Matthias Hipp
Encyclopedia
Matthäus Hipp also Matthias or Mathias (Blaubeuren
, 25 October 1813 – 3 May 1893 in Fluntern
) was a German clockmaker and inventor who lived in Switzerland.
His most important, lastingly significant inventions were electrical looms, traffic signals, and pendulum clocks
as well as Hipp's Chronograph
.
). At the age of eight, he had an accident climbing on one of the many rocks there and was lame for the rest of his life. At the age of sixteen, he became apprenticed to Johan Eichelhofer in Blaubeuren. At the conclusion of his apprenticeship he began his Wanderjahre.
In 1832 after working in Ulm for clockmaker Valentin Stoß, in 1834 he worked in St. Gallen
, afterwards between 1835 and 1837 in the Uhrenfabrik Savoie in St. Aubin on Neuenburger See.
In 1840 he came to Reutlingen
and opened there in 1841 at the age of 28 years his own workshop.
In the same year he married a teacher's daughter Johanna Plieninger. The married couple had four children.
After the suppressed revolution in Baden
in the year 1849 his application for director of the clockmaker school in Furtwangen was rejected for political reasons, because he was regarded as a democrat. Consequently, in 1852, Hipp decided to leave Germany. He was appointed by the Swiss government as the director of the national telegraph workshop and technical director of the telegraph administration. Although Hipp's agreement explicitly allowed him to also continue working privately, when his privately derived income far exceeded his salary for public service, there arose conflicts with the Swiss administration and parliament. Hipp responded in 1860 by resigning from the Swiss government service.
The next part of his life career led him from Bern to Neuchâtel, where he took over the directorship of a newly established telegraph factory.
Not until 1889 did Hipp relinquish management and hand over control of the company to the engineers A. Favarger and A. De Peyer. From then until 1908 the factory carried the logo "Peyer & Favarger, Succ. de M. Hipp".
Soon after his retirement he moved to Fluntern to be near his daughter in Zürich
. On 3 May 1893, Matthäus Hipp died at the age of eighty in Fluntern. His wife outlived him by four years. Hipp, who since 1852 lived and worked in Switzerland, but never gave up his previous nationality, received the honorary name of "the Swiss Edison".
Blaubeuren
Blaubeuren is a town in the district of Alb-Donau near Ulm in Baden-Württemberg, Germany.It has 11.963 inhabitants as of December 2007.-Coat of arms:...
, 25 October 1813 – 3 May 1893 in Fluntern
Fluntern
Fluntern is a quarter in the district 7 in Zurich.It was formerly a municipality of its own, having been incorporated into Zurich in 1893.The quarter has a population of 7,325 distributed on an area of 2.84 km².-Weather:-References:...
) was a German clockmaker and inventor who lived in Switzerland.
His most important, lastingly significant inventions were electrical looms, traffic signals, and pendulum clocks
Pendulum clock
A pendulum clock is a clock that uses a pendulum, a swinging weight, as its timekeeping element. The advantage of a pendulum for timekeeping is that it is a resonant device; it swings back and forth in a precise time interval dependent on its length, and resists swinging at other rates...
as well as Hipp's Chronograph
Chronograph
A chronograph is a timepiece or watch with both timekeeping and stopwatch functions as well as other functions. Pocket watch chronographs were produced as early as the 18th century but did not become popular until the 1820s...
.
Biography
The son of grain millers at a monastery, Hipp was born 25 October 1813 in Blaubeuren (WürttembergWürttemberg
Württemberg , formerly known as Wirtemberg or Wurtemberg, is an area and a former state in southwestern Germany, including parts of the regions Swabia and Franconia....
). At the age of eight, he had an accident climbing on one of the many rocks there and was lame for the rest of his life. At the age of sixteen, he became apprenticed to Johan Eichelhofer in Blaubeuren. At the conclusion of his apprenticeship he began his Wanderjahre.
In 1832 after working in Ulm for clockmaker Valentin Stoß, in 1834 he worked in St. Gallen
St. Gallen
St. Gallen is the capital of the canton of St. Gallen in Switzerland. It evolved from the hermitage of Saint Gall, founded in the 7th century. Today, it is a large urban agglomeration and represents the center of eastern Switzerland. The town mainly relies on the service sector for its economic...
, afterwards between 1835 and 1837 in the Uhrenfabrik Savoie in St. Aubin on Neuenburger See.
In 1840 he came to Reutlingen
Reutlingen
Reutlingen is a city in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is the capital of the eponymous district of Reutlingen. As of April 2008, it has a population of 109,828....
and opened there in 1841 at the age of 28 years his own workshop.
