A. Heucke
A. Heucke was a company in Saxony-Anhalt that until 1950 was mainly a manufacturer of steam plows (see steam rope plows or steam plow locomotives). In addition, it made additional profit through services such as contract plowing (see contract labor ).
history
The official name of the company was "A. Heucke steam plow locomotive factory Gatersleben ”. It was founded in 1870 by Andreas Heucke, the son of a farmer in Hausneindorf near Quedlinburg , as a contract plowing company. For this purpose, Heucke had acquired a two-engine steam cable plow from the Fowler company in England . With the support of Max Eyth , Heucke began manufacturing its own steam plows in 1884. In 1901 the 100th steam plow locomotive was built at Ackerhof 6 in Hausneindorf.
In 1904, construction began on the new steam plow factory in neighboring Gatersleben , which the company moved into in 1907. A foundry remained in Hausneindorf until 1939. After the death of Andreas Heucke in 1904, his son Benno Heucke took over the management. His four brothers left the company in 1932. In the mid-1930s, Ulrich Heucke, the third generation, took over management.
The steam plow factory in Gatersleben was largely spared from war damage during the Second World War and was able to resume production very quickly after the expropriation and transfer into public ownership . With its post-war products, the company initially belonged to the agricultural machinery sector . From 1950 there was a change of profile to construction machinery. The successor company VEB Baumaschinen Gatersleben was active in the field of road construction machines.
Products
The Heucke company produced complete two-engine steam plow sets. These included two steam locomotives, a plow with the appropriate accessories (including seed rollers, harrows , cultivators or beet lifters), as well as living, fuel and water caterpillars. In the best times at the beginning of the 20th century, up to 24 movements left the factory each year. The standard program were steam plow locomotives in various sizes with outputs of up to around 250 hp . There were also many special solutions, such as B. the steam plows on rails for use in swamp areas or the straw-fired and saturated steam version for Romania .
Between 1884 and 1945, the Heucke company produced around 880 steam plow locomotives or around 440 plow sets with all accessories, which were used not only in Germany but also in many export markets. In addition to the European countries, there were also customers in Namibia, India, Sumatra and Java. Important orders were the steam cable plows for the cultivation of the Pontine Marshes near Rome.
From the mid-1930s, when the steam cable plow had long since passed its zenith, trailers for tractor trains with a useful weight of four to five tons were added to the program. They were initially designed with iron and later with pneumatic tires . During the entire period, besides manufacturing, contract plowing remained an important business area, with which the sometimes very large fluctuations in the sales situation could be compensated somewhat.
In the first years after the war, trailer trailers, agricultural accessories and also some steam cable cars were produced until 1950, when it was converted to construction machinery . Of the 880 steam plow locomotives produced until 1945, only 14 have survived in the original. Scale replicas and models of the Heucke steam plow locomotive were made by Märklin , among others .
Preserved steam plow locomotives
| No. | Factory no. | Construction year | Status | Location / ZIP | Place / institution | photo |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ? | around 1904/05 | M. | D-39365 | Ummendorf , Börde-Museum Burg Ummendorf | |
| 2 | ? | around 1904/05 | M. | D-39365 | Ummendorf , Börde-Museum Burg Ummendorf | |
| 3 | ? | around 1910 | M. | D-16348 | Wandlitz , Barnim Panorama , former Wandlitz Agricultural Museum | |
| 4th | 165? | around 1910 | M. | GB | Liphook , Hampshire , Hollycombe Working Steam Museum , formerly Tonka on the Niger (River) , Mali | |
| 5 | ? | ? | D. | D-06628 | Bad Kösen- Frankenau, local history association | |
| 6th | 287 | 1911 | B. | D-70599 | Stuttgart- Hohenheim, German Agricultural Museum | |
| 7th | 288 | 1911 | B. | D-70599 | Stuttgart- Hohenheim, German Agricultural Museum | |
| 8th | 369 | 1913 | M. | PL | Szreniawa , Muzeum Narodowe Rolnictwa i Przemysłu Rolno-Spożywczego | |
| 9 | 370 | 1913 | M. | PL | Szreniawa , Muzeum Narodowe Rolnictwa i Przemysłu Rolno-Spożywczego | |
| 10 | 425 | 1915 | M. | D-17214 | Alt Schwerin , Agroneum , former Agricultural Museum Alt Schwerin | |
| 11 | 426 | 1915 | M. | D-53572 | Unkel , Freiligrathhaus Collection | |
| 12 | 656 | 1921 | D. | D-08439 | Crimmitschau -Blankenhain, German Agricultural Museum at Blankenhain Castle | |
| 13 | 743 | 1928 | B. | D-08036 | Landshut , Agricultural Education Center Landshut-Schönbrunn | |
| 14th | 744 | 1928 | B. | D-08036 | Landshut , Agricultural Education Center Landshut-Schönbrunn | |
| 15th | 829 | 1944 | D. | D-17348 | Woldegk , mill museum |
B = ready for use D = monument M = museum locomotive / exhibit
Factory no. 669/1922: only factory label preserved (D-39365 Ummendorf, Börde-Museum Burg Ummendorf , inv.no.V: 04/02/04/96: 517)
See also
List of steam plow locomotives in Germany
literature
- Economic history of the northern Harz foreland - A. Heucke steam plow locomotive factory, Gatersleben . December 1, 1919 (Catalog No. 10).
- Cultural messenger for the Quedlinburg district . June 6, 1958, OCLC 250132039 .
- P. Thume: Hausneindorf's past days . 1904.
- R. Thiede, K. Krombholz .: About the company "A. Heucke steam plow locomotive factory Gatersleben ” . In: Journal of the German Agricultural Museum . Hohenheim 2010 ( digitized [PDF] issue 31).
- Hans Müller: Company history of VEB Baumaschinen Gatersleben, based in Ascherleben. 1. Part 1870–1945: from the contract plow business to the capitalist enterprise . VEB Baumaschinen Gatersleben, 1988 ( digitized [PDF; 38.1 MB ]).
- Hans Müller: Company history of VEB Baumaschinen Gatersleben, based in Ascherleben. Part 2 1945–1968: From the sidecar to the modern road construction machine . VEB Baumaschinen Gatersleben, 1990 ( digitized [PDF; 59.3 MB ]).
Web links
- The technology of the Hohenheim Heucke steam plow locomotives
- A.Heucke steam plow locomotive factory
Coordinates: 51 ° 49 ′ 47.2 " N , 11 ° 17 ′ 23.7" E