Pakistan Textile Journal. march index

On February 25th 2008, Wilhelm Christ, the long-time head of technological development at THEN Maschinen GmbH, Schwäbisch Hall, was awarded the “Wirtschaftsmedaille des Landes Baden-Württemberg”. This medal of honour is allocated for special professional or entrepreneurial achievements, which have served the economy of the federal German state of Baden-Württemberg. Numerous prominent guests from the worlds of politics and business, as well as from his employers, paid tribute to Wilhelm Christ’s life’s work, which commenced in 1966 when he joined THEN Maschinen GmbH and has continued up to the present day.

Just two years after his arrival at THEN in 1966, Wilhelm Christ developed his first dyeing shop machine, which at the time was already regarded as revolutionary. This was a fully flooded, high-temperature jet dyeing machine, designed primarily for the treatment of synthetic fibres that had recently come onto the market.

New fibres in the textile sector repeatedly demand the development of new machinery. Accordingly, the search for solutions that would save water and energy started as early as the mid-1970s and Wilhelm Christ first developed a partially flooded jet dyeing machine with a horizontal fabric storage chamber and a new type of jet, as well as machines with a round storage chamber, all of which became successfully established in the market.

At the same time, Wilhelm was working intensively on the design of equipment for the yarn dyeing shop and above all, the development of yarn dryers, where he also achieved fundamental breakthroughs.

At the end of the 1970s, a significant jet dyeing machine breakthrough was achieved by means of the use of air instead of water to transport piece goods. Aerodynamic technology as it was called also involved the replacement of the dye bath by an aerosol, a mixture of water and dyestuff, which until then had been used for simultaneous dyeing and transport purposes.

When the first prototype of the AIRFLOW machine was exhibited at the ITMA in Milan, the textile machinery industry’s most important trade fair, the concept met with the derision of customers and competitors alike.

None of them understood that the machine marked the begin of a revolution in discontinuous piece dyeing, for if at the end of the 1960s an average of around 150 litres of water was required to dye 1 kg of fabric, today aerodynamic technology provides the same result with less than 40 litres. At the same time, the processing time involved has been slashed from some 10 hours to less than four. Aerodynamic technology has been the object of continuous further development and remains the foundation for the machines that constitute THEN’s main product.

On May 29, 1986 Wilhelm Christ was awarded the EGON ELÖD PRIZE 1986 by the Association of Textile Chemists and Colourists Verein der Textilchemiker und Coloristen e.V. (VTCC).

Another career highlight came on September 16, 1996 with the presentation of the HENRY E. MILLSON AWARD FOR INVENTION by Frederike Kuper Jones, the president of the AATCC (American Association of Textile Chemists & Colorists).

Wilhelm Christ was unstinting in his efforts and pushed on with his developments with the help of an extended network of experts from every area of the textile industry, including users, the dyestuffs and chemicals manufacturers and national research institutes. A diversity of publications in specialist publications, as well as teamwork in associations and working groups document his innovative strengths.

Wilhelm Christ continues to advise THEN Maschinen GmbH in a consultative capacity and his numerous, recent patent registrations evidence his undiminished creativity.

Wilhelm Christ owes his excellent health to his careful lifestyle and nutritional habits, which partly involve products from his own garden. His limited leisure time has been dedicated to regular games of tennis and in his early years, rowing. Right up to the present, Wilhelm has remained true to his principles and this passion, completing 500 strokes on his home rowing machine almost every day. The prize-winner also finds recuperation during breaks in Upper Bavaria.

It should be noted that more than 30 of the German patents registered in Wilhelm Christ’s name, as well as numerous international patents and his machine developments for THEN Maschinen GmbH, form the foundation of the company’s existence and the securing of employment for its workforce. Wilhelm Christ is known not just for his outstanding technical achievements, but also for his commanding and modest manner.