1838 - started a five year apprenticeship with the mechanic Oertling, in Berlin. It was here that he developed an interest in locomotive precision measuring instruments. 1843 - started manufacturing his own instruments in Magdeburg. 1849 - granted a Prussian patent for a diaphragm pressure gauge, which he'd developed in order to correct instrument variance due to locomotive engine movement. 1850 - started Schäffer & co. mechanical workshop, with his brother in law, Christian Friedrich Budenberg and Franz Primavesi. 1852 - Primavesi resigned from the company, which was renamed Schäffer & Budenberg. 1857 - was a founding member of the VDI District Association for Magdeburg and surroundings. 1858 - moved the company to Buckau.