Artur Fischer, a German inventor who registered more than 1,100 patents, including the first synchronized camera flash and an anchor that millions of do-it-yourselfers use to secure screws into walls, died on Jan. 27 at his home in Waldachtal, in southwestern Germany. He was 96.

His death was announced by his company, the Fischer Group.

Mr. Fischer, a locksmith by training and an obsessive tinkerer, came up with his first patented invention in 1947, when he wanted to take pictures of his newborn daughter.

“At the time, you could only use a powder flash for interior shots, which you had to ignite with a cord,” he told the magazine Der Spiegel in 2015. “It was dangerous, and the picture quality was poor because the subject usually blinked at the flash.”

He came up with a synchronized mechanism that triggered the flash when the shutter was released. The device was bought by Agfa, a large camera company, and Mr. Fischer was on his way, coming up with hundreds of solutions to nagging technical problems over the next seven decades.