Andreas Stihl

Andreas Stihl (10 November 1896 in Zürich, Switzerland – 14 January 1973 in Rohrbronn, Baden-Württemberg, Germany) was a Swiss-born German engineer and important inventor in the area of chainsaws, and the founder of Andreas Stihl AG & Company KG.[1] He is often hailed as the "Father of the chainsaw".[2]

Andreas Stihl
Born10 November 1896
Zürich, Switzerland
Died14 January 1973(1973-01-14) (aged 76)
Rohrbronn, West Germany
NationalityGerman
OccupationFounder of Stihl, inventor of the first electric chainsaw

Stihl went to the Volksschule in Zürich, before moving to relatives in Germany.[2] He attended the Realschule in Singen (Baden-Württemberg) and the Gymnasium in Düsseldorf-Oberkassel. From 1915 until his dismissal by injuries in 1917, Stihl fought in the First World War in the German Army.[2] From 1917 until 1920, he studied mechanical engineering in Eisenach. In 1923, together with his friend Carl Hohl, he founded an engineering firm in Stuttgart, which was dissolved in 1926.[3]

Stihl founded a new company, for steam boiler prefiring systems in the same year in Stuttgart.[1] He also patented the "Cutoff Chainsaw for Electric Power" in 1926, which weighed a hefty 64 kilograms and had a one-inch gauge chain with handles at either end. Due to its bulk, it required two people to operate.[4] It was, however, the first electric chainsaw worldwide.[5] In 1929, Stihl built a petrol powered chainsaw, named the "tree-felling machine", two years after fellow German Emil Lerp had built the first one worldwide.[6] The following year, Stihl created the first ever chainsaw that could be operated by only one person.[7] The company continued to grow and in 1931 it became the first European company to export chainsaws to the United States and the Soviet Union.[8] During the Nazi regime, Stihl was member of the Nazi Party.[2]

Since 1971, Stihl is the biggest chainsaw manufacturing company in the world.[2] Andreas Stihl had four children with his first wife, among them Hans Peter Stihl (born 1932) and Eva Mayr-Stihl (born 1935), who succeeded her father in managing the company and remaining Vorstand until 2002.[9]

References
  1. "120th Birthday of STIHL Company Founder Andreas Stihl". STIHL. 9 November 2016. Retrieved 4 April 2020.
  2. Edlinger, Katharina. "Stihl, Andreas". Deutsche Biographie (in German). Retrieved 4 April 2020.
  3. Jenewein, Andrea; Larutan, Justin; Rothfuß, Frank (2017). Land der Tüftler und Denker: Die besten Erfindungen aus Baden-Württemberg (in German). Meßkirch: Gmeiner-Verlag. ISBN 9783839252482.
  4. Thomas, Andrew R.; Wilkinson, Timothy J. (2015). The Customer Trap: How to Avoid the Biggest Mistake in Business. New York City: Apress. p. 76. ISBN 9781484203859.
  5. Thöny, Philip (12 December 2007). "The History of the Chainsaw". Waldwissen. Retrieved 4 April 2020.
  6. "Emil Lerp und Andreas Stihl: zwei ehemalige Kollegen revolutionieren die Kettensäge". Gartenwelt Online. 15 April 2017. Archived from the original on 15 April 2017. Retrieved 4 April 2020.
  7. "1930 - 1939". STIHL. Retrieved 4 April 2020.
  8. Evans, Ferguson (2008). The Rise of the Japanese Specialist Manufacturer: Leading Medium-Sized Enterprises. Springer. p. 40. ISBN 9780230594951.
  9. "Hans Peter Stihl turns 85". STIHL. 12 April 2017. Retrieved 4 April 2020.
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