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HANS ADOLPH MAUCH
1906-1984
BY EUGENE MURPHY
A MAJOR CONTRIBUTOR TO rehabilitation engineering, a dis-
tinguishec! engineer in several other areas, ant! a strong per-
sonality, Hans Aclolph Mauch repeatedly predicted he would
live to be a hundred years oIcI. Tall, tough, and an advocate
of vigorous exercise, at age seventy-seven he worked long
hours. Instead of quiet relaxation, he and his wife undertook
such major adventures as a trip arounct the world, including
some days and nights on the Trans-Siberian Express in 1983.
He seemed in excellent health when he went to his labo-
ratory as usual the morning of January 13, 1984. Yet, sud-
cienly, he colIapse<1 from a massive stroke. After lingering a
week in intensive care, he died on January 20, 1984.
Fortunately, the S-N-S, his well-known hydraulic artificial
knee designed to control both swing and stance phases of
walking for above-knee amputees, was a well-establishecl
product here and abroad (more than 12,000 had been sold).
Voluntarily, Mauch had progressively lengthened the war-
ranty perioc! to two years on this ingenious, complex, yet de-
pendable mechanism.
He had also made plans for three of his associates to attend
regional meetings of the American Orthotic ant! Prosthetic
Association in April 1984 to introduce new variants of the
knee that might broaden the possibilities for prescription
and especially to announce the availability of the long-
259
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260
MEMORIAL TRIBUTES
awaited Mauch multifunction hydraulic ankle joint. He had
deliberately planned that the presentations by these younger
men would emphasize the point that the future of Mauch
Laboratories clici not depend solely on his own health. In-
deed, Mrs. Mauch (Ion" a director of the company) has since
taken over the presidency, employees have been purchasing
stock, and the recently expandect plant building has been
equipped with modern machinery that includes three
computer-controlled machine tools.
Hans Mauch was born in Stuttgart-Bad Cannstatt, Ger-
many, on March 6, 1906. He was educated in mechanical,
electrical, and electronic engineering at the technical univer-
sities of Stuttgart ant! Berlin. He received the advancer! cie-
gree of Diplom Ingenieur at Berlin in 1929, where he was in
the top two percent of his class.
One of his professors was Georg Schlesinger, who had con-
tributed so much to German work in prosthetics cluring
World War I, work that included writing a third! of the classic
German text Erstozglieder und Arbeitshilfen. Yet the contact ap-
pearect to have no immediate influence on Mauch's interests.
He began his studies for the doctorate in engineering, but
dropped them when he found that his choice of a thesis sub-
ject had been preempted by another dissertation at a differ-
ent university.
He took a position with E. Zwietusch & Company in Berlin
in 1930 and worked until 1935 on methods for the control
of pneumatic conveyors, which were then widely used not
only in department stores ant! hospitals but also to carry mail
in large cylinders from one post office to another in many
cities. He was in charge of research ant! development efforts
involving automatic conveyors and sorters; these efforts in-
cludec] the clevelopment of a method by which each cylinder
would carry an easily changed, predetermined cocle that, de-
spite unpredictable rotation and high velocity, could be read
automatically and signalecl ahead to set switches that wouIcl
divert the capsule to its correct destination.
Mauch was employed as a civilian engineer in the German
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HANS ADOLPH MAUCH
261
Air Ministry from 1935 to 1939. He left to establish his own
consulting engineering office in Berlin, which he headed un-
ti! the end of World War Il. He developed testing equipment
and aviation and automotive engines and accessories; he also
acted as a consultant to the German Air Ministry, where he
was later placer! in charge of the terminal development of
the V-l buzz bomb, the first guiclecl missile. He knew, and
sometimes differed with, many of the top German engineers
of the period, including Wernher van Braun.
Mauch's thirc! major consulting activity was original re-
search and development in the fields of aviation medicine
and prosthetic crevices. In this bioengineering sector, Hans
Mauch cooperated closely with UIrich K. Henschke, a racliol-
ogist with a Ph.D. in physics. Head of the Aeromectical Insti-
tute in Munich, Dr. Henschke worked on a variety of physi-
ological problems.
After WorIct War Il. the U.S. Air Force assemblect many
top German scientists ant! engineers at Heidelberg. There,
Henschke ant! Mauch collaborated on an important chapter,
"How Man Controls," of a two-volume work, German Aviation
Medicine World War ~ . This chapter was a pioneering effort
in what later became known as the fields of cybernetics and
human factors engineering. Henschke and Mauch also as-
sembled an extensive bibliography of German work on arti-
ficial limbs, designed a metal artificial leg that was intended
for mass production of components and easy assembly to an
individually fitted socket, ant! constructed! a series of moclels
illustrating various concepts for stabilizing the knee joint of
an above-knee prosthesis.
