WesWorld

In the year 1872 the firm Eisengießerei von A. G. Dickert was founded in the Hannover suburb of Linden, with the purpose of producing ironwork of all sorts. Shortly thereafter the firm was renamed Lindener Eisen und Stahlgießerei, and by 1887 the current corporate style and form had been adopted. The firm came to specialise in the manufacture of machinery for the stone-working and cement industries, and supplied cast steel components to the machine-building and shipbuilding industries. The firm pioneered the use of high-speed tool steel and stainless steel in its cast products. In the years following the Great War the firm expanded its product range to include cast-steel components for the automotive industry and light alloy components for the aviation industry.

Johann Hilpert of Nürnberg opened his metalworking shop in 1850, and moved quickly into the manufacture of machinery for water and gas works, followed in 1862 by the firm’s first steam boiler. In 1872 the firm began the manufacture of pumps; in 1892 the manufacture of flow measuring equipment. In 1889 Hilpert incorporated his workshop and the current corporate style was adopted. By 1898 the firm had more than 1,500 employees.

Heavily involved in manufacturing munitions during the Great War the firm was able to recover in its aftermath and resume production of its traditional products. In 1922 it purchased and re-equipped the Gießerei Pegnitzhütte for the manufacture of cast and wrought iron fittings, principally for municipal water and sewage systems. In 1930 it acquired the Frankenthal factory of Klein, Schanzlin und Becker through an exchange of shares.


Factories operated by the firm include:

Armaturen und Maschinenfabrik AG, Stammwerke, Nürnberg (boilers, pumps and fittings)
Armaturen und Maschinenfabrik AG, Abteilung Frankenthal (pumps, fittings and ancillary equipment)
Armaturen und Maschinenfabrik AG, Abteilung Pegnitzhütte (iron castings and forgings)

This concern was founded in 1873 by the Eisengießerei Körnung und Rabe, supplying iron and steel work to the expanding sugar industry. It was reorganised as a joint stock enterprise in 1907, which allowed for expansion of the concern’s capital and its diversification into the manufacture of boilers and other processing equipment for use in agriculture and the manufacture of chemicals. Among its innovations was the introduction of modern drying equipment for crops, and it cemented its leadership in this field through its acquisition in 1938 of the Deutsche Vacuumapparate Dreyer und Holland-Merten firm.

In the years following the Great War the firm has concentrated on the exports, establishing a significant presence in Central and Eastern European markets for agricultural processing equipment.

In June 1879 Professor Doctor Carl von Linde founded the Gesellschaft für Linde’s Eismaschinen Aktiengesellschaft to develop further his work in developing mechanical refrigeration systems for the brewing and food industries. Von Linde had produced the first practical refrigeration machine in 1877, and his product found a ready market in the many breweries of Europe. It subsequently diversified into the commercial production of ice, construction of cold storage facilities for abattoirs and other food processing plants and many other areas of refrigeration technology. Early licensees of Linde’s patents included Maschinenfabrik Augsburg and the Swiss company Gebrüder Sulzer. By its fifty-year anniversary, the company had struck a balance – by the end of 1929 it had sold 6,599 large refrigeration machines, with 2,057 to breweries, 1,865 for food refrigeration, 727 to ice factories, as well as fourteen to mines for sinking shafts in the frozen subsoil and three for cooling furs, to name just a few. Sales were made in countries and regions ranging from Argentina and Central America to China, Japan and Russia.

Following success in this market, he moved on to developing lower temperature systems resulting in 1895 in a patent covering the liquefaction of air. Out of this work his company developed equipment for the separation of air and other gases. In addition to plants air separation, in 1906 Linde engineers started working with other on processes to separate the constituents of water gas. This work developed into capabilities in the manufacture of hydrogen and carbon monoxide, which were further key feedstocks for the emerging chemicals industry. Following the disruptions of the Great War, the firm resumed its march of technical progress, developing equipment to extract pure oxygen and pure nitrogen from the atmosphere – to the great benefit of industry and in particular aviation.

