Alois Fröhlich (* 23 September 1897 in Hallein  -  † 13 July 1979 ibid) was a long-time employee of the Hallein saltworks and is remembered by posterity as the inventor and designer of film projectors, with which the Hallein cinema was able to offer regular film screenings for the first time in its early days.

Life

In addition to his “Fröhlich projectors,” he also built the first radio in Hallein and constructed several technically interesting homemade cameras, which can now be found in the collections of the Celtic Museum and the Photo Museum in Bad Ischl.

Alois Fröhlich was born in the Burgfried district and attended elementary and secondary school there. Thanks to his father, Alois Fröhlich senior, a pan master at the Hallein salt works, he was able to start working at the salt works at the age of 14, where he managed to attract attention with technical improvements and worked his way up to become a technical inspector during his 50 years of service until his retirement.

In 1920, he married Elise, née Erlfelder (* May 8, 1897 in Abtenau), a niece of the pastor of Schwendt, Josef Erlfelder (* 1864; † 1946).

His daughter Elise (* October 7, 1921 in Abtenau; † December 23, 1972 in Hallein) was married to Gerhard Ernst Gandy, and then in her second marriage to Ferdinand Moosleitner (* 1903; † 1961).

Fröhlich died on July 13, 1979 in his hometown of Hallein and was laid to rest in the local cemetery in Burgfried.

First Contacts with Technology
Fröhlich probably first encountered cinematography at a very young age. Opportunities for this arose in Hallein from 1909 onwards with the "Original Elektro Biograph," which advertised "first-class screenings" and a "select cosmopolitan program" and showed its screenings in the hall of the "Zur goldenen Kugel" inn, as well as with the "Theater-Kinematograph" by Hallein native Christian Pointl, opened in 1911.

In addition, film screenings were also held at irregular intervals in the city's theater building. However, it was Alois Fröhlich himself who made permanent screenings in the city theater possible by building his own projection machines.

During the First World War, he was deployed as a member of the intelligence service in Bulgaria and, in this capacity, came into contact with various technical equipment. After the war, he continued his education through correspondence courses in the still-young fields of radio, film, photography, and metalworking technology.

The "Fröhlich Projectors"
These devices no longer exist. However, old photographs reveal at least two different, technically sophisticated devices.

One of them – a tabletop projector for 34mm film – consisted of a metal housing with a viewing window and a cooling tube for the lamp. The transport mechanism, lens carrier, and reel holder were arranged separately to keep the highly flammable nitro film away from the hot lamp. A hand crank operated the film via gears. The spool winding worked via a chain drive.

The other of the two known "Fröhlich Projectors" was most likely based on the first model, as indicated by several improvements. For example, the lamp housing and film mechanism were completely separate, and instead of gears, the film was now transported via a hand crank, no longer directly attached to the transport hub, which moved a large flywheel. In addition to improved synchronization, this drive system also made the projector easier and less physically strenuous to operate. At the same time, loop formers, an improved wing aperture and a longer film stage resulted in better tracking, image stability and sharpness.

Due to the lack of documentation, it is no longer possible to determine exactly when Fröhlich built his projectors, and whether he was thus ahead of the technological standards of his time and laid the foundations for further technical development, or simply replicated existing devices. In his essay for the book "100 Years of Film," Christian Strasser assumes "that Fröhlich was inspired by existing devices and countered them with his own projectors." However, it can be proven that the Fröhlich projectors remained in service at the Stadtkino until the mid-1920s. Only after the move to the newly built "Invalidenkino" and Stadttheater (the building was owned by the Invalidenorganisation) in Kufferpark, which opened on December 6, 1925, were they replaced with new "Philips" projectors by the then chief technician Michael Hemm.

Further Works of the Hallein Cinema Pioneer
Together with photographer Ferdinand Koblmüller (* 1892; † 1968), whom he met in 1935, he developed several panoramic cameras and attempted to achieve commercial success by selling panoramic photographs of the city of Salzburg and Hallein. His surviving, technically sophisticated self-made cameras are now owned by the Celtic Museum in Hallein and the Photo Museum in Bad Ischl.

Froehlich also demonstrated his dexterity and inventiveness with a self-built radio – considered the first radio in Hallein –, the construction of his own enlarger, and the manufacture of underwater housings for medium-format cameras. Since he never attempted to mass-produce his inventions/designs, he was unable to derive any financial benefit from them and, like his cameras, fell into obscurity over the years.

Sources
Georg Schwamberger (ed.): Hallein Biographies. In: Halleiner Geschichtsblätter. Vol. 4. Hallein 1985, pp. 37-39.
Christian Strasser: "Hallein Cinema Pioneer Alois Fröhlich and Other Inventors in the Shadow of Great Personalities." In: One Hundred Years of Film. 1895-1995. Salzburg Film and Photo Pioneers. Publication Series of the State Press Office. Salzburg 1994
Martina Swoboda: Salzburg Cinemas in the Mirror of City History. Phil. Dipl., Salzburg 1992, p. 37
References
Marriage Register of the Parish of Abtenau, Volume XII, p. 63.
Marriage Register of the Parish of Abtenau, Volume XI, p. 131.
Baptism Register of the Parish of Abtenau, Volume XIV, p. 161.

The Hallein inventor Alois Fröhlich

Horst Moosleitner Alois Fröhlich (* 23.09.1897  -  † 13.07.1979) survived two world wars. He built various technical devices for companies, private individuals, and for the Hallein salt works, where he was employed for 50 years. As a film and photography pioneer, he also manufactured the projectors for the Hallein cinema. His panoramic cameras for the photographer Koblmüller enabled circular images to be taken, which were offered in Salzburg and on the Grossglockner Road.

Source: .sn.at

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