Heinrich Roessler

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Heinrich Roessler

Heinrich Roessler (born January 9, 1845 in Frankfurt am Main ; † April 15, 1924 there ) was a German chemist and entrepreneur . He founded the Deutsche Gold- und Silber-Scheideanstalt ( Degussa AG ) and developed new cleaning and environmental protection processes for the production of silver and gold. He promoted electrolytic processes for gold and silver extraction. He succeeded in industrial production of bright gold for coating glass, porcelain and ceramics.

His social concerns for employees of the company were also significant. He set up an accident and pension fund and reduced working hours in the company.

Life

Heinrich Roessler was the second son of the Münzwardein in Frankfurt am Main . His mother was Marie Caroline Andreae-Willemer (1821–1906). He was married to Agnes Charlotte Friederike Schneider (1849–1934). His son was the chemist and industrialist Fritz Roessler (born June 27, 1870 Frankfurt , † November 17, 1937 Königstein i.Ts.) .

After attending the Abel & Simon private school in Frankfurt , Roessler switched to the secondary school in Darmstadt in 1856. In 1861 Roessler passed the Abitur and then attended the chemistry department of the Darmstadt higher trade school. From 1862 to 1866 he studied chemistry and metallurgy at the Bergakademie Freiberg , where he joined the Corps Franconia like his brother Hector . Roessler completed his doctoral thesis on the cyano compounds of palladium on February 12, 1866 at Friedrich Wöhler's in Göttingen . In 1866 Roessler received an offer from the Silberschmelzhütte in Braubach . There he met his future wife Agnes Charlotte Friederike Schneider, the daughter of an inspector of the hut.

Since Frankfurt had become Prussian in 1866, his father, Friedrich Ernst Roessler (1813–1883), lost the rights to the Frankfurt Mint. The father's chemical company was relocated from Münzgasse to Schneidwallgasse. From January 1, 1868, Heinrich and Hector Roessler ran the company under the name Friedrich Roessler Sons .

In 1867 Roessler became a member of the Physikalischer Verein . From 1871 he gave scientific lectures there and chaired the association from 1887 to 1888 and from 1892 to 1894. From 1875 to 1908 Roessler belonged as a member of the Democrats with interruptions to the Frankfurt city council, including from 1880 to 1884 and 1901 to 1907 as deputy chairman. There he strongly advocated universal suffrage .

Roessler was a member of the German People's Party and a co-initiator of the Frankfurt Peace Association , the German Peace Society and the Association for International Understanding .

Business success

The company grew rapidly under the influence of Heinrich Roessler. In 1870 Roessler developed a process for precipitating silver from a sulfuric acid silver sulfate solution, which was created when old silver coins were loosened, using iron instead of the expensive copper . The process was so advantageous that it was also used in the refineries of Munich, Paris and London until the introduction of silver electrolysis (1892).

With the currency conversion from guilders and thalers to marks , larger amounts of coins and mint metal were required. Since the Roesslers lacked the necessary capital to purchase metal and production facilities, they founded a stock corporation, Degussa AG, in 1872. The entire private property of the Friedrich Roessler Sons company was converted into Degussa AG's equity. The Roessler family retained 26% of the stock corporation's equity, Heinrich and Hector became directors of Degussa.

The cutting metal produced by Degussa quickly increased from 29 tons (1872) to 550 tons (1876). In 1877 a second refinery was built in Gutleutstrasse. Heinrich also developed a cleaning process against the sulfur dioxide escaping during production . The exhaust gases were treated with a saturated copper sulphate solution , the sulfurous acid formed from the sulfur dioxide being oxidized to sulfuric acid in the presence of atmospheric oxygen . This Roessler process for removing sulphurous acid from smelter smoke and factory gases was patented in 1882.

Roessler compared several processes for the electrolytic silver deposition. It was not until 1892 that the Möbius process for electrolytic silver production was introduced at Degussa AG. 70 large baths for the electrolytic production of silver, gas generators for power generation from Möbius were installed on the factory premises. With the electrolytic process, around 800 kg of silver could be produced in one day.

In 1895 Roessler acquired the gold mining process from the Norddeutsche Affinerie after Emil Wohlwill .

From 1880, bright gold , a solution of gold compounds in essential oils , was industrially produced for the decoration of glass, porcelain and ceramics by baking. After a few improvements - the addition of a little rhodium increased the adhesive strength - the bright gold business developed very well. Additional manufacturing facilities were established ( Brooklyn , New York (state) and Perth Amboy , New Jersey , both in the USA ).

The development of porcelain colors by Degussa was also due to Roessler. He developed a special cobalt oxide.

Roessler also developed a process for desilvering lead using zinc.

One focus for research and production was the further development of furnace construction . This is where Roessler's gas muffle ovens and the gas and coke ovens patented in 1885 with air preheating were created, which made it possible to achieve an oven temperature of 200 to 300 ° C higher. The smelting furnaces at Degussa were converted accordingly, which resulted in considerable fuel savings.

Honors

In 1909 Roessler was awarded the title of professor. The Physikalische Verein made him an honorary member in 1923. The Bergakademie Freiberg awarded him an honorary doctorate in 1923. Heinrich-Roessler-Strasse in the Frankfurt district of Dornbusch is named after Roessler . The chemistry class of the Society of German Chemists named the Heinrich Roessler Prize for Chemistry Didactics after him.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ "Rößler, Heinrich" (Genealogy of the Rößler family). Hessian biography. In: Landesgeschichtliches Informationssystem Hessen (LAGIS). - The mother was a second cousin of Albert Andreae de Neufville and others who, according to Alexander Dietz, trace their descent to Johann Valentin Andreae and Jakob Andreae .
  2. ↑ Roessler, Fritz. Hessian biography. In: Landesgeschichtliches Informationssystem Hessen (LAGIS).
  3. ^ Corps list Corps Franconia in Freiberg, Saxony, March 5, 1838 to October 27, 1935, and Corps Franconia Fribergensis in Aachen since November 28, 1953, as of the 1985 summer semester, p. 7, no. 114.
  4. ↑ The company's own presentation at geschichte-evonik.de, accessed on September 22, 2014
personal data
SURNAME Roessler, Heinrich
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Roessler, Johann Heinrich
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German chemist and entrepreneur
DATE OF BIRTH January 9, 1845
PLACE OF BIRTH Frankfurt am Main
DATE OF DEATH April 15, 1924
Place of death Frankfurt