In addition to his interests in refrigeration, Carl von Linde had also partnered with Hugo Güldner and others in 1904 to form the Güldner Motoren GmbH in Aschaffenburg. Linde took full ownership of the company in 1929, and from this origin developed a business manufacturing first engines and tractors, and from the 1930s onwards, a range of mechanical handling equipment such as fork lift trucks.

Formed as the technical and chemical analysis department of Metallgesellschaft AG the separate firm Metallurgische Gesellschaft came into being in February 1897, and concentrated on the development of ore processing and beneficiation technology and the specialised equipment needed to turn the laboratory techniques into industrial processes. It was heavily involved in the munitions programme of the Great War, providing equipment for the numerous chemical plants using the Haber-Bosch process as well as other high pressure chemical and metallurgical processes. From 1919 the firm traded under the name LURGI, and in 1923 formally adopted that style as an affiliated company of the Metallgesellschaft AG.

The firm operates though a number of specialist subsidiary companies:

Lurgi Apparatebau GmbH – founded in 1919, this vessel and equipment engineering company applied the diverse gas cleaning processes developed by Lurgi on a broad basis - for power plants, the cement industry, iron and steel and non-ferrous metal plants as well as chemical works.

Lurgi Gesellschaft für Chemie und Hüttenwesen GmbH – founded in 1920, the company has developed a program for non-ferrous metallurgy, which even included the construction of complete smelters. On this basis, special processes were developed for the iron and steel and non-ferrous metal industries. Processes for sulfuric acid production were in turn the basis for the development of plants to produce further organic base chemicals.

Lurgi Gesellschaft für Wärmetechnik GmbH – founded in 1921, this subsidiary has specialised in fuel engineering and energy management. The technologies of carbonisation, gasification and pyrometallurgy are the province of this aspect of this firm – including electrostatic gas cleaning and solvent recovery by adsorption.

Lurgi Gesellschaft für Mineralöltechnik GmbH – founded in 1930 this subsidiary has pioneered the adaptation of the Fischer-Tropsch synthesis. It manufactures the specialist elements of such hydrocarbon processing and conversion plants and acts as project manager for the construction of such plants at home and abroad.

This enterprise, presently a part of the Unternehmensgruppe Fürst von Hohenzollern, dates its foundation to the creation in 1708 of an ironworks by Prince Meinrad II of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen. By the latter part of the Nineteenth Century however, iron smelting had become unprofitable, and the firm turned to metal working, diversifying into forging, casting and finishing of metal goods. It presently operates one works at Laucherthal, which specialises in sand casting, investment casting and forging of steel and alloy components, a second works at Herbertingen for production of gears and bearings and a third works at Aulendorf for the manufacture of machine components. A subsidiary, Aluminium-Feinguss Soest GmbH, operates a facility in Soest for the precision casting of aluminium components for the aviation industry. The firm presently employs some three thousand workers at its several facilities.

This firm was formed in 1923 to manufacture wind turbine and ventilation equipment for use in the recovering German steel industry. In 1930 it merged with the firm of August Kuhnert, a manufacturer of steam turbines, turbo-generators and other precision equipment. The firm pursued development of industrial wind turbines for the generation of electricity, and in 1940 received a contract from the Government for a prototype wind-generator.

This enterprise was created in 1930 through the merger the engineering firms Büttner-Werke and the Benno Schilde Maschinenbau AG. The Büttner-Werke had been founded in 1874 as the Rheinische Röhrendampfkesselfabrik August Büttner to manufacture steam boilers; it had in 1903 absorbed the Maschinenfabrik Büttner und Compagnie, a related firm which specialised in the manufacture of drying equipment for plants. The Schilde concern had also been founded in 1874, to manufacture fans and other drying equipment, and had been converted to a joint stock company in 1922 on the death of its founder.

The combined firm operates factories in Krefeld-Uerdingen and Bad Hersfeld, manufacturing a range of equipment and installation for calcination, burning, cooling and crushing of different materials; fans, heaters, and drying systems for all purposes and materials; and complete production plants for wood and construction materials. The work force numbers 2,500, inclusive of technical and sales staff.

