Johann Jakob Widmann

Contemporary description of Widmann

Contemporary description of Widmann

Johann Jakob Widmann (born January 30, 1799 in Heilbronn ; † 1876 in the United States ) is considered the founder of the German paper machine industry. From 1830 to 1850 he built more than 50 paper machines of his own design that were installed all over Europe. In addition, his model was successfully copied by others. Widmann founded the Widmann'sche paper machine factory in the Widmannstal in Neckargartach, later named after him . After the economic decline of his factory, he emigrated to America in 1849.

history

Childhood, youth and marriage

Johann Jakob Widmann was born as the son of Johann Friedrich Widmann, who was a wood and leg turner. The boy is said to have built small water mills and water wheels since the age of nine and learned the woodworking trade like his father. In 1820 the young Widmann went on a hike that took him to Prague in 1822, before returning to his native town due to his father's illness, where he took over the family business and looking after the family. For his marriage to Katharina Louise Nothwang (a butcher's daughter from Heilbronn) on June 8, 1823, Widmann received the consent of the local council because he was not even 25 years old.

Heilbronn machine (1825–1829)

Early on, he felt the urge to take on tasks beyond the woodworking trade. For the silver goods factory Bruckmann he took on a wide variety of tasks, including preparatory work for the stamps of Württemberg coins. In 1825 he was consulted about the manufacture of spare parts for the first English paper machine in southwest Germany, which was installed by the von Rauch brothers in Heilbronn . From this order on, he was particularly interested in the construction of a paper machine of his own design, the so-called Heilbronn machine for the automatic skimming of paper in paper mills. Compared to previous machines, this paper machine was distinguished by a second wet press, two drying cylinders (a smaller pre-dryer and a larger main drying cylinder) and a 4-roll calender. The paper manufacturer Gustav Schaeuffelen , who used the machine in his company for paper production in 1829, found himself to be the financier for the construction of the machine . However, Widmann forgot to apply for a patent for his Heilbronn machine , which enabled Schaeuffelen to later copy Widmann's machine.

Work in Heidenheim (1830–1831)

In the years 1830 and 1831 Widmann was in Heidenheim . Together with master locksmith Johann Matthäus Voith, he built a paper machine that was 1.30 m wide for the Rau und Voelter paper mill . Another machine was then built for Brielmaier, the Ravensburger paper manufacturer. Master locksmith Voith opened his own paper machine factory Voith in Heidenheim in 1837 , which manufactured machines based on Widmann's prototype.

Worked in Heilbronn (1832-1840)

Back in Heilbronn, Widmann initially received the order for a second machine for Schaeuffelen, orders from various European regions (including Silesia, Styria, Bohemia, the Netherlands, Galicia) followed. In order to set up his own factory, he was given a piece of land on Sülmermühlstrasse, north of the city walls of Heilbronn (today: corner of Turmstrasse and Allee). The location was unfavorable in two respects, as it was not on the Neckar and therefore because of the required hydropower and since the expansion of the city of Heilbronn beyond its medieval city walls was already emerging and Widmann only subject to strict requirements for demolition at any time to carry out urban planning Measures received. The operation seems to have originally only taken place in the house. In 1835 a casting hearth was moved from the house to an attached workshop. At least 20 people worked on the narrowness of the property, so Widmann had a company comparable to Krupp (11 employees) and Kamp (50 employees) at the time. A horse peg served to drive the machines . On November 17, 1837, Widmann, who was originally a lathe operator, also formally obtained the license to operate a machine factory. Nevertheless, he continued to struggle with requirements and disputes with the authorities. The paper manufacturer Schaeuffelen, the leaseholder of the natural bleaching company C. B. Bläß and the merchant Karl David Metz raised objections to a project on Heilbronner Kleinäulein, where Widmann wanted to set up a water drive with a canal and a cupola furnace for the metal smelter and for the production of cast iron . At the same time, Schaeuffelen entered the scene as a direct competitor with the production of Widmann machines.

Neckargartach paper factory (1840–1849)

Widmann turned away from the unfavorable Heilbronn location and acquired land on the river in the nearby Leintal between Neckargartach and Frankenbach , where he built the Widmann paper machine factory with a paper factory, turning shop, foundry, well room and house. To finance it, he had to take out a loan of 36,000 guilders from a Heilbronn trading company. The company was very successful in the first four years and soon employed 50 to 80 workers. In 1844 he was promised another loan of 50,000 guilders from the Württemberg Hofbank.

Bankruptcy and Emigration (1849)

In the famine year of 1846 and during the unrest of 1848/49 the economy came to a temporary standstill. In 1849 the donor from Heilbronn withdrew his loan. Widmann also did not succeed in obtaining the loan from Württemberg that had been promised. This led to the insolvency and foreclosure of the property in 1849. The factory was auctioned for 30,000 guilders (and thus not even a third of its estimated value of 110,000 guilders) and continued for a time as a pure paper mill.

Widmann emigrated to the USA on August 22, 1849 with his eldest daughter and his eldest son. He hoped to get money there with which he could buy back the company. After 16 months, a letter from him sent in San Francisco in 1851 reached his waiting family, from which it emerged that Widmann had fallen ill and was unable to gain a foothold. In 1852 his wife followed him to America with the other nine children. Widmann died in the United States in 1876.

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  Contemporary petition from Widmann's wife to the King of Württemberg in 1851

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  Widmann paper machine factory Neckargartach

Appreciation

The Widmannstal in Neckargartach is named after Johann Jakob Widmann to this day. The Johann Jakob Widmann School in Heilbronn today also bears the name of the industrial pioneer.

literature

• Helmut Schmolz : Johann Jakob Widmann from Heilbronn - Germany's first paper machine manufacturer. In: Yearbook for Swabian-Franconian History. Volume 26. Heilbronn Historical Association, Heilbronn 1969, ISSN  0175-9841 .
• Helmut Schmolz: Johann Jakob Widmann - A pioneer of the industrial revolution of the 19th century in Heilbronn . Publishing house Baier & Schneider, Heilbronn 1968.
• Hubert Weckbach: Success and Tragedy - Gustav Schaeuffelen and Johann Widmann. In: Hubert Weckbach: Heilbronn heads. (= Small series of publications from the Heilbronn City Archives. Volume 42). Heilbronn City Archives, Heilbronn 1998, ISBN 3-928990-64-0 , pp. 114–123.
• Hubert Weckbach: "America is not a country for the father" - Johann Widmann and his family in North America. In: Christhard Schrenk (Ed.): Heilbronnica. Contributions to the history of the city. (= Sources and research on the history of the city of Heilbronn. Volume 11). Heilbronn City Archives, Heilbronn 2000, ISBN 3-928990-74-8 , pp. 93–130.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} A loser of industrialization: Johann Jakob Widmann (1799–1876) at stadtgeschichte-heilbronn.de ( Memento from January 10, 2015 in the Internet Archive )
2. ↑ Helmut Schmolz in: Johann Jakob Widmann - A Pioneer of the Industrial Revolution of the 19th Century in Heilbronn (see literature)