Robert Bosch | |
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 Bosch in 1925 | |
| Born | 23 September 1861 |
| Died | 12 March 1942 (aged 80) |
| Occupation | Engineer |
| Known for | Founder of the Robert Bosch GmbH |
| Signature | |
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Robert Bosch (23 September 1861 – 12 March 1942) was a German business magnate, engineer and inventor, founder of Bosch.
Bosch was born in Albeck, in the Swabian Highlands near Ulm. He was one of twelve children born to Servatius Bosch and Maria Margarita Dölle. Servatius ran a large progressive farm that included a brewery. Robert Bosch's nephew was future Nobel laureate Carl Bosch. Robert Bosch attended the 'Realanstalt' in Ulm until 1879, that included an apprenticeship as a "precision-instrument maker." Amongst Bosch's various employments after graduating was that as a journeyman at C. & E. Fein. In 1881 he fulfilled his year of military service in Ulm, followed by employment with Schuckert & Co. until 1883. In 1883-84, Bosch studied under Professor Wilhelm Dietrich at the Stuttgart Technical University. [1]
On 24 May 1884, Bosch sailed for the United States, becoming an engineer under Thomas Edison and Sigmund Bergmann in New York. On 13 May 1885, Bosch sailed for London, where he found employment with Siemens Brothers. On 15 November 1886, he opened his own "Workshop for Precision Mechanics and Electrical Engineering" in Stuttgart. [1] : 35–42, 49–50, 78
In 1887, Gottlieb Daimler asked Bosch if he could build a device similar to the low-voltage magneto device with firing points the Gasoline Engine Factory Deutz was using in their four-stroke engine. Deutz claimed no patents protected the device, so Bosch made four devices. The purpose of the device was to generate an electric spark to ignite the air–fuel mixture in the cylinder at maximum compression. Over the next few years Bosch built a few hundred for factories making gas engines. [1] : 96–98
In 1893, Frederick Richard Simms met with Bosch, with the goal of adapting the stationary engine magnetos Bosch was building could be adapted to motor vehicles. In particular, a Jules-Albert de Dion tricycle was the test case. Arnold Zähringer, and Gottlob Honold, modified the Bosch device so that it had increased power and a faster sequence of sparks necessary, from 250 rpm up to 1800 rpm. Young Rall also modified the electrode, swapping enamel for the asbestos insulator. The complete device was patented. In January 1898, the new magneto was demonstrated on the tricycle and orders soon followed from Gottlieb Daimler. In 1900, in addition to using the device on motor vehicles, the Bosch magneto ignition was used in the Daimler engines on the Zeppelin. [1] : 102–107, 124–126
Simms introduced the Bosch ignition device to the English market as Simms-Bosch. In 1899, they entered the French market as the Automatic Magneto Electric Ignition Company, Ltd. [1] : 112
The first sales office and the first factory in the U.S. were opened in 1906 and 1910 respectively. By 1913, the company had branch operations in America, Asia, Africa, and Australia, and was generating 88% of its sales outside Germany. In rapid succession in the years following the First World War, Bosch launched innovations for the motor vehicle, including diesel fuel injection in 1927. In the 1920s the global economic crisis caused Bosch to begin a rigorous program of modernization and diversification in his company. In only a few years' time, he succeeded in turning his company from a small automotive supplier into a multinational electronics group.
From the beginning, Bosch was greatly concerned about promoting occupational training. Prompted by his awareness of social responsibility, he was one of the first industrialists in Germany to introduce the eight-hour work day, followed by other social benefits for his associates. [2] Robert Bosch did not wish to profit from the armaments contracts awarded to his company during WWI. Instead, he donated several million German marks to charitable causes, including to the establishment of Stuttgart's Robert Bosch Hospital in 1940. [3] [4]
In the 1920s and 1930s, Robert Bosch was politically active. As a liberal businessman, he sat on a number of economic committees. He devoted a great deal of energy and money to the cause of bringing about reconciliation between Germany and France. [5] He hoped this reconciliation would bring about lasting peace in Europe and lead to the creation of a European economic area.
