Ole Gabriel Gabrielsen Kverneland (29 May 1854 – 11 May 1941) was a Norwegian

plough A plough or plow ( US; both ) is a farm tool for loosening or turning the soil before sowing seed or planting. Ploughs were traditionally drawn by oxen and horses, but in modern farms are drawn by tractors. A plough may have a wooden, iron or ...

smith and factory owner. He was the founder of the

Kverneland Group Kverneland Group is an international company developing, producing and distributing agricultural implements, electronic solutions and digital services to the farming community.

Personal life

Kverneland was born at

Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...

Rogaland Rogaland () is a Counties of Norway, county in Western Norway, bordering the North Sea to the west and the counties of Vestland to the north, Vestfold og Telemark to the east and Agder to the east and southeast. In 2020, it had a population of 47 ...

, Norway. He was a son of farmer and blacksmith Gabriel Olsen Kverneland and Marta Bore. He was the second youngest among twelve siblings. He married Serina Larsdatter Skjelset in 1876; she died in 1879. In 1880 he married Anna Malena Aadnesdatter Aasland.

Career

After primary school, Kverneland attended Adolph Budde's agricultural school in

Austrått Austrått or Austrått Manor ( no, Austråttborgen) is a manor in Ørland municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. Since the 10th century, Austrått has been the residence for many noblemen, noblewomen, and officials who played a significant rol ...

in the parish of

Høyland Høyland is a List of former municipalities of Norway, former municipality in Rogaland county, Norway. The municipality was located at the innermost end of the Gandsfjorden in the western part of the present-day municipality of Sandnes. The munic ...

during 1870. In 1874 he received a traveling grant, and visited

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark ...

and

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

, in addition to travels in Norway. He was particularly impressed and inspired by an automatic hammer installed in a factory at

Eskilstuna Eskilstuna () is a city and the seat of Eskilstuna Municipality, Södermanland County, Sweden. The city of Eskilstuna had 67,359 inhabitants in 2015, with a total population of 100,092 inhabitants in Eskilstuna municipality (2014). Eskilstuna has ...

Södermanland Södermanland ( or ), locally Sörmland, sometimes referred to under its Latin form ''Sudermannia'' or ''Sudermania'', is a historical province or ''landskap'' on the south eastern coast of Sweden. It borders Östergötland, Närke, Västmanla ...

County, Sweden . He established the factory Kverneland Fabrikk in 1879 in the village of

Kvernaland The larger Kvernaland area is an amalgamation of villages in Rogaland county, Norway. The village is located along the north end of the lake Frøylandsvatnet. The village is located in both the municipalities of Klepp and Time (and a very small ...

in Time . The factory was located at Frøyland near the lake of Frøylandsvatnet, and utilized waterfalls from Frøylandsåna. The main products from the factory were

scythe A scythe ( ) is an agricultural hand tool for mowing grass or harvesting crops. It is historically used to cut down or reap edible grains, before the process of threshing. The scythe has been largely replaced by horse-drawn and then tractor m ...

sickle A sickle, bagging hook, reaping-hook or grasshook is a single-handed agricultural tool designed with variously curved blades and typically used for harvesting, or reaping, grain crops or cutting succulent forage chiefly for feeding livestock, ei ...

s and

s. The

Jæren Line The Jæren Line ( no, Jærbanen) long railway line between Stavanger and Egersund in Jæren, Norway. The name is no longer in official use and the section is regarded as the westernmost part of the Sørlandet Line. Owned by the Norwegian Rail ...

had opened in 1878, the year before the startup of the factory, and boats were used to cross Frøylandsvatnet to reach

Klepp stasjon Klepp Stasjon is a village in Klepp municipality in Rogaland county, Norway. The village is located on the shore of the lake Frøylandsvatnet, about east of the village of Kleppe and about southwest of the village of Orstad. The village is ...

, the village that developed around the railway station. In addition to running the factory, Kverneland was also responsible for the local post office. From around 1905 the company gradually expanded in size, and in the 1920s it was the largest manufacturer of ploughs in Norway. The

Kverneland Group Kverneland Group is an international company developing, producing and distributing agricultural implements, electronic solutions and digital services to the farming community.

eventually developed to be among the world leading manufacturing companies of agriculture equipment to the farming community. Kverneland participated in local politics and development. He was elected to the

municipal council A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, rural counci ...

of Time, and was a co-founder of the local savings bank, ''Time sparebank''. He was chairman of the construction committee for the local electricity supply, and chaired ''Jæderens Skogplantingsselskap''. He was decorated Knight, First Class of the Order of St. Olav in 1938.

References

External links

Kverneland Group website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kverneland, Ole Gabriel 1854 births 1941 deaths People from Time, Norway Blacksmiths Norwegian company founders Norwegian industrialists