Fontaine'sche water turbine Rösrath
The Fontaine'sche water turbine is an industrial monument in Rösrath . The turbine, built in 1892, represents the rare type of cross- flow turbine . It is considered to be the last surviving turbine of its kind.
Monument description
The turbine was already used by the Rösrather Thonwerke Benfey & Co. and, since 1908, by the Stark & Biedermann leather factory as a power source. It is built into a single-storey, plastered solid building with a high basement, which is in front of the factory on the river side. The vertical turbine axis of the Queva turbine with Fontaine's top journal extends into the ground floor, which is separated from the basement by an oak floor, and here, connected by means of a bevel gear, drove a horizontal shaft with transmission gears. The horizontal shaft was located in a tunnel-like, narrow room with inclined connecting shafts for the transmission belts leading up to the former production levels above. The drive water - up to 2500 liters per second on a gradient of 2.1 meters - flowed through a guide device onto the double rim of the impeller. With the largest amount of water, the turbine made 52.5 hp. Using wooden protection boards, excess water could be channeled past the turbine house directly into the ditch. The turbine achieved an efficiency of 85%, which was significantly higher than that of the previously common water wheels.
Monument protection
On February 28, 2008, at the instigation of the owner, the water turbine was entered as monument no. 92 in the list of listed buildings of the city of Rösrath . The special monument value was proven by a report from the Rhenish Office for Monument Preservation. The monument is directly related to monument number 85 "Wehranlage / Mühlengraben an der Sülz", where the water for the turbine from the Sülz was diverted.
Historical background
The turbine and the associated factory were connected to Eulenbroich Castle from the start . Before Emil Biedermann bought the Eulenbroich house at the beginning of the 20th century and had it converted into a bourgeois villa based on a design by the Cologne architect Hermann Eberhard Pflaume , it was owned by the Cologne manufacturer Robert Rohr in the 19th century, who settled here as Mayor of Rösrath in 1851 . Rohr had turned the nearby brickworks into the factory in which Johann Heuser founded the Rösrather Thonwerke Benfey & Co. in 1892 , which produced roof tiles. After the Second World War, the Biedermann family had to give way to the English occupation and moved into the Hahnburg villa. This building was erected in 1882 by landowner JE Hahn. Between the factory and the Eulenbroich house, he created a park landscape with paths, ponds, ditches, dams, locks and exotic trees, some of which are still preserved today, while the Hahnburg villa was demolished in the 1980s to create a public park. Of particular importance in this extensive area is the mill ditch, which not only drove the turbine in the factory, but also the mill wheel of the monastery mill further down the valley .
In 1892, the "Rösrather Thonwerke Benfey & Co" installed the cross- flow turbine that is still in existence today to operate the rolling mills, clay separators, and pre- and post-pressing of the factory. This type of turbine was not as common as the tangential type (e.g. the Francis turbine ). An inlet ditch from the Sülz led the water to the turbine, which, via transmission belts, drove the machines of the clay factory and, until 1927, the leather factory that followed.
In 1907, Stark & Biedermann , a company from Schmalkalden in Thuringia , took over the building of the former Rösrath Tonwerke and set up a tannery and leather factory under high conditions, which initially offered 40 and later up to 80 Rösrath employees. A newly built boiler and machine house supplied water and steam power. Stark & Biedermann produced leather items for industrial use, for example transmission belts. War contracts spurred the factory in 1915, and even after two fires in 1929 and 1935, the factory flourished again until the shortage of raw materials in the Second World War led to its decline. In 1962, the factory with its outdated machinery became unprofitable and closed. The buildings were given a new function as a furniture store until they were partially demolished and made space for the new stores. The eastern part, not visible from the street, has been preserved and converted for residential purposes. The historic turbine system is located in the basement of this building.
The turbine itself was used by Stark & Biedermann to drive the machine park until 1927. After that, it remained unused and the machines were now electric.
technical description
The designer of the "Fontaine'schen water turbine" in Rösrath was the engineer JC Bernhard Lehmann, owner of Queva & Comp. in Erfurt . In one of his essays "About Turbines" in the journal of the Association of German Engineers (1879) he describes the different turbine systems:
“ The differentiation of the turbines according to systems can only be made according to two reasons of classification, namely according to the principle of action of the water in the turbine and according to the construction of the turbine. According to the principle of action of the water in the turbine, a distinction is made between reaction turbines, in which the water works for the most part by retroactive pressure, and action turbines, in which the water works wholly or for the most part by direct pressure. "
In the Rösrath turbine, both operating principles were combined. In this turbine, the diffuser that feeds the water to the rotor consists of two rings. The outer rim was constantly exposed to water. According to the principle of action, the water flows through the turbine with little or no overpressure and thus acts on the impeller. The pressure on the rotor has been increased even further by a special design - the "back blades".