In the same year he married a teacher's daughter Johanna Plieninger. The married couple had four children.
After the suppressed revolution in Baden
Revolutions of 1848 in the German states
The Revolutions of 1848 in the German states, also called the March Revolution – part of the Revolutions of 1848 that broke out in many countries of Europe – were a series of loosely coordinated protests and rebellions in the states of the German Confederation, including the Austrian Empire...
in the year 1849 his application for director of the clockmaker school in Furtwangen was rejected for political reasons, because he was regarded as a democrat. Consequently, in 1852, Hipp decided to leave Germany. He was appointed by the Swiss government as the director of the national telegraph workshop and technical director of the telegraph administration. Although Hipp's agreement explicitly allowed him to also continue working privately, when his privately derived income far exceeded his salary for public service, there arose conflicts with the Swiss administration and parliament. Hipp responded in 1860 by resigning from the Swiss government service.
The next part of his life career led him from Bern to Neuchâtel, where he took over the directorship of a newly established telegraph factory.
Not until 1889 did Hipp relinquish management and hand over control of the company to the engineers A. Favarger and A. De Peyer. From then until 1908 the factory carried the logo "Peyer & Favarger, Succ. de M. Hipp".
Soon after his retirement he moved to Fluntern to be near his daughter in Zürich
Zürich
Zurich is the largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is located in central Switzerland at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich...
. On 3 May 1893, Matthäus Hipp died at the age of eighty in Fluntern. His wife outlived him by four years. Hipp, who since 1852 lived and worked in Switzerland, but never gave up his previous nationality, received the honorary name of "the Swiss Edison".
Achievements
Matthäus Hipp in the course of 40 years brought more than 20 inventions to technical maturity. Some of his inventions proved so good that for approximately one hundred years without changes in basic design these inventions could be manufactured and sold. For its time, Hipp's electrical pendulum clock was a technological breakthrough.- 1843 electrical pendulum clock; he presented this at the Berlin exhibition with the words: „Eine Uhr, die ihren Antrieb unter dem Pendel hat“ (A clock, which has its drive under the pendulum).
- 1847 Chronoscope
- 1854 Two-way telegraphy on the same line
- 1855 Electrical loom
- 1856 He laid a cable of his own construction from Vierwaldstättersee to FlüelenFlüelenFlüelen is a municipality in the canton of Uri in Switzerland.-Geography:Flüelen has an area, , of . Of this area, 22% is used for agricultural purposes, while 55.1% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 6.1% is settled and the remainder is non-productive...
- 1862 Hipp's "Wendescheibe", an automatic visual traffic signal
- 1862 He installed a clock system with an ultra-precise master clock and slave clocks in GenevaGenevaGeneva In the national languages of Switzerland the city is known as Genf , Ginevra and Genevra is the second-most-populous city in Switzerland and is the most populous city of Romandie, the French-speaking part of Switzerland...
- 1866 He developed in collaboration with Frédéric William Dubois an electrical Registrierchronographen with marine chronometerMarine chronometerA marine chronometer is a clock that is precise and accurate enough to be used as a portable time standard; it can therefore be used to determine longitude by means of celestial navigation...
- 1867 electrical clavierClavierClavier is a Walloon municipality located in the Belgian province of Liège. On January 1, 2006, Clavier had a total population of 4,172. The total area is 79.12 km² which gives a population density of approximately 53 inhabitants per km²....
- 1874 He delivered to ViennaViennaVienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
a chronograph for the observation of nerve activity - 1881 High precision electrical observatory clock for the Observatoire Cantonal de Neuchâtel
- 1889 Registering speedometers
Honors
- 1840 high Württemberg honor „für sein im Uhrenbau neues, sinnreiches Prinzip zur Erzielung eines gleichformigen Pendelgangs“ (for his ingenious principle for the achievement of a homogeneous pendulum escapement, new in the building of clocks)
- 1873 Ritterkreuz of the Austrian Order of Franz JosephOrder of Franz JosephThe Imperial Austrian Franz Joseph Order was founded by the Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria on December 2, 1849 on the first anniversary of his assumption of the Imperial Crown...
- 1875 Ehrendoktorwürde (Dr. phil. E. h.) from the Universität Zürich.
External links
- Stadt Blaubeuren: Berühmte Köpfe
- Die Entwicklungsgeschichte der Elektrischen Uhren: Matthäus Hipp
- Tram-Museum Zürich: Der registrierende Geschwindigkeitsmesser System Hipp
- watch-wiki: Matthäus Hipp
- Video of the Wendescheibe model SchBB, which shows its function