Woodwind instrument maker, born in Germany. In 1831 he established his own workshop near Wiesbaden, and introduced improvements in the structure and key-system of bassoons, which, when standardized, differentiated the German from the French type. His son, Wilhelm (1856--1909), and grandsons, Wilhelm Hermann (1879--1952) and August (1880--1914), carried on the business, which introduced several instrumental novelties, such as the Heckelphone (1903).