The company Stark & Biedermann had a water right that allowed the withdrawal of 2.5 m³ / s of water from the Sülz. The water of the turbine was fed through the upper ditch and flowed through the outer rim. It can be assumed that the turbine absorbs kinetic energy and the like day and night. a. for the constantly running leather drum drums.
The inner ring of the guide apparatus was regulated by means of two roller gates. To do this, the flow was reduced and the pressure on the impeller increased (reaction principle). Rollschützen are two armored leather covers that are rolled up on two conical rollers. They had many practical advantages. At first the leather sealed completely. The roller runners were hardly at all stressed by the water pressure, so they kept a smooth, smooth gait. Smaller impurities carried along in the water could not harm the roller runners either, as they simply rolled over small obstacles. These roller gates were used on turbines with a gradient of up to 3 meters. They constricted the exposed cells.
" According to the second classification, according to the construction, a distinction is made between the turbines according to the position of the diffuser in relation to the impeller in axial and radial turbines, the latter in turn into those with internal and external impact, according to the degree of filling of the impeller in full turbines and in partial turbines. "
The Rösrath turbine is an axial turbine in which the water flows through the impeller parallel to the axis. At the same time, however, it is also a full turbine, as water flows through all channels of the impeller. The “Fontaine'sche water turbine” from Lederwerke Stark & Biedermann is therefore a full axial turbine with a combination of action and reaction principle. It was designed as a double-ring turbine, since the Sülz was probably already subject to strong water fluctuations in the past and with this construction a speed that was as constant as possible and a high degree of efficiency could be achieved.
The double-crowned diffuser rests in a cast-iron support ring, which stands on five column feet and is also suspended from two double-T-beams above the upper water level, probably intended to accommodate the previously existing regulating device. It is known from design drawings for other turbines that Lehmann basically designed the impeller rim with different blade heights and that it rests in a hollow cast rosette. In order to minimize turbulence on the impeller and thus to maintain the effectiveness of the rotor, ventilation pipes were brought into contact with the outside atmosphere. The hollow shaft probably turned around the spindle resting in a solidly anchored foot. This, in turn, is bolted above with the so-called Fontaine pin. This pin arrangement - hollow turbine shaft and fixed pin spindle, the Fontaine pin - was an essential technical achievement of the time. In the case of the Rösrath turbine, it is a Fontaine upper journal (end journal) with an inner track housing for tracking. In this track housing is located inside the hollow shaft, the particular by a seal, the obturator is secured against oil discharge.
reception
As part of the expedition home of the Rheinisch-Bergisches Kreis and with great support from the owner Yvonne Biedermann-Ridder as well as the Rhineland Regional Council and the German Society for Milling Research and Conservation , the listed complex was presented to the public for the first time in 2010.
In February 2014, the water turbine was presented to the public as “Monument of the Month”. With the aim of bringing the concerns of monument protection and local historical research into the consciousness of the citizens, the “Monument of the Month” brings ten monuments or objects worth seeing in the city of Rösrath into the public eye every year. The selection of the monuments is made by a committee consisting of representatives of the city council, the city administration, the history association Rösrath and an expert citizen.
See also
Web links
- History Association Rösrath: Monument: Water turbine Rösrath
- Rheinisch-Bergischer Kreis: The "Fontaine'sche water turbine" in Rösrath (1892–2010)
- German Mill Forum: Fontaine'sche Water Turbine Rösrath (Video)
- Mill Day 2010: Fontaine'sche water turbine Rösrath II (video)
literature
- Wilhelm Müller: The Francis turbines and the development of modern turbine construction , Gebrüder Jänecke, Hanover, 1901
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c Rhenish Office for Monument Preservation: Expert opinion according to § 22 Paragraph 3 Clause 1 on the monument value according to 32 DSchG NW ( Memento of the original dated February 22, 2014 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. , Pulheim January 7, 2008
- ↑ a b c leaflet Monument of the Month No. 5, February 2014 , ed. from the history association Rösrath
- ↑ a b c d e Rheinisch-Bergischer Kreis: The Fontaine'sche water turbine in Rösrath (1892–2010) ( Memento of the original from February 22, 2014 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.
- ↑ a b Water turbines are making it big , Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger, May 24, 2009; Accessed October 29, 2012.
- ^ Kölner Wochenspiegel: Monument of the Month February - The Rösrath Water Turbine from February 3, 2014; Accessed February 10, 2014
- ^ Bergisches Handelsblatt: Monument of the Month February - The Rösrath Water Turbine from February 3, 2014; Accessed February 10, 2014
Coordinates: 50 ° 54 ′ 7.1 ″ N , 7 ° 11 ′ 7.1 ″ E