Crusauer copper and brass factory
| Industrial Museum Kupfermühle
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| legal form | profit company |
| founding | Reopening in 2014 |
| Seat | 24955 Harrislee Messinghof 3; Register court: Local court Flensburg
Register number: HRB 7837 FL with the serial number 2 |
| management | Managing Director Svend Lykke-Schmidt (honorary position), Susanne Rudloff,
Scientific museum director |
| Branch | museum |
| Website | www.industriemuseum-kupfermuehle.de |
| Status: 2018 | |
The factory plant of Crusauer copper and brass factory ( Danish Kruså Kobbermølle ) in copper mill community Harrislee at Flensburg remained preserved in substantial parts. Its history is presented by the Kupfermühle Industrial Museum in three completely renovated historical industrial halls of the “Industriemuseum Kupfermühle e. V. “preserved in a museum.
history
Around 1600 the Danish King and Duke of Schleswig Christian IV had a hammer mill for metal processing built on the river Krusau ( Kruså in Danish ) . The most important basic requirements at the time, duty-free traffic routes, energy and raw material supplies were given. Flensburg was the second most important port of the Danish kingdom also to Norway from 1380 to 1814 in personal union mattered. About the Norwegian port of Trondheim were metals and metal ores duty free from the also Norwegian mining town Røros delivered by ship. The steep gradient and the many source tributaries of the small river were ideal for the steady drive of the water-powered hammer mills of the industrial company.
chronology
- Around 1600 the Danish King and Duke of Schleswig Christian 4th had a hammer mill for metal processing built close to Flensburg on the Krusau.
- In 1628 the copper mill was destroyed in the Thirty Years War and was rebuilt the following year
- 1633 oldest known document of the copper mill
- 1644 the copper mill is destroyed and rebuilt three years later
- 1657 the copper mill is destroyed in the Karl Gustav Wars and rebuilt by Hans Dencker
- 1687 Hilmar von Lutten takes over the mill
- 1747 Hildemar Thor Straten takes over the factory
- 1766 Josias thor Straten takes over the work
- 1802 Josias thor Straten II continues the work
- 1830 The royal. Privileges are no longer renewed
- 1842 F. Görrisen and JJ Danielsen take over the factory
- 1857 Gebr. Schmidt and G. Dittmann and CC Danielsen take over the copper mill
- 1864 the region goes to Prussia
- 1871 Introduction of steam power
- 1885 Friedrich Raben became the owner of the copper mill
- 1889 Conversion to Crusauer Kupfer- und Messingfabrik AG
- 1914–18 Kupfermühle is part of the armaments industry
- 1919 the copper mill becomes a GmbH with seat in Hamburg, majority with the brothers Eduard and Paul Lotz
- 1920 The population votes in favor of Germany
- 1939–1945 during World War II, the copper mill is part of the armaments industry
- 1956 Kupfermühle has to enter into a settlement
- 1962 Kupfermühle is closed under the majority shareholder "Grillo Handelsgesellschaft mbH"
By 1800 the copper and brass works had developed into the largest industrial facility in the Duchy of Schleswig and was considered one of the largest in the Kingdom of Denmark. The change from Danish to German administration after 1864, as well as the transition from water power to steam power and the two world wars, were successfully overcome. In 1962 the "Crusauer copper and brass factory" was closed. 10% of the copper smelted in Røros went directly to the Danish Crown and part of it was shipped in the form of plates or bars as raw copper by Flensburg drivers from Nordland for the copper mill.
In 1956 the copper mill had to enter into a settlement and in 1962 the copper mill was closed under the main shareholder "Grillo Handelsgesellschaft mbH" after around 360 years of operation. During this period, the plant was destroyed and rebuilt several times, as copper played an important role in the shipping and armaments industries.
Importance of the copper mill
In the heyday of wooden shipbuilding around 1850, the copper mill was very important, as the wooden underwater hull was protected from the shipworm with copper plates . Christopher Columbus lost four of his ships to the shipworm, a type of mussel with the appearance of a worm that, unlike other types of mussel, feeds primarily on wood. With the scaled-down mussel shells converted into drilling tools, he drills a corridor up to 20 cm long in the underwater wooden planks, which he lines with lime to protect his soft body. In the 18th century, fittings with copper sheet on ships were recognized as the most effective protection against shipworms. Since the copper was consumed by the galvanic reaction, this fitting had to be replaced regularly.
By 1840 the copper mill had eight water wheels to drive ten hammer mills. In addition to the large copper store, there was a brass distillery and five different workshops. It also included land, an inn with its own brewing and distillery rights, a brick factory, a school and 34 workers' apartments. The town of Kupfermühle had 187 inhabitants, 44 of whom were employed in the factory. In 1857 Flensburg merchants, including the distillery owner Christian C. Christiansen, took over the copper mill.
