نمایشگاه چرخ خیاطی آزادی

In 1893, Karl Friedrich Gegauf (founder of the Bernina Sewing Machine Factory) constructed the first hemstitching machine in the world.

In the spring of 1890, Karl Friedrich Gegauf moved from Tägerwilen to Steckborn, Switzerland. and in Feldbach Convent established an embroidery shop and a mechanical workshop for the production of a monogram embroidering machine, his own invention. In the embroidering section he had 4-6 machines in operation and up to 10 skilled mechanics were employed in the workshop. But Gegauf was less interested in the operation of the embroidery shop - that served more as a proving ground where his machines could be tried out: his main concern was the development of new machines of all different types.

He worked intensively on the problem of developing a machine for doing hemstitching, which at that time had to be done painstakingly by hand on countless items of laundry. He found an ingenious solution and in 1892 he was granted Swiss Patent No. 4670 for the world's first hemstitch sewing machine. This machine, and the one that he and his son improved later, were to be the main product of the Gegauf works for more than 30 years.

In 1895 the greater part of the convent was destroyed by fire - and with it the embroidery shop and the workshop. Luckily, among the few items that could be saved was the prototype of the hemstitch sewing machine. Immediately after the fire the workshops were re-established in a barn and equipped with more machinery, so that in future more hemstitch machines could be produced, alongside the embroidery machines.

At the turn of the century, about 70 to 80 people were employed in the workshop - it had become a small factory. Karl Friedrich Gegauf was the technical director and his brother Georg looked after the commercial side. The hemstitch machines soon found a wide market and were also being exported. The term "gegaufing" came to be used for the mechanical production of hemstitching. Gegauf's great interest and skill for all kinds of mechanical equipment were evident not only in his inventions and his workshops, which were well equipped for those times.

In the 1890s he astonished the local inhabitants with a pennyfarthing bicycle, and a few years later he was to be seen in his Daimler Benz motor car, with the number plate TG 1, driving through the streets of Steckborn and along the lakeside. He also made use of the car's engine to power a fruit press, and down at the lake, his remarkable boat could be seen with a steam boiler mounted on it to provide the power.

However, the upward trend in the fortunes of the Gegauf brothers' enterprise during the first decade of the twentieth century was to be interrupted by two significant events. Following the outbreak of the World War I, no sewing machines could be exported to foreign customers, which meant that the company had to find other more suitable articles to manufacture. And then in 1917, in the middle of a very difficult period, Georg Gegauf died as the result of an accident. Karl Friedrich decided to continue with his own plans and in 1919 he established new workshops in the "Neue Schloss" in Steckborn, while his late brother's family continued to run operations in the "Grüne Haus", which was also in Steckborn.

Within a few years of the war ending, connections with old customers had been re-established, and contacts with new ones set up, both at home and abroad. Order books filled up, and the production of side-lines — such as thousands of tin-openers — could be discontinued. On 31 March 1919, Karl Friedrich's son Fritz was granted a patent for a new hemstitch sewing machine, and the company's future seemed assured.

However, a development in the textile industry began to pose a threat for the hemstitch sewing machine. Artificial silk had started to establish itself, and rayon jersey and other knitted textiles became fashionable, and these were poorly suited to hemstitching.

At first, it did not look as if the rise of artificial silk would be any disadvantage to the factory in the "Neue Schloss" - quite the contrary in fact. In 1923 an artificial silk factory was set up on the site of the Feldbach Convent, and began production the following year. Karl Friedrich was invited to tour the establishment and soon began to wonder how certain operations that were carried out manually could be mechanised. Among other procedures, the hanks of thread had to be tied up into skeins before they went into the dye-plant, a process known in German as "fitzen". Within a few weeks, drawings had been made for a machine that would carry out this operation. The artificial silk factory showed great interest in this device, and Karl Friedrich began to set up a workshop to produce the so called "fitzmachines". Unfortunately, before the first machine had been assembled, its inventor died. That was on the 13th December, 1926.

His sons Fritz and Gustav continued to run the company, and delivered the first "fitz" machine to the artificial silk factory on 27th July, 1927. The machine proved a success, and orders for more came in, the factory in the "Neue Schloss" soon proving too small deal with production of both the hemstitch sewing machines and the "fitzmachines", which weighed over a ton.

Thus in 1928/29, a new factory came into being on the site of the present-day Bernina works, and operations commenced on 5 April 1929.

But the demand for the "fitz" and reeling machines lasted only a few years, and by 1931 the future did not look good, for in fact an economic crisis had begun on that "Black Friday" in October, 1929.

Demand for hemstitch machines had fallen more and more, and in the course of 1931 new methods of producing artificial silk had made the "fitz" and reeling machines redundant.

Suddenly the new factory in Feldbach had too little work for its skilled labour force and its new machinery. The number of employees had fallen to 35, and even some of these were laid off from time to time.

A new product was urgently needed - but what?

At that time, about 20,000 sewing machines were being imported annually, mainly from England and Germany. Why not produce these in Switzerland? Why not in Steckborn? The company had experience in this specialised area, and a good reputation in the trade. And 20 000 units a year was quite a market.

Bernina administrative building in Steckborn

With the support of Wilhelm Brutsh, a sewing machine specialist who would take over the retail side, Fritz Gegauf decided to go into manufacturing domestic sewing machines; he would build a robust, solid, simple model; not in huge quantities, but a Swiss quality product that would be able to stand comparison with the well-known names already on the market.

As the future would show, this decision proved to be of tremendous significance for the company, and indeed for the whole region, but it would hardly have led to the success that it eventually brought about had it not been for the energy, the farsightedness and the tireless creativity of Fritz Gegauf.