Paul Eisler

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Paul Eisler (1907-1995) was an Austrian inventor born in Vienna. Among his innovations were printing techniques which later became important in electrical and electronics manufacturing.

[edit] Early life and education

He graduated in engineering from Vienna University in 1930. After employment in Belgrade where he installed radios in trains, he returned to Vienna to work as a printer. However, he was forced out of work by the fascists in 1934 and left for England with some of his patents in 1936.

[edit] Inventions

Living in a Hampstead boarding house, without work or a work permit, he began to fabricate a radio using a printed circuit board while trying to sell some of his ideas. Around this time, the Odeon hired him to work on their cinema technology. One of the common problems there was coping with theatre goers who spilled foods such as ice cream on the seats. Eisler devised a yellow fabric to cover affected furniture for the benefit of the next theater goer as well as flag it for removal and cleaning at the next opportunity.

Though he was able to help several members of his family escape Austria, he was subject to internment by the British as an enemy alien after the onset of World War II. After being released, in 1941 he was able to engage a Camberwell lithography company to invest in his printed circuit idea, but forfeited rights to his invention when he neglected to read the contract before signing it. However, he did manage to obtain a printed circuit patent for a wide range of applications in 1943. It drew no interest until the United States incorporated the technology into work on the proximity fuze which was vital to counter the German V-1 flying bomb.

After the war ended, the United States opened access to his printed circuit innovation and since 1948, it has been used in all airborne instrument electronics. Though he founded the company Technograph, he resigned in 1957. Among his projects as a freelancer, were films to heat "floor and wall coverings"^[1] and "fishfingers"^[1a]. The wallpaper idea was viable, but interest waned after the advent of cheaper energy resources with the discovery of natural gas in the North Sea.

Eisler invented many other practical applications of heating technology, such as the pizza warmer and rear window defroster, but was not so successful in their commercialization.