Engelbert Krauskopf (August 21, 1820 – July 11, 1881) was a German-American settler,

gunsmith A gunsmith is a person who repairs, modifies, designs, or builds guns. The occupation differs from an armorer, who usually replaces only worn parts in standard firearms. Gunsmiths do modifications and changes to a firearm that may require a very h ...

, and naturalist. Born in

Bendorf Bendorf () is a town in the district of Mayen-Koblenz, in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, on the right bank of the Rhine, approx. north of Koblenz. Structure of the town The town consists of the following districts: *Bendorf *Sayn *Mülhofen *St ...

, Germany, he emigrated to the United States in 1846, and became a settler of

Fredericksburg, Texas Fredericksburg (german: Friedrichsberg) is the seat of Gillespie County, in the U.S. state of Texas. As of the 2010 Census, this city had a population of 10,530. Fredericksburg was founded in 1846 and named after Prince Frederick of Prussia. O ...

. He was trained as a cabinetmaker and gunsmith, and during the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...

once made a gun barrel especially for Robert E. Lee. He was also an inventor: when ammunition became scarce during the Civil War he and silversmith Adolph Lungkwitz developed a process for the manufacture of gun-caps. In 1872, he patented an improvement to a

throttle valve A throttle is the mechanism by which fluid flow is managed by constriction or obstruction. An engine's power can be increased or decreased by the restriction of inlet gases (by the use of a throttle), but usually decreased. The term ''throttle'' ...

stand with John M. Compant, and one of his last inventions was a microscope in the form of a

magic lantern The magic lantern, also known by its Latin name , is an early type of image projector that used pictures—paintings, prints, or photographs—on transparent plates (usually made of glass), one or more lenses, and a light source. Because a si ...

. An amateur botanist, he described the species ''

Hesperaloe engelmannii ''Hesperaloe'' (false yucca) is a genus of flowering plants in the family Asparagaceae, subfamily Agavoideae. It contains perennial yucca-like plants with long, narrow leaves produced in a basal rosette and flowers borne on long panicles or race ...

'' (commonly known as Engelmann's red yucca).

References

1820 births 1881 deaths People from Fredericksburg, Texas German emigrants to the United States 19th-century naturalists People from Bendorf 19th-century American botanists Gunsmiths {{Texas-bio-stub