Robert Bosch,
Pioneer of Internal Combustion Engines and Electrical
Manufacturer
by
Frederik Nebeker
In the late 1800s, the idea of an
internal combustion engine must have seemed wacky to steam engine
designers. The power from steam engines came mainly
from the condensation of steam, creating a partial vacuum within
a cylinder and causing atmospheric pressure to propel a piston
inward. The fire that produced the steam occurred outside the
cylinders, so steam engines were external combustion engines. In
the new type of engine, the fire occurred, surprisingly, within
the cylinders, meaning that fuel and air had to be brought
into a cylinder, the gaseous mixture had to be ignited, and the
waste products had to be removed before the cycle could start
again. Devising a means of igniting the fuel-and-air mixture
within the cylinder was the greatest technological challenge.
The most famous contributor to its achievement was Robert August
Bosch.
Bosch was born on 23 September
1861, in Albeck, near Ulm in the independent state of
Württemberg, which ten years later became part of the newly
unified Germany. He trained as a mechanical engineer and then
increased his knowledge and skills by working for a series of
leading electrical manufacturers in several countries — for
Sigmund Schuckert in Nürnberg, for Thomas Edison and Sigmund
Bergmann in the United States, and for the Siemens Brothers
company in England. He returned to Germany, and in 1886 set up
his own company in Stuttgart to produce a variety of electrical
equipment. The company struggled through its early years, but
achieved prosperity in the late 1890s, principally as the result
of two new products for combustion engines. Bosch developed an
electrical generator, a magneto, for such engines, and his
employee Gottlob Honold invented a spark plug to ignite the
fuel-and-air mixture in the cylinders. These two products became
the mainstay of the Bosch company and earned it worldwide success.
In 1914, before war broke out, the company had 4,700 employees
and 88 percent of its production was exported.
Bosch spark-plug ad from 1914
The Bosch company developed many
other devices for automobiles, such as headlamps, windshield
wipers, horns and oil pumps. Bosch worked to diversify the
company. Beginning in the late 1920s, it began producing home
appliances, and it enjoyed considerable success with its refrigerators in
the 1930s. Other new product lines included radios, power tools and
hydraulic systems.
Bosch espoused progressive social
views, favoring free trade and arbitration for labor disputes.
In 1906, he instituted an eight-hour working day. With the wealth his company
generated, he became a leading philanthropist. In the 1930s,
Bosch came into conflict with the National Socialists. He
died on 9 March 1942 of complications from an ear infection, in
the midst of a war he opposed.
Since that time, engineers
at the Bosch company have continued to develop important new
technologies, such as fuel-injection systems and antilock
braking systems. Today the Bosch Group consists of three main
divisions — automotive technology, industrial technology, and
consumer goods and building technology — and has facilities in
140 countries. In 2005, the company produced sales of 41.5 billion euros.
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