Josef Madersperger

Josef Madersperger (* October 6 1768 in Kufstein; † October 2 1850 in Vienna) was a tailor. He is one of the inventors of the sewing machine.

Biography

Josef Madersperger was born in 1768 in Kufstein. In 1790 his father and he relocated to Vienna because his parents' house in Tirol burned down. In 1807 he started with the development of the sewing machine, spending all his savings and leisure time. In 1814 he presented his first sewing machine imitating a human hand. Madersperger did not commercialize the 1815 granted privilege which expired after 3 years. Sporadic he tried to merchandised fruits as you could learn from an apply for a concession at the municipality. It is unknown what he did with the business licence. 1823 he was registrated in the Himmelpfortgasse 14 as "former" middle-class taylor.

After several unsuccessful attempts to improve the sewing machine, in 1839 he built a machine imitating the weaving process using the chain stitch. Madersperger was out of money, so he could not set up a factory. He donated the prototype to the k.k. polytechnical institute ( the predecessor of the technical university ). In 1841 he received a bronze medal from the lower Austrias business society. Madersperger died on 2nd of October 1850, staying with his wife for only 3 months in Vienna's almshouse. He is buried in a common grave at the St. Marx Cemetery. Vienna's taylor guild erected a crucifix made of cast iron and is taking care of the grave till today.

In his honour, 1933 a memorial was presented to the public in the Resselpark at Karlsplatz. Streets in Vienna, Linz and Innsbruck got his name. The almshouse was replaced 1950 by a community-subsidized tenement building. A memorial tablet reminds about Madersperger. The lodgers call the building "Madersperger-Hof".

External links

* [http://www.bezirksmuseum.at/Landstrasse/page.asp/2393.htm Bezirksmuseum Landstraße - Josef Madersperger, being a "Landstraßer" against his will ]
* [http://www.your-friend.info/wien/sehenswuerdigkeiten.html#Ressel-Madersperger-Marcus The Madersperger Memorial in Vienna] A Video about 3 unsuccessful inventors of Vienna (the stories about Siegfried Marcus don't claim to be right in a historical sense ).

Persondata
NAME=Madersperger, Josef
ALTERNATIVE NAMES=
SHORT DESCRIPTION=Taylor and one of the inventors of the sewing machine
DATE OF BIRTH=October 6 1768
PLACE OF BIRTH= Kufstein
DATE OF DEATH=October 2 1850
PLACE OF DEATH=Vienna