Jakob Christof Rad
Jakub Kryštof Rad, traditionally Anglicised Jacob Christoph Rad (25 March 1799, in Rheinfelden – 13 October 1871, in Vienna), was a Swiss-born physician and industrial manager. He had many other professional activities, was a director of a sugar factory in Datschitz, Bohemia, Austria-Hungary (now Czech Republic) in 1843, and invented the process and associated machinery for cutting large block sugar into manageable uniform pieces. Rad is credited with the invention of sugar cubes.
Professional life
Invention of the sugar-cutting process
The idea to produce sugar in cube form came from his wife, who cut herself while paring down the standard large, commercial sugar loaf into smaller parts for use in the home. Rad had become involved with management of a sugar factory in 1840 in the South Bohemian town of Datschitz (present day Dačice). He began work on a machine for transforming sugar into cube form, leading to a five-year patent for the cube press he invented, granted on 23 January 1843.
Personal life
Rad was the father of 16 children. He died in 1871 in Vienna.
References
Further reading
- Late 18th century Swedish sugar chest (display) referencing Rad's invention, at Deutsches Technikmuseum.
- (in German) M. Habacher: "Rad Jakob Christof". In: Österreichisches Biographisches Lexikon 1815–1950 (ÖBL). Vol. 8, Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna 1983, ISBN 3-7001-0187-2, p. 366 f. (Direct links to "p. 366", "p. 367"), see also , accessed 7 July 2015.
- (in German) Was ist Zucker ? at the Wayback Machine (archived February 12, 2005)
- (in German) DZDF/Museum Dačice: Würfelzucker
- (in German) Archiv Reinhard Lämmel
- (in German) Würfelzucker
- https://archive.today/20070828175054/http://www.wissenschaftskalender.at/text/index.aspx?D=1310