Atorf & Propfe
| Atorf & Propfe
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| legal form | |
| founding | 1893 as Atorf & Propfe, machine factory and mill construction company |
| resolution | around 1931 |
| Seat | Paderborn |
| Branch | technical mill equipment, hammer mills , classifiers , turbines , turbine runners, turbine regulators |
Atorf & Propfe was a machine factory based in Paderborn that was founded in 1893. In the first 30 years of the 20th century, it developed, produced and sold equipment for use in mills .
The first products - still closely based on the work process of a grain mill - were probably devices for cleaning the grain or the ground material before or after the grinding process, i.e. aspirators and classifiers. A little later - in the course of electrification - electrically powered beater mills were also supplied to agricultural businesses. Around 1915, elements of hydraulic structures were added for the first time, e.g. B. weirs , gates, lock systems or water turbines as a replacement for wooden mill wheels for driving grinders or for generating electrical energy - such as Francis- type turbines . Parts of turbines - such as impellers or regulators - were also supplied.
In the whirlpool of the global economic crisis of 1929, the trail is lost; after 1931 there are no more indications of the company's activities.
Company history
The mill builder Anton Atorf was first mentioned in the address books of the city of Paderborn around 1896. His apartment was on Jüßengasse. In 1893 he founded the company Atorf & Propfe, machine factory and mill construction company. Between 1910 and 1928/1929 the company had its headquarters at Detmolder Strasse 34 in Paderborn. After that, it can no longer be detected. No information is available about the partner Propfe.
The founder's profession suggests that the product range initially only referred to mill construction equipment. For example, a sifter is known from the Schäferkämper watermill , which was probably installed there around the turn of the century or shortly afterwards.
In 1914, a newspaper advertisement was looking for a sales employee - i.e. a representative - with particular reference to the AGRA gristle mill as an essential product. Presumably, such smaller beater mills were not only sold to mills in the first 20 years of the 20th century, but increasingly also to farms, which, thanks to the electrification in the Westphalian region up to around 1920 , were able to harvest their own produce Further processing grain and making yourself independent of mills.
The catalog of an exhibition from June 21 to September in Paderborn is known from 1913. The number 187 on p. 20 shows: Fr. Atorf & Propfe; Paderborn mill construction institute and machine factory. All milling machines and mill parts, which are mainly part of the equipment of a modern mill. Some of the machines are in operation. We also set up a turbine and a turbine regulator, as well as grist mills for farms. At the same time, we refer to our modern factory, which we recommend to visitors to the exhibition, as it is only 5 minutes away from the same.
Reference is made here to an additional product line - namely turbines and turbine parts. A little later, this product line, which could essentially be described as elements and systems of hydraulic engineering , also included barrages, weir systems or weirs, as they were used at least for medium and overshot water mills.
Francis turbines were increasingly being used to replace defective mill wheels from around 1910. There are some examples from the Netherlands. Atorf & Propfe's business will have consisted mainly of this. The product range of the turbine construction department was quite impressive, as a brochure showed. The efficiency will have been significantly better than with wooden mill wheels, and that with smaller dimensions.
The District Archives Paderborn is an offer from Atorf & Propfe prior to the amelioration of Aftetales of 3 March 1922. This offer was drawn up at the request of District Culture Building Authority Buren and delivered and concerns sluices as the accompanying cover letter can be seen. Such lock systems were offered with different dimensions (and consequently also at different prices) but with the same construction. Lt. Each lock system consists of a frame in which a rifle weir is attached, which can be raised or lowered using a hand crank and a rod.
Business was probably getting worse and worse towards the end of the 1920s, perhaps as a result of the Great Depression . After 1929 there are no more documents for the company's headquarters in Paderborn. Another activity is known from 1931, here on the Groote, Oude of Banmolen in the Gemeente Meerssen, the water wheels were replaced by a double horizontal Francis turbine with a total output of 75 hp.
After 1931 the trace of Atorf & Propfe is lost.
Products
Atorf & Propfe produced devices for the technical equipment of mills. For example, classifiers are known. A very nice example is the "N o 415" in the Schäferkämper watermill in Bad Westernkotten. These sifters were used to refine grist by filtering out the bran with a fine-mesh sieve. These devices were probably one-offs that were driven by transmission belts and therefore had to adapt to the spatial conditions of each mill.
This does not apply to the AGRA beater mills. These were sold to farms. It must therefore be assumed that these were electrically powered. An adaptation to local conditions was therefore not necessary, so serial production was likely. Unfortunately no existing example is known.
