Alfred Graf von Soden-Fraunhofen
Soden was born in Neufraunhofen on 21 November 1875. After high school and military service, he studied law, graduating in 1898. Deeply rooted in the old Bavarian nobility, Soden was by no means destined to take up a technical career. However, overcoming his parents' initial opposition, he pursued a second degree in mechanical engineering at the Technical University in Munich in 1902.
Alfred Graf von Soden-Fraunhofen
Soden started his working life in the testing department at Daimler Motoren Gesellschaft in Stuttgart, initially as a general assistant in the railway department, and later in the automobile department.
In 1906, he developed a diesel engine with a former student colleague. He submitted the design to Maschinenfabrik Augsburg-Nürnberg, and from 1908 continued work on what was now termed the Vogel engine for MAN in Nuremberg. The development was complete, except for the injection pump. On private trips to Lake Constance, Soden met Graf Zeppelin and learned about his ground-breaking inventions.
In 1910, Count Zeppelin offered Soden a position as manager of a new testing department that he was setting up in an airship manufacturing company. Soden accepted and started working on engines, transmissions and propellers. The continuously growing power requirements for airship engines required improved transmissions. High levels of vibration and noise in the drive transmission were clear indicators that the available bevel gears were inadequate. In 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 milling the steel, Maag used a toothed rack with a cutting edge that precisely rolled the machined gearwheel as though it were engaging in another gear.
Maag also developed a new 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 Max Maag's company in Zurich regarding the purchase of machine tools for the production of gearwheels. This idea was to set up an independent gearwheel factory in Friedrichshafen. This laid the foundation for ZF. Count Soden and Theodor Winz were appointed as first directors and in 1921, Soden became technical director. He managed the company for 30 years, until his death in 1944.
