Inventor and Entrepreneur in the Swabian Tradition

Alfred Kärcher was one of those inventors-entrepreneurs that Württemberg has brought forth in great numbers since the beginning of industrialisation – illustrious names such as Robert Bosch and Gottlieb Daimler, or Count Zeppelin. They fought to realise their ideas with enormous diligence and commitment.

A former employee sees him in retrospect as follows: “When Alfred Kärcher was in his element, when we were running trials and test, the atmosphere was simply exciting. He just couldn’t be stopped, he had a constant stream of new ideas.”

In the early thirties Alfred Kärcher specialised in the design of industrial submersible heating elements, i.e. in salt smelters which were heated with immersion heaters. After numerous experiments, a hardening furnace for alloys was produced, the so-called “KÄRCHER Salt-Bath Furnace”. 1,200 units were sold up to 1945.

Alfred Kärcher was not to enjoy the fruits of his great invention. The company founder died from a heart attack on 17th September 1959 at the age of 58. He left behind his wife Irene, his nine-year old son Johannes and his three-year daughter Susanne.

Company Premises in Winnenden about 1940
“Heat from Winnenden / A Visit to Alfred KÄRCHER, Makers of Heat Generators” – that was the heading of an article that appeared in the “Rems Valley” magazine in November 1960. The report concludes: “Alfred Kärcher initially specialised almost exclusively in the development, manufacture and distribution of heating systems. The first hot water high-pressure cleaners must also be seen in this context.”