Founding fathers
Count Alfred von Soden-Fraunhofen
Count von Soden, born on 21 November 1875 in Neufraunhofen, Germany, studied law following his schooling and military service, graduating in 1898. With deep roots in the old Bavarian aristocracy, Soden was hardly predestined for a technical career. Nonetheless, he persisted in the face of initial resistance from his parents, and in 1902 completed a second degree as a mechanical engineer at Munich's Technical University.
Soden began his career in the testing department of the Daimler Motor Company in Stuttgart, at first as a general assistant in the railroad department and later in the automobile department. In 1906, together with a former student colleague, he developed a diesel engine. He submitted the design to the Maschinenfabrik Augsburg-Nürnberg (MAN), and was given the opportunity to work further on what became known as the “Vogelmotor” at MAN in Nuremberg. The development was complete, except for the injection pump. On what was at first a private trip to Lake Constance, Soden met Count Zeppelin and learned about his groundbreaking inventions.
In 1910, Count Zeppelin offered him a position as manager of a yet-to-be-established testing department at his airship factory. Soden accepted and started working on engines, transmissions, and propellers. The continuously growing power requirements of the engines to propel airships necessitated improvements in transmissions. High levels of vibration and noise in the drive transmission clearly showed that the bevel gears then in general use were inadequate. In the spring of 1915, Soden contacted Max Maag in Zurich. Maag had developed a new process for manufacturing high-grade gear wheels. He used a rolling process, enabling manufacture on the basis of mathematically calculated and designed individual tooth systems. Instead of planing and milling the steel as before, Maag used a toothed rack with a cutting edge that precisely rolled the machined gear wheel as though it were engaging in another gear.
Maag also developed his own grinding process to make adjustments after hardening without impairing the involute profile of the teeth. Count Zeppelin then instructed Alfred Colsman, director of Luftschiffbau Zeppelin GmbH, to conduct negotiations with Maag's company regarding the purchase of machine tools for gear wheel production, with the intention of setting up an autonomous gear wheel factory in Friedrichshafen. This laid the foundations for ZF. Count Soden and Theodor Winz were appointed the first directors and in 1921, Soden became technical director. He managed the company for almost 30 years, until his death in 1944.
