Sven Wingqvist Facts
Sven Wingqvist Facts
|
| Interesting Sven Wingqvist Facts: |
|---|
| Sven Gustaf Wingqvist was born in Orebro, Sweden, and was the son of the railway station inspector. |
| In 1894 he graduated from Rudbecksskolan (Technical Elementary School) in Orebro. |
| In 1899 he went to work as an engineer at the Gamlestadens Textile plant in goteborg. |
| The factory was plagued with frequent breakdowns due to the unstable ground on which the plant was built. |
| The minor movements caused extra forces on the main drive shafts and broke the bearings. |
| Wingqvist researched various types of bearings and he set up a small workshop within the factory to test various designs and materials. |
| In 1906 he received a patent for his design of a self-aligning ball bearing. |
| In 1907 he founded SKF (Svenska Kullagerfabriken) which was a subsidiary of Gamlestaden Textile. |
| A patent was granted to him in 1907 for a multi-row self-aligning ball bearing. |
| He sent his patent application to 10 other countries and all of them granted him a patent. |
| By 1910 the company had 325 employees and had expanded to other countries. |
| By 1912 the company had representatives in 32 countries. |
| In 1926 Assar Gabrielsson and Bjorn Prytz of SKF founded Volvo. |
| SKF funded the company in the early years and was a partner until 1935. |
| By 1930 SKF employed 21,000 workers in its 12 manufacturing facilities. |
| From 1933 to 1953 Wingqvist was the CEO for SKF. |
| From 1933 to 1938 he was also managing director for Bofors, the Swedish arms manufacturer. |
| Today SKF employs 44,000 people in 70 countries. |
| SKF remains the world leader in the manufacture of high quality ball bearings for a variety of industrial uses. |
|
Related Links: Facts Scientists Facts Animals Facts |