Louis Gathmann

Louis Gathmann (August 11, 1843 - 1917), engineer and an inventor, started his career designing equipment for mills and farms and is notable for holding numerous patents. By the 1880s Louis's patents were in such demand that he had to form a company to help track and produce his designs. This company, known as Garden City, made milling machines[?] which were sold all over the globe.

Louis was born in Hannover, Prussia. He moved to America in 1864, and went to Chicago in 1865 where he lived up through his death.

By the 1880s Louis had made enough money to have his family moved to America from Prussia. He also had four mansions built, two in Chicago, one in Washington DC, and one in Baltimore.

Louis was very interested in astronomy and had three observatories built in the Chicago area during the 1880s, one of which was a tower which he had installed on the side of his mansion on Lincoln Ave. In the 1890s Louis had invented a "Sectional Telescope Lens".

From the 1890s on, Louis invented several weapons of massive destruction, including the gun that Krupp based their Big Berthas[?] on. Another famous gun designed by Louis Gathmann was the Gathmann Gun, which was a 18-inch coastal defense gun manufactored by Bethlehem Steel[?] under Emil Gathmann (head of Bethlehem Steel's Ordnance Section, and one of Louis's sons). The gun was tested at Sandy Hook[?], and was abandoned because of its cost, and it was impractical.

When Louis died in June of 1917 he held more patents then any other person alive at that time, and his death was mentioned in papers all over the globe, from the Chicago Tribune, to the New York Times and the Washington Post.

Louis was mentioned in the "Who's Who[?]" and "Who Was Who[?]" books up through the 1960s.

Sources: Gathmann History, http://gathmannpast.tripod.com