- Term
Dietrich W. Kolbe
- Alternate Term
Kolbe, Dietrich W.
D. W. Kolbe
- Occupation/Role
manufacturer of surgical instruments
- Nationality/Ethnicity
German
- Geography
Philadelphia
- Remarks
Dietrich W. Kolbe was born in Marburg, Germany. He acquired a knowledge of the manufacture of orthopedic appliances at the Marburg University, graduating in 1843. For many years he was also an assistant to Louer, an instrument maker in Paris, France. In 1847 he came to the United States and established himself in Philadelphia, finally going to business by himself in 1856. Kolbe was a major contract instrument supplier to Union forces during the Civil War. He was best known for his manufacture of various orthopedic instruments. In 1867 he was appointed to a position of a Mechanist to the Philadelphia Orthopedic Hospital. D. W. Kolbe died in 1878, but his son Charles Kolbe continued to make surgical instruments under his own label (Charles W Kolbe) for several more years.