engineering

Georg Krauß

Georg Krauß is a engineering topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Georg Krauß rather than just read about it. In short: Georg Krauß, from 1905 Ritter von Krauß (25 December 1826 – 5 November 1906) was a German industrialist and the founder of the Krauss Locomotive Works (Locomotivfabrik Krauß & Comp.) in Munich, Germany and Linz, Upper Austria. The spelling of the company name was later changed from Krauß to Krauss, once the form of the name in capital letters on the company's emblems had become established.

Key takeaways

Georg Krauß belongs to engineering; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Georg Krauß to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Georg Krauß from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Georg Krauß, from 1905 Ritter von Krauß (25 December 1826 – 5 November 1906) was a German industrialist and the founder of the Krauss Locomotive Works (Locomotivfabrik Krauß & Comp.) in Munich, Germany and Linz, Upper Austria. The spelling of the company name was later changed from Krauß to Krauss, once the form of the name in capital letters on the company's emblems had become established.

Early beginnings

Krauß was born in Augsburg as the eldest child of four, to master weaver, Johann Georg Friedrich Krauß and his wife Anna Margarethe, née Stahl. After attending primary school, he went to the Royal Polytechnic School, founded in 1833 (today Augsburg High School). After completing his education, he worked temporarily in the Maffei Locomotive Works in Munich, then for the Royal Bavarian State Railways (Königlich Bayerische Staatsbahn) in Hof, Germany, Kempten and Lindau. A decisive step in his development was his job as a master machinist with the Northeast Railway (Nordostbahn) in Zurich, where he built his first four locomotives. From then on, he was already preparing for the founding of his factory in Munich. Despite opposition from a powerful figure in the industry, Joseph Anton von Maffei, the factory was founded in Munich-Neuhausen on 17 July 1866, and additional factories were opened in 1872 and 1880, to avoid import taxes of the Danube monarchy, and expand the business. A locomotive built by Krauss, the "Degen und Wiegand KARL" (serial number 2062), was constructed in 1888. Degen und Wiegand were a construction company in Kiel. The locomotive was sold to and used by various construction companies, including Hermann Bachstein. It was also used for rail services on the Sued Harz Eisenbahn. The Centrale Limburgsche Spoorweg (CLS) obtained the locomotive through purchase in 1916. It remained in service until 1921 and was scrapped in 1923.

Further Successes In addition to locomotives, Krauß also supported other technological developments, such as Linde's first refrigerators. He took part in the expansion of railway lines in the Saxony, Thuringia and Alsace, in the conversion of the horse-drawn tramways to steam operations in Munich and Vienna, the building of the Chiemsee Railway and the establishment of the Lokalbahn AG. In 1876, he was one of the founders of the VDI, an association for German engineers, and in 1903, he donated 100,000 marks and the repurchase of his first locomotive, 'Landwührden,' to help create the Deutsches Museum.

Twists of Fate In 1876, Krauß lost his first wife, Lydia, and in 1885 his only son, Conrad, died in an accident. After these losses, Krauß stepped back from active management of his company, transforming it into a public limited company.

Honours As early as 1880, he was awarded the Knight's Cross 1st Class of the Grand Duchy of Saxony-Weimar, as well as the title of Royal Bavarian Industrialist (Königlich bayerischer Kommerzienrat) from King Ludwig II of Bavaria for his services.

A Life with Foresight In 1905, Krauß decided to move the location of the factory from the crowded town centre out to Allach, from where its successor organisation still operates today. He did not live to see the technical completion of the Deutsches Museum or the move to Allach. On 5 November 1906, the manufacturer Georg von Krauß died shortly before his 80th birthday in Munich. His friend and one of his first co-workers, Carl von Linde, took over the chair of the board. His factory made 7,186 locomotives from 1866 until its merger with the bankrupt Maffei locomotive works in 1931.

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Georg Krauß

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Georg Krauß claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In engineering, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Georg Krauß before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Georg Krauß ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Georg Krauß

In research: Georg Krauß appears in engineering research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Georg Krauß in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Georg Krauß is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1826 births, 1906 deaths, 19th-century German businesspeople, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Georg Krauß outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Georg Krauß in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Georg Krauß means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Georg Krauß out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Georg Krauß in simple terms?

Why does Georg Krauß matter?

Because it connects several engineering ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Georg Krauß?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Georg Krauß.