Friedrich Gottlob Keller

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Friedrich Gottlob Keller

Friedrich Gottlob Keller (born June 27, 1816 in Hainichen ; † September 8, 1895 in Krippen ) was a German inventor. In the 19th century, he developed the method for making paper using wood pulp, which is still used today . With this he created the basis for the industrial mass production of cheap paper.

Live and act

Keller's house in cribs
Gravestone in nativity scenes

Friedrich Gottlob Keller was born the son of a master weaver. From childhood he was interested in technology and mechanics . However, the resulting career aspiration for a mechanic could not be financed by his parents, so he completed an apprenticeship as a weaver and leafbinder. In 1839 he acquired the rights of a master weaver in Hainichen.

Keller was considered a restless spirit, hobbyist and inventor who found no satisfaction in his original profession. Rather, he was concerned with suggestions for improvement or innovation for technical-mechanical processes. We have survived projects in which, among other things, he dealt with telegraphy , improvements to agricultural equipment and a water lifting device.

With his main invention, wood pulp paper, he took up one of the most pressing industrial problems of his time. The previously common method of making paper from textile rags ( rags ) reached its limits as early as 1700 due to the lack of rags. However, especially in the first half of the 19th century, the demand for paper increased. Paper was needed in large quantities for the emerging newspaper industry, for packaging, cardboard, cardboard and many other purposes.

In Keller's handwritten notes, which he kept in the form of a book of ideas, the idea of " making paper from wood fibers that are produced by friction" can be found in 1841/42 . When implementing this idea, he remembered wasp nests, which consist of saliva-insulated wood fibers. At the end of 1843, Keller succeeded in making paper from a mixture of finely sanded wood and rags .

Two years later, Keller acquired a paper mill in Kühnhaide near Marienberg in the Ore Mountains for the industrial evaluation of his invention . However, his attempts to capitalize on his invention failed due to a lack of commercial skills and insufficient equity. In addition, part of the mill was destroyed during a flood, so that the indebted cellar was forced to hand over its patent for paper production to the manufacturer Heinrich Voelter (1817–1887) from Heidenheim in 1846 , who then together with Johann Matthäus Voith (1803– 1874) further developed the cellar wood grinding process.

In 1853, Keller moved to Krippen and ran a mechanical workshop there. In the period that followed, the inventor dealt with the development of forestry measuring tools and the manufacture of milling and planing machines. He was unable to reduce his debts. It was not until a public appeal made in 1892 that collections made it possible to pay a monthly pension. The appeal also meant that Keller's services came more into the public eye, so that he was honored and honored even in his old age. The Neumannmühle Technical Monument in the Kirnitzschtal near Bad Schandau reminds us of him as the inventor of wood grinding.

Friedrich Gottlob Keller died in cribs. This is also where his final resting place is located.

Merit

Keller's merit lay in introducing the wood fiber into paper production. This expansion of the raw material base enabled the large-scale and cheap paper production. This laid the foundation for the development of the printing industry and modern newspaper printing . The first newspaper to be printed on Keller's new paper is known today as the Frankenberger Kreisblatt from 1845. It is incorrectly referred to as the world's first newspaper. Keller can therefore also be assigned a significant share in the broad dissemination of knowledge and information. It is part of the fact that paper in its many forms of use has found its way into people's everyday lives.

Honors

Monument in Hainichen
  • In his honor, a museum was set up in his former home in Krippen, Friedrich-Gottlob-Keller-Strasse 76.
  • His hometown of Hainichen made him an honorary citizen in 1893 while he was still alive and later erected a memorial.
  • The Kingdom of Saxony honored him in 1893 by awarding him the Royal Saxon Order of Merit, second class.
  • The Academic Paper Engineers Association at the Technical University of Dresden e. V. awards the Friedrich Gottlob Keller Medal for outstanding scientific, technical or industrial achievements in the field of paper technology.

Archives

literature

  • Adolf Benedello: Keller-Voelter. The introduction of wood pulp in the paper industry. Edited by the Kabel paper mill. Hagen Cable 1957.
  • Klaus Beneke: Friedrich Gottlob Keller - inventor of the wood grinder (06/27/1816 Hainichen (Saxony) - 09/08/1895 cribs near Schandau (Saxony)). Kiel 2003; Digitized version (PDF, 196 kB)
  • Franz Maria Feldhaus:  Keller, Friedrich . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 53, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1907, p. 765.
  • Ursula Kolb: The restless spirit - Friedrich Gottlob Keller (1816–1895). Gellert Museum, Hainichen 2008.
  • Municipality of Krippen (ed.): 1379–1979. 600 years of nativity scenes. Local history educational trail through nativity scenes. Pirna 1979.
  • Herbert Pönicke:  Keller, Friedrich. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 11, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1977, ISBN 3-428-00192-3 , p. 436 ( digitized version ).
  • Paul Schlicke: The inventor Keller. (Skalden books, volume 59), Schmidt & Spring publishing house, Leipzig 1938.
  • Wolfgang Schlieder: The inventor of the wood grinding Friedrich Gottlob Keller. Leipzig 1977.
  • Wolfgang Schlieder: On the invention of wood grinding by Friedrich Gottlob Keller. In: Sächsische Heimatblätter, issue 1/1981, pp. 18–22
  • Hans Leo Sittauer: Kühnhaide's paper miller. The children's book publisher Berlin, Berlin 1980
  • Hans Leo Sittauer: Friedrich Gottlob Keller. (Biographies of outstanding natural scientists, technicians and physicians, Volume 59), Leipzig 1982.
  • Alf-Mathias Strunz, Christian Bleyl: From the invention of the production of ground wood by Friedrich Gottlob Keller (1816–1895) and its implementation in companies in the paper industry in Saxony. in: Sächsische Heimatblätter 62 (2016) 4, pp. 245-252

Web links

Commons : Friedrich Gottlob Keller  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ community nursery: 1379-1979. 600 years of nativity scenes. P. 34
  2. ^ Franz Maria Feldhaus:  Keller, Friedrich . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 53, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1907, p. 765.
  3. ^ Statute for the award of the Friedrich Gottlob Keller Medal. (PDF) Academic Paper Engineers Association at TU Dresden eV, June 20, 2003, accessed on July 21, 2016 : "This honor is intended to recognize outstanding scientific, technical or industrial achievements in the field of paper technology as well as meritorious achievements in the activities of the association."
  4. ^ The Hainichen cellar collection in the Gellert Museum Hainichen
personal data
SURNAME Keller, Friedrich Gottlob
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German inventor
DATE OF BIRTH June 27, 1816
PLACE OF BIRTH Hainichen
DATE OF DEATH September 8, 1895
Place of death Cribs