Jiří Stehlík

* 1934

  • Jiří Stehlík shows how to knit on the Dopleta 382 knitting machine, which he worked on improving with his brother. The improvement consisted in equipping the machine with a rebuildable counter with the possibility of reading units and a sledge with added auxiliary locks. The auxiliary locks bring the knitting needles from the rest position to the working position, making it easier to operate when knitting patterns.

  • "Then there was one more obstacle with the machine. Where the knitting is being dropped or moved, there are pads, they were called slats. They had two of these beaks and they had to be made in the tool room. And even though we had a good tool room, the head foreman said they can't do this, let's have Totex do it. So the production manager at the time asked Totex to make the tool. They also refused. So we had no choice but to make the tool ourselves. We made it, and I must say that within three months the machine was ready and my brother and the production manager, Pokorny, went to the testing room in Brno and they approved it the first time. So the machine was approved, everybody was happy at the end, even the tool room, because they were busy, because there were a lot of tools for parts. And three months later it went into production."

  • "My father started to get sick, at that time they called it a heart defect. It probably wouldn't be a problem to cure now, but it was a problem then. He continued to get sick, he was short of breath, he couldn't breathe properly. I have to say that even the fabricator where he worked was sympathetic to him, and even started bringing material to our house so he could work at home. But it didn't work because there wasn't enough room at home, so it had to be cancelled. Then it went on like that, he was on sick leave quite a lot. And even, I must say, it was during the Protectorate, and he was certainly twice, maybe three times, in the spa. Once, I know that for sure, I have documents here, photographs, in Poděbrady and in Chocerady. And it didn't cost him anything. And I know that even when he was ill, we didn't suffer much from poverty. First of all, because we were in the countryside and we grew the basic food, but then when my father couldn't do it anymore, it became a problem. And I also remember what my father did at that time when he saw that he wasn't able to take care of the family anymore. Our mother blamed him and never wanted to talk about it. He even sent a letter to the president's office telling us what condition he was in and that he didn't have enough strength to support the family, if they would send us some allowance. And I have to say that at that time so much money came in that we wondered. But our mother was ashamed of it, she never wanted to talk about it. But it really was like that."

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    Frýdlant, 25.08.2023

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    délka: 01:05:11
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In three months, my brother and I had to develop a faster knitting machine

Jiří Stehlík in the Metalworks workshop in the 1960s
Jiří Stehlík in the Metalworks workshop in the 1960s
zdroj: archive of Jiří Stehlík

He was born on 6 April 1934 in Semily as the first son of František and Božena Stehlík. He grew up with his parents and younger brother Jaroslav in Nouzov u Semil, where his father worked in a joinery. In February 1945, his father died, and after the war, he, his mother and brother moved to Frýdlant in Bohemia, where Czechs came to replace the displaced German inhabitants. After training as a fine mechanic of office machines, he joined the United Municipal Enterprise in Frýdlant. From 1954 to 1956 he served basic military service. In 1955 he married Hana Bernardová, with whom he raised his daughter Irena and son Jiří. After the reorganization of the municipal enterprise and the establishment of the Metal Works in Frýdlant, he made improvement proposals. In 1967, together with his brother Jaroslav, he developed the Dopleta double knitting machine, which became a phenomenon because it enabled quick home knitting in times of clothing shortages in shops. He worked at Kovozávody, which became part of Elitex Chrastava in 1978, until his retirement. In September 2023 he lived with his wife Hana in the family house in Frýdlant. We were able to record his story thanks to the support of the town of Frýdlant.