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Oechsle Christian Ferdinand

The German mechanic, goldsmith and inventor Christian Ferdinand Oechsle (1774-1852) was an inventive universal genius. After an apprenticeship as a goldsmith in Öhringen, Ferdinand Oechsle moved to Pforzheim in 1794 and became cabinet master in Dennig's goldware factory there in 1800. In 1810, he founded a mechanical workshop in Pforzheim and produced, among other things, weighbridges, musical instruments, and physical and hydraulic equipment for laboratories and universities. In 1820 he was appointed grand ducal gold inspector. His countless inventions include, for example, a safe oxyhydrogen blower for soldering work and the "wheel of life" (a predecessor of the cinematograph), which he published in Dingler's Polytechnisches Journal from 1825. He also ran a spirit distillery.

Oechsle Christian Ferdinand - Porträt und Schilf vom Oechsle-Fest

In the 1820s, Oechsle and his son began to develop must scales (spindles) with graduation according to the hydrometric principle. Such devices had already existed in various designs for 250 years, but Oechsle was the first to develop a practically applicable graduation on the spindles and to produce these devices in series from the 1830s onwards. His insight or claim was that by determining the must weight (measurement of the sugar content in the grape must) it should be possible to better predict the development of the wine to be vinified. The unit of measurement "Oe" (Oechsle), named after him, is used today mainly in Germany, Switzerland, Liechtenstein and Luxembourg. In his honour, the Oechsle Fest, a wine festival lasting several days, has been celebrated in Pforzheim every year since 1986 at the end of August to the beginning of September. See also under Babo, Balling, Baumé and Brix.

Oechsle: Pforzheim City Archives, S1-29-O-6-P-2

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