Josef Ressel

Who was Josef Ressel?

Joseph Ludwig Franz Ressel was an a German Bohemian forester and inventor who designed one of the first working ship's propellers.

Ressel was born in Chrudim, Bohemia. His father Anton Herrmann Ressel was a native German speaker, while his mother Marie Anna Konvičková was a native Czech. He studied in the Linz Gymnasium, České Budějovice artillery school, University of Vienna and the Mariabrunn Forestry Academy at Mariabrunn Monastery near Vienna.

He worked for the Austrian government as a forester in the more southern parts of the monarchy, including in Motovun, Istria. His work was to secure a supply of quality wood for the Navy. He worked in Landstrass, where he tested his ship propellers for the first time. In 1821 he was transferred to Trieste, the biggest port of the Austrian Empire, where his tests were successful. He was awarded a propeller patent in 1827. He modified a steam-powered boat Civetta by 1829 and test-drove it in the Trieste harbor at six knots before the steam conduits exploded. Because of this misfortune, the police banned further testing. The explosion was not caused by the tested propeller as many believed at the time.