The Nazi regime in Germany brought Bosch's peacemaking efforts to an abrupt end. The Bosch company accepted armaments contracts and employed an estimated 20,000 slaves (including some 1200 concentration camp inmates who were "brutally abused at the Langenbielau plant") during the war. [6] Meanwhile, Bosch secretly supported the resistance against Adolf Hitler, and together with his closest associates saved victims of Nazi persecution from deportation. [7]
On his eightieth birthday, Bosch was awarded the title "Pionier der Arbeit" (Pioneer of Labor) by Hitler [8] and when he died a year later, he was afforded a state funeral by the Third Reich.
Bosch was keenly interested in agricultural issues and owned a farm south of Munich. He was also a passionate hunter. When he died, he was survived by four children from two marriages. A son from his first marriage died in 1921 following a protracted illness.
In 1937, Bosch had restructured his company as a private limited company (close corporation). He had established his last will and testament in which he stipulated that the earnings of the company should be allocated to charitable causes. Also, his will sketched the outlines of the corporate constitution, which was formulated by his successors in 1964 and is still valid today.
He was inducted into the Automotive Hall of Fame in 1984. [9]
CarlFriedrich Benz was a German engine designer and automotive engineer. His Benz Patent-Motorwagen from 1885 is considered the first practical modern automobile and first car put into series production. He received a patent for the motorcar in 1886, the same year he first publicly drove the Benz Patent-Motorwagen.
An ignition magneto is an older type of ignition system used in spark-ignition engines. It uses a magneto and a transformer to make pulses of high voltage for the spark plugs. The older term "high-tension" means "high-voltage".
Wilhelm Maybach was an early German engine designer and industrialist. During the 1890s he was hailed in France, then the world centre for car production, as the "King of Designers".
Gottlieb Wilhelm Daimler was a German engineer, industrial designer and industrialist born in Schorndorf, in what is now Germany. He was a pioneer of internal-combustion engines and automobile development. He invented the high-speed liquid petroleum-fueled engine.
Nicolaus August Otto was a German engineer who successfully developed the compressed charge internal combustion engine which ran on petroleum gas and led to the modern internal combustion engine. The Association of German Engineers (VDI) created DIN standard 1940 which says "Otto Engine: internal combustion engine in which the ignition of the compressed fuel-air mixture is initiated by a timed spark", which has been applied to all engines of this type since.
Robert Bosch GmbH, commonly known as Bosch, is a German multinational engineering and technology company headquartered in Gerlingen, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. The company was founded by Robert Bosch in Stuttgart in 1886. Bosch is 94% owned by the Robert Bosch Stiftung, a charitable institution. Although the charity is funded by owning the vast majority of shares, it has no voting rights and is involved in health and social causes unrelated to Bosch's business.
Ferdinand Anton Ernst Porsche, mainly known as Ferry Porsche, was an Austrian-German technical automobile designer and automaker-entrepreneur. He operated Porsche AG in Stuttgart, Germany. His father, Ferdinand Porsche Sr. was also a renowned automobile engineer and founder of Volkswagen and Porsche. His nephew, Ferdinand Piëch, was the longtime chairman of Volkswagen Group, and his son, Ferdinand Alexander Porsche, was involved in the design of the 911.
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Siegfried Samuel Marcus was a German engineer and inventor, born in the Grand Duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin. He made the first petrol-powered vehicle, a handcart, in 1870, while living in Vienna, Austria. Marcus created a second vehicle in 1888/1889, but it is not known if he used it, and he did not develop it further. Marcus' vehicles had no influence on the development of cars, and his experimental vehicles were regarded by some journalists as "impractical". However, Marcus is credited with developing the ignition magneto used in spark-ignition engines.
The Otto engine is a large stationary single-cylinder internal combustion four-stroke engine, designed by the German Nicolaus Otto. It was a low-RPM machine, and only fired every other stroke due to the Otto cycle, also designed by Otto.
