John Adolphus Etzler

John Adolphus Etzler (1791–) was a German engineer and inventor who immigrated to the United States in 1831 with a vision of creating a technological utopia. He was traveling with a group from Prussia, who included younger engineers John A. Roebling and his brother Carl.

Because of disagreements, the group broke up. Etzler and most of the group first settled near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. In the early 1840s Etzler and several dozen of his followers moved to the tropics, to set up utopian communities to use his inventions in Venezuela and Trinidad. He believed his inventions could work off natural forces and avoid human labor. Their efforts failed and many people died. Etzler survived but disappeared from the record. This followed the 1829 publication in France of Charles Fourier's Le Nouveau Monde, which had offered a vision of cooperative society. It inspired a number of communities.

Etzel believed that contemporary technology was sufficient, if only slightly developed and astutely applied, to bring about an earthly paradise of effortless plenty within a matter of a few years. He occasionally was able to gain sufficient financial backing and supporters to make a go at turning some of his inventions into reality. He developed blueprints for what he described as a Naval Automaton, to be powered by ocean waves. Another plan was to create a floating island to be powered by windmills after fertile soil had been built up. Several European Americans died of tropical diseases and starvation. The colonies failed, and there were bitter recriminations. Etzler survived but his spirit was crushed, and he disappeared from the records.

The Roeblings

The two Roebling brothers bought land further away and established Saxonburg, Pennsylvania, planning a Prussian colony. It did not succeed although they farmed for a time. Carl Roebling died in 1837. John Roebling returned to engineering and became known for inventing wire cable and a way to produce it, in addition to his designs for numerous suspension bridges. He designed three in Pittsburgh. His most famous work is the Brooklyn Bridge, Machinery (1833) The New World or Mechanical System (1841) Description of the Naval Automaton, Invented by J. A. Etzler (184?) Dialogue on Etzler's Paradise: Between Messrs. Clear, Flat, Dunce, and Grudge (1842) Emigration to the Tropical World, for the Melioration of All Classes of People of All Nations (1844)