André Koechlin & Cie
André Koechlin & Cie was a French company founded in 1826 by André Koechlin as a mechanical factory in Mulhouse .
founding
At the beginning of the 19th century, the mechanization and development of the textile industry led to the establishment of mechanical factories that provided the textile industry with the equipment necessary to improve its production. André Koechlin, an industrialist and businessman from Mulhouse, who had experience in textile production and considerable financial resources, saw in 1823 the possibilities of the rapidly developing market. Two years later he began to prepare his business when he bought nine hectares of land on the Rhône-Rhine Canal near the Porte du Miroir in Mulhouse in 1825 .
Koechlin then went to England, which was at the forefront of cutting-edge technology, and looked there for the technical solutions that he lacked. He contacted Richard Roberts through a sales representative , who had filed a patent for a mechanical loom in 1822 and in March 1825 the first patent for an automatic spinning mule . Negotiations lead to the signing of a contract on June 8, 1826. This agreement provided for the construction of a turnkey mechanical factory on the property acquired in Mulhouse with the participation of Sharp, Roberts & Company from Manchester , of which Roberts was a partner. Koechlin mainly financed everything related to the construction and the English brought their know-how, the plans, the machines and help with them by sending technicians and workers to France. The financial agreement between Koechlin and the English company was not published.
The plant went into operation in May 1828, which made it possible to make the first deliveries at the end of the same year. At the beginning of 1829 the company succeeded in commissioning Boucart père & fils to manufacture and supply the necessary equipment, with the exception of steam engines, for a price of 213,000 francs for a nearby textile factory.
The plant expanded and expanded the range to include water turbines, steam engines and other metal products. The construction of the railway from Mulhouse to Thann in 1839 goes back to an idea by Nicolas Cadiat (1805–1856), head of steam engine construction at Koechlin & Cie. The realization of the line gave the company the opportunity to enter the railroad business with the construction of locomotives and wagons. The first locomotives left the factory in 1839. 1412 locomotives were built until the merger to form the Elsässische Maschinenbau-Gesellschaft Grafenstaden in 1872.
The factory gave its name to the La Fonderie district (foundry) in Mulhouse. The Mulhouse plant was an ancestor of SACM and Alsthom .
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d Nicolas Stoskopf: André Koechlin & Cie, SACM, Wärtsilä, histoire de la Fonderie (D'Giesserei) à Mulhouse (1826-2007). Extrait de l'ouvrage, paru en 2007 sous le titre SACM, quelle belle histoire, HAL archives ouvertes, 2010, 73 p. Archive , Chapter I ("André Koechlin & Cie (1826–1872), une société, un patron, une usine ..."), pp. 2, 7 and 8.
Coordinates: 47 ° 41 ′ 8.5 ″ N , 7 ° 46 ′ 12.4 ″ E