Georg Sigl (13 January 1811,

Breitenfurt bei Wien Breitenfurt bei Wien (Central Bavarian: ''Braadnfuat bei Wean'') is a town in the district of Mödling in the Austrian state of Lower Austria. Geography Breitenfurt lies in the Vienna woods directly abutting the city of Vienna on the southwest in ...

- 9 May 1887,

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

) was an Austrian

mechanical engineer Mechanical may refer to: Machine * Machine (mechanical), a system of mechanisms that shape the actuator input to achieve a specific application of output forces and movement * Mechanical calculator, a device used to perform the basic operations of ...

and entrepreneur.

Life

Sigl studied to be a locksmith, but later moved to Berlin where, in 1844, he established a small factory for the construction of printing presses. In 1846, he founded a second factory in Vienna. In 1851, he moved the company to Währinger Straße (then on the outskirts of the city), where he manufactured

steam locomotive A steam locomotive is a locomotive that provides the force to move itself and other vehicles by means of the expansion of steam. It is fuelled by burning combustible material (usually coal, oil or, rarely, wood) to heat water in the locomot ...

s. In the early 1870s, he produced the first compaction-free,

two-stroke A two-stroke (or two-stroke cycle) engine is a type of internal combustion engine that completes a Thermodynamic power cycle, power cycle with two strokes (up and down movements) of the piston during one power cycle, this power cycle being comple ...

locomotive engines, designed by automotive pioneer

Siegfried Marcus Siegfried Samuel Marcus (; 18 September 1831 – 1 July 1898) was a German inventor. Marcus was born of Jewish descent in Malchin, in the Grand Duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin. He made the first petrol-powered vehicle in 1864, while living ...

. In 1861, he leased the

Wiener Neustädter Lokomotivfabrik The ''Wiener Neustädter Lokomotivfabrik'' (Wiener Neustadt locomotive factory) was the largest locomotive and engineering factory in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. During World War II the company produced armaments as part of Rax-Werk Ges.mbH ...

from the

Creditanstalt The Creditanstalt (sometimes Credit-Anstalt, abbreviated as CA), full original name k. k. priv. Österreichische Credit-Anstalt für Handel und Gewerbe (), was a major Austrian bank, founded in 1855 in Vienna. From its founding until 1931, th ...

and, by 1867, was its owner. It became the largest factory of its kind in the Empire and, by 1870, had produced its 1000th locomotive. In addition to the locomotive trade, his factories also produced

oil press Expeller pressing (also called oil pressing) is a mechanical method for extracting oil from raw materials. The raw materials are squeezed under high pressure in a single step. When used for the extraction of food oils, typical raw materials are ...

es, marine engines, architectural support structures and equipment for amusement park rides. In 1872, he introduced the "Straßenlokomotive" (road locomotive), that looked like a steam roller and was put to use as a

tow truck A tow truck (also called a wrecker, a breakdown truck, recovery vehicle or a breakdown lorry) is a truck used to move disabled, improperly parked, impounded, or otherwise indisposed motor vehicles. This may involve recovering a vehicle damaged ...

. During the

Panic of 1873 The Panic of 1873 was a financial crisis that triggered an economic depression in Europe and North America that lasted from 1873 to 1877 or 1879 in France and in Britain. In Britain, the Panic started two decades of stagnation known as the "Lon ...

, Sigl lost all of his holdings except his original Vienna factory. The Wiener Neustädter Lokomotivfabrik became a

public company A public company is a company whose ownership is organized via shares of stock which are intended to be freely traded on a stock exchange or in over-the-counter markets. A public (publicly traded) company can be listed on a stock exchange (l ...

Honors

* On 11 February 1870, he became an Honorary Citizen of Vienna. * In 1888, a street in

Alsergrund Alsergrund (; Central Bavarian: ''Oisagrund'') is the ninth district of Vienna, Austria (german: 9. Bezirk, Alsergrund). It is located just north of the first, central district, Innere Stadt. Alsergrund was incorporated in 1862, with seven suburbs. ...

was renamed the ''Georg-Sigl-Gasse''. * In 2011, the

Österreichische Post Österreichische Post is the company responsible for postal service in Austria. This company was established in 1999 after its split-off from the mail corporate division of the former state-owned PTT agency Post- und Telegraphenverwaltung ( de ...

issued a

commemorative stamp A commemorative stamp is a postage stamp, often issued on a significant date such as an anniversary, to honor or commemorate a place, event, person, or object. The ''subject'' of the commemorative stamp is usually spelled out in print, unlike def ...

for his 200th birthday.Personalisierte Briefmarken
auf Bahn-Austria; retrieved, 28 October 2012

References

Sources

Karl Gölsdorf Karl Gölsdorf (8 June 1861 – 18 March 1916) was an Austrian engineer and locomotive designer. Early life Karl Gölsdorf was born on 8 June 1861 in Vienna, the son of Louis Adolf Gölsdorf. Even as a schoolboy he was introduced to locomotive ...

: ''Lokomotivbau in Alt-Österreich. 1837–1918.'' Verlag Slezak, Wien 1978, (''Schriftenreihe internationales Archiv für Lokomotivgeschichte'' 26). * * Dietmar Hübsch u. a.: ''Georg Sigl und seine Gasse in Wien-Alsergrund.'' Festschrift vom 120. Todesjahr. Bezirksmuseum Alsergrund, Wien 2007, .

External links

History of Breitenfurt: biography of Sigl
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sigl, Georg 1811 births 1887 deaths Austrian industrialists People from Mödling District Wiener Neustädter Lokomotivfabrik