Artur Fischer, a German inventor trained as a locksmith, held more patents than Thomas Edison, and among his more than 1,100 patents are the wall anchor you have probably used to hang pictures and mirrors and the first synchronized camera flash. Fischer died Jan. 27 at his home in Waldachtal, Germany, The New York Times reported Monday. He was 96.
"What Bill Gates was to the personal computer, Artur Fischer is to do-it-yourself home repair," German magazine Der Spiegel said a year after Fischer won the prestigious European Inventor Award, a lifetime achievement prize from the European Patent Office. His first big breakthrough was the flash, purchased by the camera company Agfa, inspired by his inability to photograph his young daughter indoors — his insight was to synchronize an electric flash with the camera shutter. In 1958, he patented the expanding wall anchor, allowing people to hang heavy objects on plaster and drywall. Today, his company, the Fischer Group, produces more than 14 million of those anchors every day at factories around the world.
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