In March 1946 the U.S. Army surgeon general sent a team
to Europe to survey artificial limbs. In addition to important
information on various crevices and procedures including the
suction socket leg and cineplastic surgery to control arms, the
team brought back the Henschke-Mauch bibliography and
the concepts they developed involving knee control. Subse-
quently, Henschke and Mauch went to Dayton, Ohio, late in
1946, to work as civilian employees at the Aeromedical I;ab-
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262
MEMORIAL TRIBUTES
oratory of the Wright Air Force Development Center. Yet,
they were able to devote only a small portion of their efforts
to prosthetics. Later, Mauch and several others workoct eve-
nings and weekends in the basement of his small home with
support by the Veterans Administration through its National
Academy of Sciences' contract.
Hans Mauch became a naturalized U.S. citizen in June
1955. He left the Aeromedical Laboratory in 1957 to set up
his own organization, which was incorporated in 1959 as
Mauch I,aboratories, Inc. The company engaged in research,
development, ant} manufacturing in the biomedical engi-
neering field.
Except for a ciassifie(1 project to develop a novel space suit
for the Air Force ant! NASA, which the company performed
from 1959 to 1964, all of Mauch's work until the micI-1970s
was devotect to rehabilitation projects sponsored by the Vet-
erans Administration in coordination, through various Na-
tional Research Council committees, with projects of other
agencies. In recent years, after termination of his VA con-
tracts, further improvements in the company's devices were
made by Mauch as proprietary (developments.
After exhaustive development and evaluation efforts that
culminated in a nationwide clinical trial, the original
Henschke-Mauch Model A semivoluntary stance-and-swing
hydraulic leg for above-knee amputees was shortened, re-
finecI, and renamed the S-N-S. A simpler Mocle} B to control
only the swing phase was producer! briefly in 1963; it has
been refined and is currently soil! as Mode} S. Several other
companies procluced swing-phase units under the Mauch
patent, which was assigned to the VA and licensed to others
without royalties after training at Mauch Laboratories.
The Mauch swing control provides programmed resis-
tance that automatically varies with knee angle and walking
speed, plus the possibility of independent adjustment of re-
sistances to flexion anal extension. The stance phase control
always allows extension, but automatically imposes a high
(but acljustable) resistance to knee flexion except after a brief
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HANS ADOLPH MAUCH
263
application of a hyperextension moment, normally after the
heel leaves the ground.
The rigid locking of the device is normally undesirable
(the residual limb could be injured after stumbling), but it
can be obtained voluntarily if desirer! for example, for pro-
longed stancling or for driving an automobile with flexed
knee. Conversely, very low resistance to flexion can also be
ensured for bicycling. These knee control features are supe-
rior to other brakes and locks that have been clisclosecl in
literature and patent applications here and abroad for well
over a century.
The S-N-S is the sole survivor of many years of effort by
numerous capable engineers ant] interdisciplinary teams
supported by substantial government projects. The genius,
persistence, anct vision of Hans Mauch are demonstrated by
his eventual success with the S-N-S, the recent acceptance of
the hydraulic ankle, and his yearning to attain a truly volun-
tary yet subconscious control of swing-and-stance phase
movement.
Although this memoir focuses on Mauch's contributions to
hydraulic lower limb prostheses, he made thoughtful, inge-
nious contributions in many fields, including aviation anc!
aviation medicine, space suits, and the human factors aspects
of displays and controls. Mauch was the inventor or coinven-
tor of more than eighty patented inventions in nine countries
and the author or coauthor of numerous papers and reports.
Uncler VA contract, he cleveloped several types of personal
reading machines for the blind, another area he ant! Dr.
Henschke hac! explores! in Heidelberg. His audible-output
Stereotoner clirect-translation reacting aid, which was
smaller, lighter, and lower in price than the wiclely known
tactile-output Optacon, reached limited commercial procluc-
tion.
Hans Mauch was elected to the National Academy of En-
gineering in 1973. He served on its General Engineering
Peer Group from 1976 to 197S, and he consistently attended
the academy's annual meetings. He also served for a quarter
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MEMORIAL TRIBUTES
of a century on many National Research Council committees
and working groups in prosthetics. He was a consultant to
the U.S. Air Force and to the U.S. Department of Health,
Education, and Welfare.
In 1944 he received the Knight Cross to the Merit Cross
from the German Air Ministry, the highest nonpolitical dec-
oration for civilians. The U.S. Air Force awarded him the
Outstanding Civil Service Commendation in 1956 and the
Outstanding Inventor Award in 1960.
Hans Mauch married Austrian-born Tatjana Schmitt in
1948. She also came to the United States to work for the U.S.
Air Force. They hac! three daughters.
A brilliant, well-educated, cultured man, Mauch was a cre-
ative inventor and developer, a valuable member of commit-
tees and councils, and a clelightful friend. Sometimes a naive
suggestion to him wouIct bring the rebuff, "We already
thought of that in Heidelberg!" or he would produce an old
notebook containing a similar sketch and the record of the
notion's failure. Nevertheless, he would explore suggestions
carefully and accept good ideas or clata. Another able engi-
neer once observed, "The trouble with Mauch is that he's a
perfectionist!" Well, what's so back about that, especially when
his work was offered to the consumer at such a surprisingly
reasonable cost?
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Representative terms from entire chapter:
adolph mauch