Turbines and turbine parts occupy a special position due to their complexity, their materials and the associated need for machining. The prevailing trend at the time to make water power even better usable than would have been possible with mill wheels led to the inclusion of turbines and turbine parts in the product range. There were three product lines that were used depending on the level of the prevailing water flow and the conditions of the installation:
| Design | Slope d. Water inlet | Amount of water | Installation | Force decrease |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Turbine m. vertical wave | low | big | open concrete shaft | conical pair of wheels, over horizontal shaft |
| Turbine with a horizontal shaft | under 6 m | medium | open concrete shaft | Direct purchase |
| Turbine with a horizontal shaft | over 6 m | low | iron turbine housing | Direct purchase |
According to the company brochure, the latter offer the advantage of a flexible arrangement in the mill building, whereby the water then has to be fed in pipes. An arrangement of two spiral turbines on a common horizontal shaft is also conceivable in order to be able to react flexibly to changing amounts of water: the second turbine would then be decoupled. Advantages of the Atorf & Propfe products are described as follows:
- no impairment of service life and performance through rust formation
- Gap losses between impeller and diffuser less than 1 mm
- triple bearing turbine shaft
- The guide vanes are bulged with metal, this also applies to the control arms for moving the vanes of the guide apparatus
- safe regulation of the guide ring
- each individual guide vane is replaceable
In the opinion of Atorf & Propfe, the products sold are first class due to a large number of unique selling points and are not surpassed by any brand.
Remaining traces
Except for the one known and already mentioned example of a still operational classifier in a grain mill (see above) only turbine wheels and housings are known as examples that still exist. Almost all turbines are installed in mills in the Netherlands, all of them replaced wooden mill wheels, which were either defective or no longer sufficiently efficient.
Bovenste Molen
When the grain mill was renovated, the mill wheel was replaced by a Francis turbine. Atorf & Propfe delivered the turbine and the grinder in 1914. The vertically arranged turbine shaft drove the two grinding aisles with 17 mm millstones each via belt drives. The drive itself was located in a turbine house with a pent roof. The wooden structure was replaced by concrete in 1950.
Grathemermolen
The owner Tijssen had the mill rebuilt in 1915, whereby the mill wheel could be replaced by a Francis turbine. The vertical Francis turbine developed an output of 10 hp with a water volume of 1300 l / s . The turbine and engine were supplied and installed by A&P.
Baalsbruggermolen
The mill's water wheel was destroyed by floods in 1916. The provincial administration gave the approval for the construction of a Francis turbine. Atorf & Propfe delivered the turbine and a corresponding gearbox that same year. Instead of the destroyed wheel, a turbine house with a pent roof was built, from where the two grinders on the wooden grinding platform were driven with belts. Later one of the three grinding aisles was equipped with an electric drive. A small memorial plaque was placed next to the door of the turbine house, identifying Atorf & Propfe as the supplier of the turbine.
Oude- of Banmolen te Valkenburg
The mill near Valkenburg burned down in 1901, after which the gable facade had to be torn down. Permission to rebuild the mill and install a turbine was granted as early as 1902. However, this was only delivered by Atorf & Propfe in 1919.
Groote, Oude of Banmolen
The mill at Meerssen was renovated in 1931, replacing the water wheels with a double horizontal Francis turbine, the only one in the Netherlands. The whole system was delivered and set up by A&P. A large and a small turbine unit were combined, which made it possible to deal with changing amounts of water without sacrificing too much efficiency. There were three ways of adapting the turbine output to the water flow: only the small turbine, only the large turbine, or both working on the coupled, common shaft. An impressive transmission shaft was driven by the turbine shaft, which supplied several different machines with drive power.
Scheeßel, Scheeßeler mill
The water wheels of the Scheeßeler Mühle were replaced in 1884 by a Francis turbine from Brigleb and Hansen. In 1926 A&P installed an upright Francis turbine, which has an output of 45 hp with a gradient of 2 meters and a suction capacity of around 2700 liters / sec. The turbine drives the main shaft of the mill at 80 rpm via a simple wood-iron bevel gear. In 2009 the turbine was extensively restored. In the mill there is also a pipe mixer from A&P with a capacity of three tons of mix.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Paul Michels (arr.): Paderborn. (= Germany's urban development .) DARI, Berlin-Halensee 1921, p. #. (Advertisement by Atorf & Propfe ) (Copy in the Paderborn City Archives)
- ↑ Westfälisches Volksblatt , No. 213 of August 8, 1914. (in the Paderborn City Archives)
- ↑ Trade, industry and art exhibition Paderborn 1913 (Paderborn City Archives, No. 1/5536)
- ^ Atorf & Propfe, Paderborn, Mühlenbauanstalt and turbine factory - machine factory, turbine construction department. (in the Paderborn City Archives, No. 7037)
- ↑ Improvement of the aft valley from Wünnenberg to Keddinghausen, offer from Atorf & Propfe for the construction of lock and weir systems from March 3, 1922 (in the Paderborn district archive, no.BÜR A 3644)
- ↑ http://www.molendatabase.nl/nederland/molen.php?nummer=439
- ↑ http://www.molendatabase.nl/nederland/molen.php?nummer=413
- ↑ http://www.molendatabase.nl/nederland/molen.php?nummer=430
- ↑ Archive link ( Memento of the original from January 31, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ http://www.molendatabase.nl/nederland/molen.php?nummer=441
- ↑ http://www.scheesseler-muehle.de
Coordinates: 51 ° 43 ′ 36.2 " N , 8 ° 45 ′ 42.3" E