Richard Hartmann

Richard Hartmann (8 November 1809 – 16 December 1878) was a German engineering manufacturer.

Hartmann was born on 8 November 1809 in Barr, Bas-Rhin, the son of a tawer (Weissgerber, a tanner of white leather). In his Alsace homeland he learnt the trade of a toolmaker (Zeugschmied). In 1828 his years of travel as a journeyman began, ending up in 1832 in Chemnitz, allegedly with only 2 talers in his pocket. In Chemnitz, Hartmann began to work for various factory owners. One of his employers was Carl Gottlieb Haubold, the founder of the Chemnitz Engineering Works (Chemnitzer Maschinenbau). In Haubold's company, Hartmann rose from journeyman to foreman (Akkordmeister). In 1837 he earned became a citizen. That same year he left Haubold's factory and bought an engineering shop with his colleague, Karl Illing, in Annaberger Strasse at the foot of the Kassberg. Here, Hartmann and Illing repaired cotton-spinning machines, together with three journeymen. The business flourished and after a short time it took on the manufacture of complete spinning machines.

In 1839 Hartmann fell out with Illing and founded the firm of "Götze & Hartmann" with August Götze, in which Götze was responsible for the commercial side and Hartmann for the technical aspects. In the same year Hartmann secured the rights to a slubbing frame (a type of wool spinning machine) for 1000 talers from a penniless inventor. This proved to be the beginning of a breakthrough for the company, which at that time numbered about 30 workers. These slubbing frames established Hartmann's reputation as a spinning machine producer beyond the Chemnitz area. In 1840 the growing company, which already had 76 employees, moved to new premises in Gablenz, but just a year later it outgrew those and the firm moved again to Chemnitz's Klostermühle. Its range of products had expanded in the meantime. In 1840 the firm delivered its first steam locomotive. In 1843 Richard Hartmann was awarded a gold medal for a new spinning machine. In 1844 Hartmann moved his company again and found new sheds at what later became Hartmannstrasse. At that time he employed about 350 workers. That year the company also set up its own iron foundry.

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