Lucas Industries plc was a Birmingham-based British manufacturer of motor industry and aerospace industry components. Once prominent, it was listed on the London Stock Exchange and was formerly a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. In August 1996, Lucas merged with the American Varity Corporation to form LucasVarity.
Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft was a German engineering company and later automobile manufacturer, in operation from 1890 until 1926. Founded by Gottlieb Daimler (1834–1900) and Wilhelm Maybach (1846–1929), it was based first in Cannstatt. Daimler died in 1900, and their business moved in 1903 to Stuttgart-Untertürkheim after the original factory was destroyed by fire, and again to Berlin in 1922. Other factories were located in Marienfelde and Sindelfingen.
The bombing of Stuttgart in World War II was a series of 53 air raids that formed part of the strategic air offensive of the Allies against Germany. The first bombing occurred on August 25, 1940, and resulted in the destruction of 17 buildings. The city was repeatedly attacked over the next four and one-half years by both the RAF and the 8th Air Force as it had significant industrial capacity and several military bases, and was also a center of rail transportation in southwestern Germany. Stuttgart endured 18 large-scale attacks by the Royal Air Force (RAF) during the war, during which 21,016 long tons (21,353 t) of bombs were dropped on the city, but the RAF concluded that its attacks against Stuttgart were not as effective as they could have been:
Stuttgart's experience was not as severe as other German cities. Its location, spread out in a series of deep valleys, had consistently frustrated the Pathfinders and the shelters dug into the sides of the surrounding hills had saved many lives.
Frederick Richard Simms was a British mechanical engineer, businessman, prolific inventor and motor industry pioneer. Simms coined the words "petrol" and "motorcar". He founded the Royal Automobile Club, and the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders.
Gottlob Honold was a leading engineer in the workshop of Robert Bosch, where he invented a practical ignition magneto, practical automobile headlights, and a practical vehicle horn.
Prosper L'Orange was a German engineer and inventor who pioneered the precombustion chamber, which made possible high-speed diesel engines that did not require an air compressor, and enabled them to be built small enough for use in road vehicles.
The Daimler Reitwagen or Einspur was a motor vehicle made by Gottlieb Daimler and Wilhelm Maybach in 1885. It is widely recognized as the first motorcycle. Daimler is often called "the father of the motorcycle" for this invention. Even when the steam powered two-wheelers that preceded the Reitwagen, the Michaux-Perreaux and Roper of 1867–1869, and the 1884 Copeland, are considered motorcycles, it remains nonetheless the first gasoline internal combustion motorcycle, and the forerunner of all vehicles, land, sea and air, that use its overwhelmingly popular engine type.
An alternator is a type of electric generator used in modern automobiles to charge the battery and to power the electrical system when its engine is running.
The history of Stuttgart traces its origins in the mid 10th century. However, the history of the land upon which Stuttgart stands has a far longer history dating back several thousands years to prehistoric peoples who sought the fertile soil of the Neckar river valley.
Adolf Daimler was the son of German inventor and industrialist Gottlieb Daimler. A mechanical engineer by training, Adolf became managing director and co-owner of his father's firm Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft in 1900. Along with his brother Paul Daimler, Adolf is credited with developing the distinctive Mercedes 3-pointed star logo.
Many forced laborers worked at the Bosch plants. Bähr and Erker estimate the total number at 20,000 forced laborers, including 1,200 concentration camp inmates. At the end of 1944, the share of forced labourers in the workforce was around 33 percent; in the whole of German industry it was about 25 percent in August 1944. It cannot be said that the forced laborers at Bosch fared better than elsewhere. Especially in the factories far from Stuttgart, such as in Kleinmachnow near Berlin or in Langenbielau (Bielawa) in Silesia, there were attacks. 'The Russian workers and prisoners of war were subjected to arbitrary acts and denunciations contrary to all the principles of the company, and concentration camp prisoners were brutally abused at the Langenbielau plant,' the historians write.
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