Inventions: from Chemnitz to the world
"From Chemnitz to the world" was and is not a one-way street. Innovations have always arisen and continue to arise from the exchange of ideas, people and things. This was also the case in Chemnitz: many of the inventors and innovative entrepreneurs were not born in Chemnitz, but found the right circumstances for success here. Chemnitz residents took over things, e.g. English textile machines, from outside and developed them into new qualities in Chemnitz.
Cradle of the German machine tool industry
Johann Zimmermann, a Hungarian by birth, focussed exclusively on the construction of machine tools in his company from 1848 onwards.
Ridiculed by others, he was successful. This made him the first person in Germany to build machine tools sustainably and permanently.
Locomotives all over the world
From 1848, Richard Hartmann, a native of Alsace, produced locomotives and was the first to be successful with them in Saxony. Hartmann became the "Saxon locomotive king".
His factory and the later Sächsische Maschinenfabrik, vorm. Rich. Hartmann AG, produced a total of 4699 locomotives until the 1920s:
First for the Royal Saxon State Railway, later on all continents. Some are still in operation today - e.g. in Argentina and Indonesia.
Textile machine construction
Fürchtegott Moritz Albert Voigt further developed Swiss embroidery machines with his own patents in the middle of the 19th century. Among these, the idea of the shuttle embroidery machine (1883) stands out. The machines were exported with great success.
Invention for tearing tools
In 1874, Emil Oskar Richter invented the zero compass with a fixed axle and later the dotting spring, setting standards in the manufacture of drawing instruments all over the world.
Thermos container principle
In 1881, Adolf Ferdinand Weinhold developed a thermos flask for physical laboratory experiments. This laboratory device was the inventive basis for the thermos flask we are familiar with from everyday life.
Booking machines from Astra
John Greve had learnt about the simplified tens keypad on booking machines in the USA. As chief designer at Wanderer-Werke, he was unable to get his idea accepted by the conservative management. He therefore founded his own company in 1919. The company "Astra" soon enjoyed great success with the ten-key system when it was the first to launch the system on the European market.
Fewa
In 1932, Heinrich Gottlob Bertsch invented the world's first fully synthetic mild detergent (Fewa) in Chemnitz. The advertising character "Fewa-Johanna" contributed to the success of the revolutionary product.
Auto-Union
The "four good rings" come from Chemnitz. Founded in 1932 as a merger of four regional vehicle manufacturers as a public limited company in Chemnitz, Auto-Union quickly became the second largest German car manufacturer before the war.
Malimo stitch-bonding technique
Heinrich Mauersberger applied for a patent for his stitch-bonding technique, called Malimo, in 1949. The technique became established internationally. Today, it is widely used in further developments, particularly in the field of technical textiles.
Chemnitz Concertina
Carl Friedrich Uhlig was a musician and instrument maker from Chemnitz. In 1834, he presented his "Accordion neuer Art", later known as the German Concertina, in the Chemnitzer Anzeiger newspaper.
Uhlig laid the foundations for the Saxon harmonica industry; from Chemnitz, impulses travelled to Waldheim, Klingenthal and Carlsfeld.
Many instrument variants developed from the concertina, including the bandoneon, which became world-famous as the voice of the tango. The Lange / Uhlig harmonica factory existed in Chemnitz for over 100 years and produced instruments of outstanding quality.