Headquartered in the city of Oberhausen this firm was created in 1898 as a subsidiary of the American engineering firm Babcock and Wilcox, manufacturers of boilers for thermal generating plants and marine use. The American parent firm retained a majority of the stock of its German subsidiary, but from 1909 the firm traded in the Berlin Bourse. The American parent assigned to its German subsidiary the rights to market its designs and products within Germany and its territories, as well as for the lands of the Hapsburg Monarchy, Serbia, Bulgaria and Greece; this has remained a cornerstone of the firm’s dominant position in its field until the present day. In the subsequent years the firm distinguished itself with several innovations in the field of boiler engineering, including the construction of the first high-pressure Benson boiler. The firm presently specialises in the manufacture of marine boilers for commercial and naval use.

This firm was established in 1934 in the city of Finsterwalde to undertake the manufacture of industrial diesel engines, industrial steam turbines and electo-generating units for commercial and military use. Diesel engines of Maschinenfabrik Augsburg-Nürnberg design are manufactured under licence, while the turbines constructed by the firm are to those of Allgemeine Elektricitäts-Gesellschaft. The firm specialises in the production of motor-generator sets of standard size and output, which are used aboard naval or merchant vessels, by industrial firms as back-up power sources or by the military for use in the field. The works are extensive in size and scope and equipped with the most modern equipment; the work force numbers more than two thousand.

Located in Bielefeld, the firm of Otto Boge is one of the oldest and largest manufacturers of air compressors and associated pneumatic tools in Germany. It was founded in 1907 by Otto Boge, who had previously worked in his family’s locksmithing concern. The new enterprise initially concentrated on the production of special tools for the emerging automobile industry, but its course was changed by Boge’s visit to the United States in 1912, where he had the opportunity to discover the construction tools manufactured and sold by the Chicago Pneumatic Tool Company. Boge obtained the agency for sale of these tools within Germany and the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy; success in this endeavour was short-lived, as the blockade imposed by the Allies during the Great War cut off the supply of American-made products.

The firm survived the Great War through the manufacture of components of munitions, but Boge did not lose interest in the field of pneumatic tools, and in 1919 the firm introduced its first piston compressor and tools such as air hammers to make use of the power thus made available. The firm expanded rapidly as demand for its pneumatic tools grew; the arrival of power tools lent increased productivity to many industries – shipbuilding and aircraft manufacture among them. The work force at the firm’s Bielefeld factory now numbers more than one thousand, and its trademark, Boge Kompressoren, is emblazoned on thousands of tools in use across Germany.

This enterprise was founded in 1892 by Heinrich Wissner, in Zella-Mehlis. At the outset it manufactured bicycle bells, bicycle accessories, motorcycle components and transmissions, door bells and other small metal parts. During the Great War it manufactured a variety of munitions components. It has subsequently become a specialist supplier of components for the automotive industry, manufacturing a variety of pressed steel and alloy parts, grinding gears and other machine components. It also supplies similar parts to the aviation industry and to industry generally, though eighty-five percent of its output is consumed in the assembly of motor vehicles.

This company, located in the district of Wuppertal-Barmen, was founded in 1908 through the amalgamation of the firm of J. D. Auffermann GmbH, Beyenburg (founded in 1811) and that of Gebruder Hindrichs, Barmen (founded in 1824) as Munitionsmaterial und Metallwerke Hindrichs-Auffermann AG. The firm manufactured brass casings for ammunition and other metal work. Following the Great War the firm adopted its current style and concentrated on the manufacture of machinery components, rolled metal shapes and pressed parts for the automotive and machine building industries.

This firm was founded in 1873 in Berlin as Metallwaren und Lampenfabrik von F. Butzke und Compagnie to manufacture fittings and equipment for gas, water supply and heating systems. It was converted to a joint stock company in 1888 and adopted its current corporate style in 1937. In 1926 it acquired the Berlin-based firm of Bernhard Joseph and in 1927 the firm Armaturen-Fabrik Gaebert, thus expanding its work to include the provision of complete sanitary facilities for hospitals, hotels, residential buildings, barracks and other large establishments. In 1929 it acquired the majority of the shares of the Frankfurt Armaturenfabrik, and in 1932 it took control of the Wessel Keramische Werke.