1864 Prussia
In 1864 the region fell to Prussia and the plant was completely renovated. The raw copper was now imported into the international market, mainly from North and South America. A new copper furnace was built and the hot rolling process was introduced with the use of annealing furnaces. The new ovens were heated with coal from England instead of wood and peat as before . This resulted in a considerably better quality of the thin copper sheets known as “ship skin”, which could now be marketed internationally. So the copper mill could z. B. from 1884 to 1888 to deliver material to Scandinavia, Italy, Portugal, Holland and North and South America for over 200 ships.
The alloy, known at the time as yellow metal, patented by the English industrialist George Fredric Muntz in 1832, led to a new boom in Kupfermühle after patent protection expired in the 1860s. The alloy, also known as Muntzmetall , is a malleable cast brass and more elastic than brass and has largely replaced copper sheet in shipbuilding.
In 1871 a boiler and a 50 HP steam engine were installed to drive the rolling mill for the Muntzmetall sheets. The good quality of these sheets was recognized in London, Hamburg, Vienna, Flensburg, Antwerp and Kiel and due to the high demand, the production of sheets made of Muntz metal doubled. The permanent staff of the copper mill therefore had to be increased by 10 workers from 60 to 70 men.
In 1908 a water turbine system was installed in the copper smelter, a Francis turbine from Voith . The water was fed to the stationary turbine wheel via a control system consisting of pipes. The generator driven by this overpressure turbine had a nominal output of 100 kW.
The First World War - arms production
In three months of closure, the plant was converted into an armaments factory. Mainly grenade detonators and ammunition cases made of copper and brass were later also made of iron. The number of workers rose from 115 to 350 and economically this period was associated with high profits. In addition to the previous workers, women and prisoners of war were also employed.
The Second World War - arms production and closure in 1962
No direct armaments were produced, but mainly industrial intermediate and semi-finished products such as pipes, rods, profiles and sheets made of copper and brass. In addition, screws, nuts, washers and split pins made of special alloys as well as copper and brass. The factory could only make little profits because prices and wages were predetermined. The factory received almost no war-related damage and at the end of the war and the first few years after that it was quite a mess. From 1950 113 people were employed, 96 manual workers, 15 salaried employees and 2 apprentices. Business was bad and in 1956 a settlement was filed. Of the 160 employees, 70 were laid off and the pipes and rods production area was closed. In 1959, rationalization measures were carried out and with the support of the Flensburg district, the plant was renovated with little success. As the market prospects worsened, operations were discontinued in 1962 after more than 350 years.
From 1962 from factory to museum
After the factory was closed in 1962, the history of the private museum began by the teacher couple Daetz. As early as the 1990s, there were the first expansion concepts for a museum landscape in Kupfermühle, which with the establishment of the Förderverein Industriemuseum Kupfermühle e. V. got another mainstay in 1998. In 2007, the chairman of the industrial association Gerd Pickardt commissioned the first drafts for an industrial museum. The renovation was only possible through the revised concepts and many years of commitment to finance the project. For the entire last year, Mr. Pickardt worked almost every day - on a voluntary basis - for the association on the construction site as site manager. The work was supported by numerous regional craft businesses and the architectural office “Bauwerk” as well as the commitment of volunteer employees and some of the “neighbors” in Kupfermühle. Funding of 1.7 million euros for the renovation came from Denmark, the state of Schleswig-Holstein and the EU, grants from the Harrislee community and private sponsors. Since July 2, 2014, the long road to a new museum landscape in the old factory location Kupfermühle has taken another step forward.
After a year of construction, the expanded and redesigned Industrial Museum Kupfermühle - Kobbermølle Industrimuseum - has been reopened. In addition to the old, completely renovated machine hall and the workshop in the turbine house, another converted industrial hall of the "Crusauer copper and brass factory" has been added. Behind this is not only an interesting local and factory history that began in the 17th century, but also an exciting museum history.
gallery
historical hammer mill of the copper mill
Steam engine with flywheel, gearbox and generator
Drawing of a water turbine from Voith
Raw copper bars from Røros
literature
- Kurt Andresen: Local development and everyday life in the village of Kupfermühle. From the beginning to the present. Harrislee Ward, Harrislee 1997. (= Chronicle Harrislee , Volume 1.)
- Susanne Rudloff: copper mill. The copper and brass works on the Krusau. From hammer mill to industrial company. Broager (DK) 2011, ISBN 978-87-89984-31-5
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ general-anzeiger-bonn.de accessed on September 23, 2018
- ↑ flensburgjournal.de accessed on September 23, 2018
- ↑ flensburgjournal.de accessed on September 23, 2018
- ↑ shz.de accessed on September 23, 2018
Coordinates: 54 ° 50 ′ 15 " N , 9 ° 24 ′ 56.5" E