Fritz Gegauf
Encyclopedia
Fritz Gegauf was a Swiss inventor and founder of the Bernina Sewing Machine
Factory. He was the son of Karl Friedrich Gegauf (1860-1926), inventor of the hemstitch sewingmachine.
, Switzerland. From 1910 till 1914 he made a mechanics apprenticeship in his fathers sewingmachine factory at Steckborn. He was awarded a patent for a hemstitch sewingmachine. In 1920 he got married to Hermine Meienhofer, daughter of the baker Hermann Meienhofer. From then until 1923 he worked for the sewingmachine factory Athos in Paris
. After the death of his father in 1926 he ran the family business together with his brother Gustav as Fritz Gegauf's Söhne. The factory moved with its 35 employees to newly built premises in 1929. When sales of the industrial hemstitch sewingmachines dropped in the early 1930s, he formed in 1932—in cooperation with Wilhelm Brütsch—the Bernina Sewing Machine Factory which produced sewing machines for the home. Technical innovations brought about the rapid growth of the company in the post-war years. Until 1975 Gegauf was on the board of directors, becoming honorary president thereafter.
Fritz Gegauf died 24 February, 1980 at Steckborn.
Bernina Sewing Machine
BERNINA is the sewing machine brand of the Fritz Gegauf AG company, founded in 1893 in Steckborn, Switzerland, and is also often used as a shorthand for the company itself, which has formed part of BERNINA International AG since the beginning of the 1990s. The origins of the company lie in the...
Factory. He was the son of Karl Friedrich Gegauf (1860-1926), inventor of the hemstitch sewingmachine.
Biography
Fritz Gegauf was born 5 April, 1893 at SteckbornSteckborn
Steckborn is a municipality in Frauenfeld District in the canton of Thurgau in Switzerland.It is located on the Untersee of Lake Constance.-History:...
, Switzerland. From 1910 till 1914 he made a mechanics apprenticeship in his fathers sewingmachine factory at Steckborn. He was awarded a patent for a hemstitch sewingmachine. In 1920 he got married to Hermine Meienhofer, daughter of the baker Hermann Meienhofer. From then until 1923 he worked for the sewingmachine factory Athos in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
. After the death of his father in 1926 he ran the family business together with his brother Gustav as Fritz Gegauf's Söhne. The factory moved with its 35 employees to newly built premises in 1929. When sales of the industrial hemstitch sewingmachines dropped in the early 1930s, he formed in 1932—in cooperation with Wilhelm Brütsch—the Bernina Sewing Machine Factory which produced sewing machines for the home. Technical innovations brought about the rapid growth of the company in the post-war years. Until 1975 Gegauf was on the board of directors, becoming honorary president thereafter.
Fritz Gegauf died 24 February, 1980 at Steckborn.