ↑ see details in US Patent No. 1,540,752
  7. ↑ Patent DE000000393652A
  8. ↑ Patent DE000000440229A
  9. ↑ Analyze d'objectfs photographiques dioptriques
  10. ↑ Patent DE000000479755A
  11. ↑ Patent DE000000538872A
  12. ^ R. Kingslake (1946) A Classification of Photographic Lens Types. Journal of the Optical Society of America 36 (5): 151-155.
  13. ↑ taunusreiter.de: Early bright lenses
  14. ↑ patent DE634843
  15. ↑ Patent GB000191202347A
  16. ↑ Patent DE000000624178A
  17. ↑ Anonymus (1924) JOSA & RSI, 8; Jan. 1924
  18. ^ Fellows of the SMTE , accessed September 6, 2011
personal data
SURNAME Bielicke, Willy F.
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Bielicke, William Friedrich
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German entrepreneur
DATE OF BIRTH 1881
PLACE OF BIRTH Germany
DATE OF DEATH 20th century