WERNDL, Joseph

As a founder of Steyr company, which heavily marked the development of the city Steyr in the 19th and 20th century, W. is considered one of the most important Austrian entrepreneur of the second half of the 19th century. He was born as the second of sixteen children to Leopold and Josefa Anna W., who managed the weapon components factory in Steyr town. W. were considered an old blacksmith family. Only ten years before the birth of Joseph his father had transformed a former tool manufacturing into a company for weapon parts. After sixteen years of schooling in Steyr W. first learnt the profession of a gunsmith in Vienna and later also gained skills in manufacturing files. Constant conflicts with his father due to different working methods and ideas for modernization resulted in him leaving home for it seemed that any further cooperation between them was no longer possible. Extensive travels brought him to Prague and Thüringen. While volunteering and serving in the army, he was able to work in the imperial armament plant in Vienna, where he expanded his expertise. During a trip to England and America (1852/53?) he is believed to have met the most modern machinery for producing weapons. However, each of these experiences further alienated him from his conservative father, who refused any modernization of the plant. In 1854 he finally settled in Steyr and set up his own grindery. The sudden death of his father in 1855 was the cause for a decisive turning point in his life. W. took over the family business, which he for some amount of time managed together with his mother. In 1863 (from May to August) he once again made the trip to North America, visiting the centres of firearms industry (Hartfield / Connecticut and the Springfield / Massachusetts). His traveling companion was a foreman Karl Holub, who remained in the U.S. for a longer period and organized the purchase of many special machine tools. On this technical basis W. in 1864 together with his younger brother founded the company "Josef und Franz W. & Comp., Waffenfabrik und Sägewerk" and transformed the family business into the" Österreichische Waffenfabriks-Aktiengesellschaft " (Austrian Arms Manufacturing Co.), the ancestor of Steyr-Werke company, where he worked as a managing director until his death. By purchasing the modern machinery, completely reorganizing the plant and switching to manufacturing the whole arms rather than just parts and acquiring major facilities in Wehrgrabn, he managed to extend the family plant into the largest defense company in the monarchy in only a decade.
In the mid 1860s W., along with Karl Holub developed a new type of weapon, breech loaded, which became known as "Werndl-Gewehr", whose main features were easy use, fast shooting, and particularly very useful unique "tabernacle gun lock". Losing the war against Prussia in 1866, clearly demonstrated the advantage of Prussian arms, where the bullet is inserted at the rear of the barrel while the Austrian arms had the bullet inserted in the front. That was the main reason for the new armament of the Austrian army with more modern weapons. Leaders in the Army chose the new "Werndl-Gewehr". A contract for modification of 80.000 pieces of old front-loading rifles to a breech-loading rifles was shortly followed by the next order of 250.000 rifles, as well as orders from abroad (including non-European). This served as the basis for one of the largest weapons factories in Europe. W. tried to stand up to the economic stagnation in the production of weapons, which appeared at the beginning of the 1880s, by introducing new products such as lamps, dynamos and motors. In 1884 he opened "The first exhibition of electricity" in Steyr. New magazine rifle, developed by Josef → Mannlicher in the mid 1880s, led to the rearmament of the Austrian army, which again increased production of W.’s company. When he died in 1889, the company employed 9000 workers. W. parents’ plant, which employed 450 workers, grew into a large company of international standing under his leadership. In 1853 W. married Caroline Heindl, a daughter of a renowned entrepreneur, who dealt with the knife manufacturing. In 1880 he became honorary citizen of his native city Steyr. The same year he was honored with the award of the 3rd class of the order of the Iron Crown, which was the basis for a recipient to be eligible for rising to the nobility. Yet he decided not to ask for that honor. W’s private life could not boast with success in business life. On the contrary, he had to endure many fate strikes. Before his sudden death at the age of 58, he lost his wife and four of his six children. After his death his two surviving daughters were risen to nobility and given the title "born von Werndl". In 1894, five years after his death, a monument, designed by Viktor Osakr Tilgner was set on the promenade in Steyr in his honor.