Old Inventors

[stormdog]

I'm looking for references to August Merk-Wirz, a Zuirch resident who patented an elecrtic directory board in 1915. According to the online archives of Zurich, I think he invented something called a Fassspund mit Luftreinigungsvorrichtuung in 1914. Google Translate helpfully tells me that this is a "Barrel bung with Luftreinigungsvorrichtuung."

Googling just that word indicates that it might be some kind of purifier.