Carl Richard Nyberg (28 May 1858 – 25 March 1939) was a Swedish inventor and industrialist. Nyberg was a pioneer in mechanical engineering. He received a patent for a blow lamp and was an aviation pioneer.

Biography

Nyberg was born at

Arboga Arboga () is a urban areas of Sweden, locality and the seat of Arboga Municipality in Västmanland County, Sweden with 10,989 inhabitants in 2020. Overview The city of Arboga is known to have existed as a town since the 13th century but the are ...

Västmanland Västmanland ( or ) is a historical Swedish province, or , in middle Sweden. It borders Södermanland, Närke, Värmland, Dalarna and Uppland. Västmanland means "West Man Land" or, less literally, "The Land of the Western Men", where the "we ...

, Sweden. After school he started working for a jeweller and later he moved to

Stockholm Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...

and worked with various metalworks. He later worked for Johan Erik Erikson (1838-1883) at J. E. Eriksons mekaniska verkstad. While working there he had the idea of the

blowtorch A blowtorch, also referred to as a blowlamp, is an ambient air fuel-burning tool used for applying flame and heat to various applications, usually in metalworking, but occasionally for foods like crème brûlée. Description Early blowtorches ...

. He later worked on the idea and created a blowtorch with strong, directed heat and with several safety measures. In 1882 he set up a workshop at Luntmakargatan in Stockholm making blowtorches. However the business didn't work well because it took too long to both manufacture and sell. In 1884 he moved his workshop to Sundbyberg. In 1886, he met Max Sievert (1849–1913) who had founded AB Sieverts Kabelverk in Sundbyberg. Sievert became interested in Nyberg's blowtorch and started selling it. Nyberg started AB Alpha and after encouragement from

Lars Magnus Ericsson Lars Magnus Ericsson (; 5 May 1846 – 17 December 1926) was a Swedish inventor, entrepreneur and founder of telephone equipment manufacturer Ericsson ( incorporated as ''Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson''). Early life Lars Magnus was born i ...

(1846–1926), founder of telephone equipment manufacturer

Ericsson (), commonly known as Ericsson (), is a Swedish multinational networking and telecommunications company headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden. Ericsson has been a major contributor to the development of the telecommunications industry and is one ...

, he started producing

wire file:Sample cross-section of high tension power (pylon) line.jpg, Overhead power cabling. The conductor consists of seven strands of steel (centre, high tensile strength), surrounded by four outer layers of aluminium (high conductivity). Sample d ...

. After Primus started producing blowtorches he also decided to make paraffin oil/kerosene cookers. The first model, called ''Viktoria'', wasn't very successful, but the later ''Svea'' did better. He delivered many to

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

and soon he produced 3000 per week. In 1906 the company was changed into a stock company. He was generous to his workers and often gave them stock in the company. Nyberg worked on many other inventions including steam engines, aeroplanes and boat propellers. He was most known as an aviation pioneer. From 1897 and onward until around 1910, outside his home in

Lidingö Lidingö (), also known in its definite form Lidingön and as Lidingölandet, is an island in the inner Stockholm archipelago, northeast of Stockholm, Sweden. In 2023, the population of the Lidingö urban area on the island was 48,162. It is the ...

he built and tested his

Flugan Flugan (''The Fly'') was an early aeroplane designed and built by Carl Richard Nyberg outside his home in Lidingö, Sweden. Construction started in 1897 and he kept working on it until 1922. The craft only managed a few short jumps and Nyberg w ...

on a circular wood track in his garden and on the ice during the wintertime. He worked with the help of professor Johan Erik Cederblom (1834-1913) at KTH in the development of wing profiles but did not succeed to get Flugan in the air. He also designed and built his own wind tunnel in order to test of small wing models. Flugan had a wingspan of 5 meters, and the surface area of the wings was 13 m². The engine was a steam engine of his own design, with a boiler heated by four of his blowtorches. It produced a maximum of 10 hp (7 kW) at 2000 rpm. The total weight of the plane was 80 kg.

Images

File:Flugan Askrikefjärden.jpg, C.R. Nyberg and his

steam engine A steam engine is a heat engine that performs Work (physics), mechanical work using steam as its working fluid. The steam engine uses the force produced by steam pressure to push a piston back and forth inside a Cylinder (locomotive), cyl ...

driven airplane "Flugan" on the ice of Askrikefjärden north of

, Sweden. File:C R Flugan.jpg, "Flugan" in a different version on the circular wooden track in his garden. File:Täcka udden, Hangar, mars 2020b.jpg, The waterfront hangar at

, erected 1908, where C.R. Nyberg housed ''Flugan'' and now is a listed building. File:Täcka udden, Villa Nyberg, mars 2020a.jpg, C.R. Nyberg's villa at Täcka Udden, Lidingö, 2020.

References

Bibliography

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Nyberg, Carl Richard 1858 births 1939 deaths People from Arboga Municipality 19th-century Swedish inventors Aviation pioneers Swedish industrialists Swedish company founders 19th-century Swedish businesspeople