Carl Friedrich Zimmermann and the harmonica manufactory in Carlsfeld
Carl Friedrich Zimmermann, who had already learnt to play the piano and violin as a child, made Uhlig’s acquaintance during his apprenticeship at the Rockstroh iron foundry in Chemnitz. He had acquired an instrument from him in order to make a living by playing music.
He was already experimenting with this instrument in 1843/44 and – as can be deduced from his autobiography, which was found in the USA years ago – began to build his first larger hand-pulled instruments in his parents’ house. In his “Practical Self-Teacher for Concertina”, which he wrote in 1851 for the Grand Exhibition of the London World’s Fair, he mentions concertinas with 56 and 74 tones as well as larger instruments with 88 and 108 tones. It is interesting to note that exactly this maximum tonal range was advertised by Heinrich Band in Krefeld at the same time.
Zimmermann’s autobiography reveals that he had already set up a workshop for harmonicas in Carlsfeld in 1848, where further developments of Uhlig’s concertinas were produced.
To this end, he employed journeymen from a clock factory, at times up to 76. In 1854, Zimmermann was mentioned at the General German Industrial Exhibition in Munich with harmonicas in 15 varieties.
Carl Friedrich Zimmermann later emigrated to America. In his autobiography, Zimmermann writes “…and after only two or three years, I had already acquired a patent for the Union Accordion here…”
It can be assumed that this is the same instrument that later became famous as the bandoneon.