Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Hermann Hammesfahr


 * The following discussion is an archived debate of the proposed deletion of the article below. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review).  No further edits should be made to this page.

The result was   keep. Deletion concerns appear to have been addressed. (non-admin closure) Alpha_Quadrant    (talk)  03:16, 2 November 2011 (UTC)

Hermann Hammesfahr

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Claims that this person invented Fiberglass. Google search turns up almost nothing on him, the one book cited mentions him working on an early version of glass fiber, but as a fabric, and pretty indistinguishable from what eventually became the glass fibers used in modern fiberglass. Despite claims of notability, there doesn't seem to be much evidence. Mr. Vernon (talk) 06:32, 18 October 2011 (UTC)
 * Weak keep There may not be much on a Google search, but there seems to be enough to confirm that he was the patenter of a significant advance in the development of glass fibres as a usable material. The problem is that he wasn't the first to produce them, the process for manufacturing glass fiber as we know it today is credited to Russell Games Slayter and fiberglass is generally used to refer to materials incorporating glass fibers rather than the fibers themselves. WP could use an article on glass fiber and its development and if Hermann Hammesfahr's contribution were discussed there in context we might not need this article. But a merge with fiberglass in its present state is inappropriate, so keep. --AJHingston (talk) 11:27, 18 October 2011 (UTC)
 * Note: This debate has been included in the list of Technology-related deletion discussions.  • Gene93k (talk) 00:08, 19 October 2011 (UTC)
 * Note: This debate has been included in the list of People-related deletion discussions.  • Gene93k (talk) 00:08, 19 October 2011 (UTC)


 * Relisted to generate a more thorough discussion so a clearer consensus may be reached.


 * Please add new comments below this notice. Thanks, Ron Ritzman (talk) 00:04, 25 October 2011 (UTC)


 * Keep Yes it needs a rewrite, but it has provided enough proper references that prove the notability of the subject. – Phoenix B 1of3 (talk) 03:37, 25 October 2011 (UTC)
 * Comment Please look at the references. As of this writing: (1) doesn't mention HH; (2) we can't check; (3) he gets mentioned in a paragraph; (4) doesn't work for me; (5) is the same as (3); (6) can't be checked online; (7) is the same as (2) and can't be checked; (8) is a photo; (9) is the same as (3)/(5) (in a book about optical networking); (10) is ancestry information apparently.  So basically there is only one reference that actually mentions HH by name in conjuction with this invention, and it's not all that much of a mention.  To address AJHingston's point above, there is an article on Glass fiber already, and I wouldn't object to a minor merge with relevant information (basically the paragraph from the books.google.com cite.)  --Mr. Vernon (talk) 06:58, 25 October 2011 (UTC)
 * Thanks for that spot. If you search on glassfibre (in the UK we tend to use compound nouns more often than in US English and it is a not uncommon though unconventional spelling) WP redirects to Fiberglass. Hence my failure to find the Glass fiber article. That needs sorting. On the wider point, there is clearly a dispute over the origin of the process, which should be addressed in the Glass fiber article. That mentions only Edward Libbey, but his article does not credit him with inventing glass fiber. US patents especially in the 19th century are a notoriously unreliable guide to the originator of an invention but as an example Jeff Hecht certainly gives the credit to Hammesfahr even though his book gives him little space. There actually seem to be two patents attributable to Hermann Hammesfahr - in 1880 (US patent 232122) for use as a fabric and 1902 (US patent 702725) using glass fiber as an electrical insulation and my impression is that they represented genuine developments in glass technology. But his notability is marginal and if somebody could put him in context in the Glass Fiber article that would be better in my view. However, it requires an understanding of both the precursors to Hammesfahr and the use of the material prior to the 1938 breakthrough. --AJHingston (talk) 10:08, 25 October 2011 (UTC)


 * KeepI believe this article should be kept, there are sources verifying it and it is historically significant. We use fiber glass every day, and just because he has not recieved a lot of credit for the invention being his, he deserves his own page.Beefcake6412 (talk) 18:01, 26 October 2011 (UTC)
 * The above discussion is preserved as an archive of the debate. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review). No further edits should be made to this page.