Emil Julius Carl Kessler (20 August 1813 - 16 March 1867) was a German businessman and founder of the

Maschinenfabrik Esslingen Maschinenfabrik Esslingen (ME), was a German engineering firm that manufactured locomotives, tramways, railway wagons, roll-blocks, technical equipment for the railways, (turntables and traversers), bridges, steel structures, pumps and boiler ...

('Esslingen Engineering Works').

Biography

Kessler was born in

Baden-Baden Baden-Baden () is a spa town in the state of Baden-Württemberg, south-western Germany, at the north-western border of the Black Forest mountain range on the small river Oos, ten kilometres (six miles) east of the Rhine, the border with Fra ...

, attended school there and later studied constructional and mechanical engineering in

Karlsruhe Karlsruhe ( , , ; South Franconian: ''Kallsruh'') is the third-largest city of the German state (''Land'') of Baden-Württemberg after its capital of Stuttgart and Mannheim, and the 22nd-largest city in the nation, with 308,436 inhabitants. ...

. In 1837 he founded an engineering works with Theodor Martiensen in Karlsruhe, where tools, small machines and railway equipment were manufactured. In 1840/1841 the Royal Württemberg Railway Commission tendered for railway construction and the production of rolling stock to pave the way for the

Royal Württemberg State Railways The Royal Württemberg State Railways (''Königlich Württembergische Staats-Eisenbahnen'' or ''K.W.St.E.'') were the state railways of the Kingdom of Württemberg (from 1918 the ''People's State of Württemberg'') between 1843 and 1920. Please ...

(''Königlich Württembergische Staats-Eisenbahnen''). Kessler's bid was successful and in 1841 he built his first steam locomotive, the '' Badenia'' for the

Grand Duchy of Baden State Railway The Grand Duchy of Baden was an independent state in what is now southwestern Germany until the creation of the German Empire in 1871. It had its own state-owned railway company, the Grand Duchy of Baden State Railways (''Großherzoglich Badische ...

(''Großherzoglich Badische Staatsbahn''). From 1842 Kessler was the sole owner of the new firm ''Kesslers Maschinenfabrik'' ('Kessler's Engineering Works'). In 1848 it was converted into a public limited company, but liquidated on 30 October 1851 and acquired in 1852 by the Baden government. One year later he founded a new company under the name of Maschinenbau-Gesellschaft Karlsruhe ('Karlsruhe Engineering Works'), that again took up locomotive building and delivered its first engine in 1854. Because Württemberg also wanted to have its own production facility for the emerging railways, Emil Kessler founded the

that delivered its first engine in 1847. Emil Kessler died on 16 March 1867 in

Esslingen am Neckar Esslingen am Neckar (Swabian: ''Esslenga am Neckor'') is a town in the Stuttgart Region of Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany, seat of the District of Esslingen as well as the largest town in the district. Within Baden-Württemberg it is th ...

from a heart attack.

Literature

* Max Mayer: "Lokomotiven, Wagen und Bergbahnen - Geschichtliche Entwicklung in der Maschinenfabrik Eßlingen seit dem Jahre 1846", VDI-Verlag G.M.B.H. Berlin SW 19, 1924 * Ludwig Keßler: "Aus den Anfängen der Maschinenfabrik Eßlingen. Emil Keßler, sein Leben sein Werk". Erinnerungsschrift zur 125. Wiederkehr des Geburtstags von Emil Keßler, 1938 {{DEFAULTSORT:Kessler, Emil People from Baden-Baden 1813 births 1867 deaths German railway mechanical engineers German railway entrepreneurs German railway pioneers Engineers from Baden-Württemberg