History of Kahles

HISTORY OF KAHLES

Kahles - A Synonym for Rifle Scopes
Since it is a fact that aiming over back and front sight produces a sharp image either of the target or of the aiming device but not of both, the first experiments directed to give hunters optical aiming aids go back to the early 17th century (target and aiming aid at the same level). Magnifying glasses and primitive predecessors of telescopic sights were attached to the weapons and even a kind of magnifying diopter was created. But all those attempts remained without success until around 1880, when August Fiedler (Stronsdorf), forestry commissioner of Prince Reuss, managed to build the first telescopic sight that really did work. Thereupon a number of constructions followed, among them some famous ones made by Kahles, an Austrian company located in Vienna.

One of these very early rifle scopes was sold under the fine- sounding name of "Telorar". It was manufactured by hand at the "Optical Manufactury" of a certain Karl Robert Kahles in 1898, and therefore we are completely justified in saying that Kahles is the world's oldest manufacturer of rifle scopes. It did not take long before the device became very well known among hunters everywhere and gained very best reputation.

After the sudden death of the founder of the company (in 1908 at the age of only 42) his widow Anna Maria, who was very popular with the employees, directed the company, which was then beginning to flourish, until her sons Karl and Ernst were old enough to take an active part in the business. They took on different areas of responsibility: Karl propelled the production of rifle scopes and made a great number of improvements. At the time Kahles also started to produce prismatic binoculars for use in hunting and sports. Ernst Kahles, on the other hand, directed the sales department in the sixth district of Vienna. He established the necessary business connections and also cared for the contacts to the authorities in charge.

In 1914 World War I stopped the peaceful advancement of the soundly evolved family business for a while and the "Optical Manufactury Karl Kahles" supplied sniper scopes and gun sights to the Royal and Imperial Army & Navy.

In the period between the World Wars, characterized by inflation and depression, the production of binoculars and rifle scopes for non-military purposes was resumed. Around 1930 Kahles brought out a very delicate but efficient scope. It was called "Mignon" and is still used by many hunters today.

Another dreadful war forced Kahles to manufacture optical devices for military use again. In the last days of the war, on February 19, 1945, the factory was completely destroyed in a bomb attack by the Allies and Karl Kahles met death.

Once again the company was reconstructed by a woman, Karl Kahles's widow Elasabeth, who was actively supported by her son Friedrich Kahles.

The legendary Helia 4
Taking into account the demand of those times the company started to produce lenses, but after a while they went back to concentrating on rifle scopes and brought out the well-known Helia 4, which had developed from the military line H 4x60.

Friedrich Kahles, who was highly talented in the field of technology and owned a number of patents, developed the lines of "Helia" and "Helia Super", which became known all over the world. The fact that these devices have stood up to the greatest strains when used under extreme conditions not only in Black Africa or at the Rain Forrests of South America but also in Alaska or the Northern provinces of Canada speak for their quality (after all as much as 65% of the production are exported to countries such as the USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa). What is less known, however, is the fact that Friedrich Kahles has invented the variable rifle scope.

The ZF 69 (a successor type of ZF 58) was developed especially for the Steyr SSG 69. It complied with military specifications that are known to be very strict in Austria as well as anywhere.

Kahles in the Swarovski Group
Since there was no heir in the family to take over the company, Kahles was sold to Swarovski in 1974. When Friedreich Kahles died in 1977, Kahles became a branch of Swarovski Optiks. Since May 1989 Kahles Limited (GesmbH) has been an independent company within the Swarovski group.

But how can a rather small manufacturer be so successful? Quality has always been the basic principle at Kahles. Therefore all parts have been and are still manufactured at their own workshop. Nowadays many companies can no longer do that because of high costs. It is very common today to have parts produced in cheap-labor countries in order to lower costs. But not so at Kahles, where they want to prevent any endangerment of quality. Therefore they manufacture all parts which are crucial to the quality of the product themselves and are trying to optimize production procedures by using modern computer-controlled machines and the latest technological know-how, so that they are still able to produce at a reasonable price and can at the same time keep the quality standard at the usual high level.

A Rifle Scope is Made
The first step in manufacturing a rifle scope is procuring the necessary material, the tubes of steel or light alloy. CNC-machines ("Computer Numeric Control") with built-in microprocessors are then used to process these raw materials to the essential metal parts such as the main-tubes, or to blanks from pressed glass for the various types of lenses.

Then it all starts with milling the lenses. The glass blank is milled into a rough mold, afterwards it is polished, centered and cemented. After each process the lenses are cleaned and checked. Lenses with diameters showing a deviation of more than 3/10,000 of 1 mm are not accepted for use and rejected. A coating of the glass-to-air surfaces, which is of the utmost significance for light transmission, adds to the extremely precise mechanical treatment of the lenses. A variable rifle scope, for example, has six lenses, that is 12 glass-to-air surfaces. Penetrating light looses 4% by reflexion at every non-coated glass-to-air surface; thus, arithmetically speaking the transmission is only 61%. The multi-layer anti-reflexion coating developed by Kahles, which is evaporated onto all their lenses, reduces the reflexion of light from 4% to 0.15% per glass-to-air surface. This results in a degree of light transmission that makes it possible to get the usual light and clear image.

While these optical working processes are going on, all the necessary metal parts made of steel, aluminum or brass are produced at computer-controlled machines with maximum precision and have to undergo a quality control.

Finally all parts manufactured at the Kahles workshop land up at the department where the rifle scopes are assembled. Here they are checked again several times before they are assembled and filled with nitrogen.

Kahles has found a technically sophisticated way to rule out inclusions of humidity and to prevent the lens from fogging up: by means of a surprisingly simple working nitrogen filling device developed by Kahles. First a vacuum is produced in the scope and afterwards it is filled with nitrogen. This process is repeated six times. In this way it is guaranteed that there will be no more humidity within the optical device.

This is - outlined in broad terms - how they are manufactured, the well-known rifle scopes made by Kahles, a company which is sticking to tradition on the one hand and open to new technologies on the other hand. Let's give Johann Peternel, the executive manager of the Kahles company, which has its hundredth anniversary this year, a chance to speak: "We do not believe in rigidly sticking to tradition but it is our intention to cultivate traditional knowledge and develop a specific know-how. This should not imply, however, that we are ignoring new and state-of-the-art technologies. Kahles has been using CNC-machines already since 1974 - no matter-of-course for a medium-sized company in those times. These machines made it possible to increase the quality of the produced parts and to achieve higher productivity."

Therefore long-proven tradition in connection with most modern technologies will go on to guarantee for the continued existence of this typically Austrian business. Strict quality controls, innovative means of production, the development of new machines, continuous improvements to the product, personal commitment of every employee - all that together makes perfect products that will please their purchaser for the rest of his life.