Adam Wybe

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Adam Wybe (also Wiebe or Wijbe , possibly also Wiebe Adam (s) ) (* around June 12, 1584 in Harlingen , † 1653 in Danzig ) was a Dutch engineer and builder. He developed one of the first cable cars in the world.

Life

Like many Dutch Mennonites , Wybe moved from the Netherlands, which was under Spanish rule, to the Vistula - Nogat Delta. His presence in this region is documented in 1616 when he received the order to build a Dutch windmill in Walddorf (today in Polish: Olszynka). Until his death in 1653 he worked mainly in Danzig and the surrounding area.

Among other things, he constructed the water supply for the Gdansk Neptune Fountain , modernized the urban water supply network, constructed a drainage system for the Gdansk Niederstadt and worked in the fortress construction.

Wybe also accepted orders in other cities such as Elbing , Thorn or Riga . In Warsaw he was involved in the construction of fortifications and was appointed royal engineer by the Polish King Sigismund III in 1623 .

Wybe also worked as an inventor and in 1637 received a patent for an ice saw from the city of Danzig.

Gdansk cable car

Etching by Willem Hondius

His most famous work is the construction of one of the first proven cable cars in the world. In 1644 he was given the task of building the city's suburban bastion (Bastion Berg). The material for this was obtained on the opposite Bischofsberg. The simplest version of the material ropeway was constructed with a single circulating rope. With this rope, on which 100 buckets hung, he connected the mountain and the bastion across the Radaun Canal . The system was powered by a gopel works that was set in motion by horses.

family

The original spelling of the name is unclear, as is whether Wybe and Adam were originally first names or family names. Later generations used Wiebe as a surname. His sons Abraham and Jacob worked in similar areas as he, Abraham is said to have become his direct successor.

In later centuries many of Adam Wybe's presumed descendants also worked as engineers and builders. Among them are the builders Eduard Wiebe and Adolf Wiebe , the engineer Hermann Wiebe and the railway builder Friedrich Wiebe .

reception

Wybe's work found its way into contemporary art and literature. Georg Philipp Harsdörffer reports on cable car construction in his book Mathematische Erquickungen (1651). He said of Wybe, "that Wybe is another Archimedes in Mechanicis". Wybe's work was also described in a poem by Georg Greflinger . The cable car is shown, among other things, on an etching by Willem Hondius .

A barracks in Danzig was named after Adam Wybe (Wiebe), as was the bastion he built. After the bastion was leveled at the beginning of the 20th century, the street built in its place was given the name Wiebenwall . The names for street and barracks were in use until the end of the Second World War .

In the novel, Sweeter than all of the World of Rudy Wiebe , who lives in the 20th century, also pushes Adam Wiebe hot end, the protagonist in the works of his ancestors.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Franz M. Feldhaus, Die Säge, JD Domenicus, Berlin and Remscheid-Vierunghausen (1921) digitized
  2. ↑ Adam Wijbe (Wiebe) ( Memento from November 11, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Article with a picture of the cable car
  3. ↑ Cable lift pioneer from Harlingen built Gdansk bastion and dikes - Mennonite refugee hero in Polish city , The Windmill Herald , 2007
  4. ↑ Johann Rudolf Fuessli, General Artist Lexicon, or: Brief message about the life and works of painters, sculptors, builders, copper engravers, art foundries, steel cutters ... , Orell, Füssli & Co., Zurich, 1806, digitized
  5. ↑ Review of the book Sweeter than All of the World ( Memento of July 24, 2008 in the Internet Archive )
personal data
SURNAME Wybe, Adam
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Wiebe; Wijbe; Wiebe Adam
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Dutch builder
DATE OF BIRTH on June 12, 1584
PLACE OF BIRTH Harlingen
DATE OF DEATH 1653
Place of death Danzig