Torine Charlotta Torines, née ''Torissen'' (11 April 1876 in

Linköping Linköping () is a city in southern Sweden, with around 105,000 inhabitants as of 2021. It is the seat of Linköping Municipality and the capital of Östergötland County. Linköping is also the episcopal see of the Diocese of Linköping (Church ...

– 5 July 1944 in

Stockholm Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...

), was a Swedish

mechanic A mechanic is an artisan, skilled tradesperson, or technician who uses tools to build, maintain, or repair machinery, especially cars. Duties Most mechanics specialize in a particular field, such as auto body mechanics, air conditioning and r ...

, known in contemporary Sweden as "The only female mechanic in Scandinavia" and "Doctor of the

Sewing machine A sewing machine is a machine used to sew fabric and materials together with thread. Sewing machines were invented during the first Industrial Revolution to decrease the amount of manual sewing work performed in clothing companies. Since the inv ...

s".Du Rietz, Anita, Kvinnors entreprenörskap: under 400 år, 1. uppl., Dialogos, Stockholm, 2013

Life

Torine Torines's parents managed the Torine's sewing machine's shop. She herself opened her own business as a mechanic in 1891 at the age of fifteen, with her mother as accountant. The sewing machine had been introduced to Sweden in the 1850s and was from the 1860s onward so common that it was fully possible for her to support herself by repairing sewing machines. In the late 19th-century, female mechanics were uncommon enough for her to be famed as such, and she was quite possibly the first professional female mechanic in her country. She was very successful and worked as a sewing machine's mechanic for 45 years, until she left the business to her children in 1936.

Legacy

Torinetäppan, a park in

Södermalm Södermalm, often shortened to just Söder, is a district and island in central Stockholm. Overview The district covers the large island of the same name (formerly called ''Åsön''). Although Södermalm usually is considered an island, wat ...

in Stockholm, was named after her in 1989.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Torines, Torine 19th-century Swedish businesspeople 1876 births 1944 deaths Swedish women engineers Swedish mechanical engineers 19th-century women engineers 19th-century Swedish engineers 19th-century Swedish businesswomen 20th-century Swedish women engineers 20th-century Swedish engineers