**Athanasius Tschopp invented the precursor to the fax machine. Lithograph circa 1840. Coloured using AI.** Zentralbibliothek Zürich

The inventor in a Benedictine cowl

Father Athanasius Tschopp (1803–1882) was a monk in Einsiedeln, and something of a science whizz. Besides his daily monastic duties, he always found the time to make pioneering discoveries – one of his many accomplishments was inventing the precursor to the fax machine.

Michael van Orsouw

Michael van Orsouw has a PhD in history and is a performance poet and author. He regularly publishes historical books.

Website: geschichte-texte.ch

When a baby boy called Jakob Kaspar Tschopp came into the world on 10 April 1803 on a farm in Knutwil in the canton of Lucerne, no-one would have had an inkling of the adventures life had in store for him. Regina and Kaspar Tschopp-Felber sent their boy to Einsiedeln monastery school and, at a mere 17 years of age, he decided to enter the monastery. Six years later, Jakob Kaspar Tschopp became Father Athanasius and was ordained as a priest. Father Athanasius taught physics at the monastery school and founded the ‘physikalische Kabinett’ (physics laboratory), a type of inventor’s laboratory. However, his interests extended beyond the science of the day. He was also a lecturer in theology and the catechist, responsible for teaching the Catholic faith, in Einsiedeln parish. The technically skilled Athanasius worked successively as a mentor to monks, and as sub-prior and deacon of Einsiedeln (1846–1855). But Father Athanasius was capable of much more than that: in 1823, at the age of just 20, he made a new wind instrument and called it the ‘Ventilhorn’ (valved horn). At the age of 32, he invented the ‘Konotomograph’ an instrument to draw ellipses, parabolas and hyperbolas. This allowed the physicist to produce parabolic concave mirrors easily and with maximum precision.

**Athanasius Tschopp: much more than a praying priest.** Klosterarchiv Einsiedeln

Then, around 1840, he went on to invent the electromagnetic ‘Copirtelegraphenapparat’, the precursor to the fax machine. Einsiedeln mechanic Meinrad Theiler – about whom more later – made the machine, also known as a printing telegraph, on Tschopp’s instructions. The core component of the printing telegraph was a rotating drum on which a message could be written in colour. An electric needle scanned the drum as it turned and transmitted the message as an electronic signal to the receiving device, which wrote a copy of the message on the paper placed over the rotating drum. Eureka! Father Athanasius had invented an early version of the fax machine.

**Technical drawings by Tschopp’s ‘Copirtelegraphenapparat’: messages were transferred via rolling drum.** Technische Mitteilungen der Schweizerischen Telegraphen- und Telephonverwaltung, 1942

Athanasius could not fail to notice the potential of his invention, as people in those days could only communicate by talking or letter. But as a man of the cloth, he was also confronted by the Catholic church’s lack of support (and even hostility) towards technology and technological progress: a German priest called the railway a “thing of the devil”, while electricity was described as “the devil in the wires”. Father Athanasius sought protection from such attitudes by making an official request to the federal authorities in Bern to implement the telegraph system in Switzerland. Schwyz Cantonal Council also lent its support to Athanasius Tschopp and recommended his invention to the country’s executive body. However, the Federal Council decided against the new system, although it did acknowledge the great achievement of Tschopp and Theiler. Their reasoning was that the invention was too complicated. The Federal Council argued that the system would not only require telegraphers but also mechanics to restart the machine when it stopped working, which allegedly happened often. When the federal postal and construction department subsequently set up its first telegraph facility, it was looking for two people to run the operation. Meinrad Theiler from Einsiedeln, Father Athanasius’s mechanic, applied for the position of telegraph facility manager in Bern (an alternative route to Bern for the monk’s invention). However, Theiler’s application was not considered. Instead, he was offered a rather degrading position as a battery cleaner, which he politely declined.

**An early model of a telephone from Theiler’s workshop: currently exhibited in London.** Science Museum London

However, Theiler was not deterred, and he continued to look for buyers for the (in the interim updated) printing telegraph, travelling to Paris and London to close a deal. He was more successful there and in June 1854, he filed his first patent in London for improvements in printing telegraphs. And the printing telegraph was rolled out nationwide as a ticker to relay stock market prices. The adventure-seeking Father Athanasius also felt compelled to leave the country. He boarded the Atlantic steamer and travelled to America, where he became prior of the Einsiedeln daughter monastery in Saint Meinrad in the state of Indiana. The Theiler-Tschopp partnership did finally achieve recognition in Switzerland. Their printing telegraph was awarded the bronze medal at the III. Swiss commercial exhibition in Bern in 1857. Theiler was in London at the time; Tschopp was in America. They both returned to Switzerland shortly after due to health issues. Theiler applied again for a position with the federal telegraph facility. However, despite his international experience, he failed to secure employment as regional boss. So, he returned to London where he founded “M. Theiler & Sons, Telegraph Engineers”. He died in London in 1873. One of the sons mentioned in the company name, Richard Theiler, then founded the Electrotechnische Institut Theiler, the predecessor company to Landis+Gyr in Zug.

**Father Athanasius seated with two brothers.** University of Basel

Father Athanasius did not pursue his scientific career, restricting himself to working as a minister and building works master for Einsiedeln Benedictine Monastery. In the nearby Au convent in Trachslau, he assumed the role of confessor and chaplain, thus operating as a kind of convent manager and contact to the outside world. A worldly figure like the Father was needed there, as the convent was in touch with Austrian Empress Elisabeth at the time. After the death of her daughter, Sisi had sought spiritual help in the monastery and had been closely linked to the Benedictine nuns from Au ever since. The Father ‘thought of everything’, to quote a convent script. Tschopp devised new designs for the convent’s weaving mill, made drawings and templates for the embroidery, helped make artistic models of relics, and created new records of ownership and above all of income earned by the convent. He also found the time to add his name to the annals of authors. He wrote pilgrimage tracts, religious tales and a ‘Schweizergeschichte für Schulen’ (history of Switzerland for schools). He died in 1882 in Einsiedeln at the age of 79, the Nidwaldner Volksblatt newspaper described him as an ‘ingenious inventor’ – whose inventions did not receive the acclaim they deserved.

More of: Modern Age Religion Technology

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