Christian Weiland (1810-1879)
On 28 June 1841, the first newspaper advertisement by the joiner Christian Weiland appeared in the Wiener Zeitung.
He recommends himself with all kinds of joinery tools made of well-dried wood and plane irons plated (laminated) with English cast steel. His address is neue Wieden, Wehrgasse 855.
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On January 23, 1854, Weiland received a privilege on an "improvement of the double plane" and another on the "improvement in the production of wood screw cutting tools" for one year. Both were extended for one year in 1855, but in 1856 Weiland let them expire.
In February 1854 he placed some very informative advertisements in the Wiener Zeitung with descriptions of the two privileges. That of the double plane is a little diffuse. In my reading, it is about an adjustable plane mouth with two adjusting screws, similar to the way it was used decades later by Georg Ott (Ulmia) for the “Reformhobel”. Weiss & Sohn and Johann Horak (in Prague) offered almost identical "adjustable double planes" in the 1860s. Since neither Weiss nor Horak registered a privilege on this construction, I assume that it was Weiland's (see also here).
The second privilege is a cast-iron cutting tap for wooden threads.
In addition, Christian Weiland describes two other inventions of his own, for which, however, there are no corresponding privileges. First of all, an adjustable centre drill, similar to the models already known from England, and secondly he talks about workbenches, which could be combined with foot-driven machines, such as circular saws or miter saws.
Weiland also mentions the production of finished mouldings for furniture production, as well as the production of machines for the making of such mouldings.
In May 1856, Christian Weiland acquired another privilege on the production of various joinery tools such as drills, screw clamps, planes and workbench components made of cast steel, which he voluntarily returned in March 1857.
Weiland's wife Josefa died on 19 January 1857 at the age of 54.
A third series of advertisements was published in December 1866 in the Wiener Fremden-Blatt. Rather unusual is the indication of sales prices in a newspaper advertisement.
The address has changed due to a renumbering in 1862 to Wehrgasse No. 16, Margarethen.
A rather tragi-comic anecdote occurred in 1869, when the young joiner Christian Weiland (probably the son of the tool manufacturer of the same name) wanted to drown himself because he felt world-weary and lovesick. But he picked out a place where the water wasn’t deep enough and failed miserably. He was placed under surveillance for "signs of insanity." The report appeared in several daily newspapers.
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On July 19, 1879, Christian Weiland died of pneumonia at the age of 69.
