Cölner electric motor factory Johannes Bruncken
The Cölner Elektromotorenfabrik Johannes Bruncken is a former factory building in Cologne- Bickendorf .
Foundation and use
The electrical engineer Johannes Bruncken, born in Fedderwardersiel , Butjadingen in 1880 , came to Cologne in 1902. He was the son of a family of industrialists and merchants from northern Germany, comparable to the Buddenbrooks . After a job at Helios -Elektrizitäts AG in Cologne- Ehrenfeld , he switched to the Bismarckwerk in Bergerhof in 1905 as an examining engineer . In 1907 he went into business for himself with the company Cölner Motorenfabrik, which in 1910 moved into the specially constructed building at Rochusstrasse 56 / Teichstrasse 16b in the Cologne district of Bickendorf . In 1935 a fire damaged large parts of the building, but the damage was completely repaired. The facade of the main house has had its current appearance since the 1950s.
Johannes Bruncken's career from engineer to company owner is an unprecedented success in the history of Cologne, his special motors went all over the world. Furthermore, he was a valued employer who "set an example to his employees of what he expected of them: an honest disposition, honesty, punctuality and hard work." So far, however, no research has been carried out on the role of the Bruncken company during the First and Second World Wars . The viewing of related files has been difficult since the collapse of the Cologne City Archives in 2009. Further documents are in the possession of the current owner.
The company had to close in the early 1970s. The Belgian group ACEC (Atelier de Constructions Electriques de Charleroi) took over the indebted company, which was taken over a little later by the American company Westinghouse . The company in Cologne-Bickendorf was then closed and the building sold. Since then, the former Johannes Bruncken electric motor factory in Cologne has been privately owned and is used as a place to live and work by various residents from predominantly artistic fields. This means that the Johannes Bruncken electric motor factory in Cologne can be seen as an example of the latest urban development and gentrification of a working-class district through the influx and conversion of artists.
Technical innovations
The Cölner Elektromotorenfabrik Johannes Bruncken is the cradle of a large number of innovative and patented electric motors . From 1910 a single-phase AC motor from the Bruncken company drove the bells in Cologne Cathedral . Other areas of application were in mining, the chemical industry, shipbuilding, elevators and agriculture . Bruncken's motors are already part of scientific collections on electric motors. Some of the original equipment features such as load cranes are still present in the production facility for these engines.
The docamotor
The world famous Dokamotor the Cölner electric motor factory Bruncken combines the start-up characteristics of a slip ring motor with the good operating characteristics of a squirrel cage motor . The Dokamotor not only saves starting power , but also operating power, as it works with a high degree of efficiency without current displacement . Because of its outstanding properties, the German Agricultural Society (DLG) equipped the Eldi Dokamotor with the bronze prize coin as a special agricultural engine in 1953. It is used, for example, in the grinder of the Paffendorfer Mühle .
Significance of the building for the city of Cologne
Sometimes up to 300 employees worked in the plant. The company was thus significantly involved in the working and production conditions in Cologne and shaped the life stories of individual people, as not only the example of Oswald Tietz, "from farmer to engine maker", but also numerous photographs of employees prove. The company is important for the individual character of the former working-class district of Bickendorf. The building has been part of the Bickendorf Culture Trail for several years.
Trivia
The factory served as the backdrop for numerous film productions, including a. of the crime scene Cologne and the crime series Wilsberg in the episode Wilsberg: 90-60-90 . The German sculptor Georg Herold had his studio here for a time, as did the puppet makers of the political satire Hurra Deutschland .
Individual evidence
- ↑ Lecture No. 443: The Bruncken merchant family in Butjadingen - Oldenburg Society for Family Studies. Accessed on March 10, 2020 (German).
- ^ Nordwest-Zeitung: Rüstringer Heimatbund Butjadingen / Nordenham: The Buddenbrooks of Butjadingen. Retrieved March 10, 2020 .
- ^ NN: 1907-1957. 50 years of the Cölner Elektromotorenfabrik Johannes Bruncken, Cologne Bickendorf . Ed .: Festschrift for the anniversary. 1st edition. Cologne 1957, p. o. p .
- ^ Osterath electrical library | 100 years of electrical power distribution. Retrieved on March 10, 2020 (German).
- ^ LWL - expulsion and economic miracle - construction West - Oswald Tietz. Retrieved March 10, 2020 .
- ↑ COLOGNE-BICKENDORF CULTURE PATH. Retrieved March 10, 2020 .