Hans Hörbiger

Han(n)s Hörbiger (29 November 1860 – 11 October 1931) was an Austrian engineer from Vienna with roots in the Tyrol. He took part in the construction of the Budapest subway and in 1894 invented a new type of valve essential for compressors still in widespread use today.

Early life

Hanns Hörbiger was born in Atzgersdorf, a suburb of Vienna and studied engineering at the local Technical College.

In 1894 Hörbiger had an idea for a new design of blast furnace blowing engine: he replaced the old and easily-damaged leather flap valves with a steel valve. Opening and closing automatically, and light and frictionless guided, the disk valve eliminated all the drawbacks of previous valve designs.

Hörbiger registered a patent for his invention, which smoothed the way for efficient steel production and greater productivity in mining. High-pressure chemistry and the global network of gas exchange – none of these would be possible without the Hörbiger Valve.

In 1900, Hanns Hörbiger and the engineer Friedrich Wilhelm Rogler founded an engineer’s office in Budapest, which was moved to Vienna in 1903. By 1925 it had developed into the Hörbiger & Co. company. Alfred Hörbiger, one of Hörbiger’s sons, joined the company in 1925 and assumed the management, while Hanns Hörbiger devoted himself to scientific study until his death in 1931.

The company developed rapidly under Alfred Hörbiger’s management: a production facility was taken into service in Vienna and an affiliated company was set up in Düsseldorf. Hörbiger expanded into England and concluded numerous licensing agreements with leading manufacturers of piston blowers, compressors and ships’ Diesel engines in Europe and North America.

The success was driven by originality and inventive genius. The disk valve became more sophisticated: Hörbiger developed highlift or high-pressure valves, compressor control systems and damper plates. By 1937, 98 percent of production was destined for export. The name Hörbiger had become a dependable trademark in valve and control technology for compressors.

Hörbiger also devised the pseudoscientific "Welteislehre" ("World Ice") theory, putting forward the idea in his 1913 book "Glazial Kosmologie" written in collaboration with anateur astronomer Philipp Fauth. Hörbiger's theories were popularized in the middle of the 20th century by the writings of H.S. Bellamy. The book later served as inspiration for an SS-Ahnenerbe-institute headed by Hans Robert Scultetus.

Two of Hörbiger's sons, Paul and Attila, were matineé idols in the interwar years, and Paul Hoerbiger's daughter Mavie Hörbiger also went on to become a celebrated actress. His two other sons devoted themselves to promoting their father's theory.

Honors

The Deslandres crater on the moon was named "Hörbiger" for him, until it was renamed under 1942 conventions.