Subsidiaries of the firm include:

Frankfurt Armaturenfabrik AG, Frankfurt am Main (pumps and valves)
Wessel Keramische Werke AG, Bonn (ceramic sanitary fittings)

The antecedents of this firm line in the partnership of Carl Schmidt and Hugo Hengstenberg who in 1878 opened a factory in Bielefeld for the production of sewing machines. In the subsequent decade it went through several changes of partners and in 1895 it was converted into a joint stock company as the Bielefelder Nähmaschinen und Fahrrad-Fabrik, the production of bicycles having been added to the firm s output form 1890. The firm was successful in manufacturing these items and in the decade before the Great War added to its product line cash registers and other business machines. During the hostilities it made components for munitions, but was able to weather the postwar economic crisis. In 1920 it adopted its current name, and introduced a series of motorcycles of proprietary design that sold well during the 1930s. The Bielefeld factory complex presently employs more than three thousand workers producing a wide variety of machines, machinery and machine components of proprietary design and to customer specifications.

One of Germany’s leading manufacturers of bottle caps and bottle-capping machinery, this firm traces its roots to a workshop established in 1868 by Franz Frenay. The present firm came into existence in 1913 through the absorption of the Beyerbach-based Frenay firm into that of Carl Voltz, who in 1900 established a factory for the manufacture of bottle caps and other metal closures in the town of Nackenheim. The combined factories had a dominant share of the domestic market for bottle caps and a substantial share in the international market with bottle-capping machinery. The firm was able to survive the vicissitudes of the immediate postwar period and profited by exploiting the expanding markets of southeastern Europe. It presently employs more than one thousand five hundred workers at its two facilities.

This family-owned firm with its headquarters in Biberach, Baden-Wurttemberg, was founded in 1873 as a brass foundry. Initially fittings for fruit distilleries and breweries was produced. Following the death of the founder, Christoph Albert Handtmann in 1919 the firm was converted into a private company under the control of his sons Karl Albert and Adolf Karl.

In 1929 the firm moved into new factory space in Biberach and added aluminium sand casting to its production programme. From 1934 the firm began to concentrate on the manufacture of component parts for meat processing equipment, acquiring the assets of Leichtmetallgießerei Annaberg in Annaberg-Buchholz to increase its production capacity. In 1944 it offered its first complete meat processing machine of proprietary design, and this line of product has become the firm’s foundation for continuing growth.

Founded in 1872 as a copper and brass goods factory supporting the beverage industry this firm has grown as a specialist in the field of distillation equipment, central heating equipment, and the design and manufacture of pumps for central heating as well as other industrial processes. In 1945 it acquired EMB Pumpen AG of Birsfelden in order to broaden its product line with EMB’s industrial hydraulic pumps. Among the firm’s latest products are circulator pumps, submersible pumps, and centrifugal pumps. Among the firm’s innovations are the circulation accelerator, introduced in 1928.

Production facilities are located in Dortmund, Hof, and Oschersleben, while representative offices are located throughout Europe and the Americas.

German chemists Arthur Eichengrün and Theodore Becker invented the first soluble forms of cellulose acetate in 1903, which was much less flammable than cellulose nitrate. It was eventually made available in a powder form from which it was readily injection moulded. Eichengrün developed the first injection moulding press in 1919 and in 1939, he patented the injection moulding of plasticized cellulose acetate. These patents were assigned to the firm of Scheumann and Wolf of Freital in the Sächsische Schweiz-Osterzgebirge. Founded in 1877 to manufacture pumps for the mining industry the concern was reorganised in 1940 as a joint stock company under the current style and focused its activities on the manufacture of injection moulding presses.

Founded in 1935 this firm manufactures cranes and materials handling equipment for the mining and metals industries. Much of its work is done on a bespoke basis – its expertise lying is the development of custom solutions to customer requirements. Its products include crawler cranes of varying capacities, tower cranes, hydraulic cranes with either lattice boom or telescopic equipment, and conveyer-belt systems. The firm employs more than five hundred workers including field staff for installation and on-site testing.