Ottomeyer (company)

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Ottomeyer Friedrich Ottomeyer Wilhelm Ottomeyer Otto Ottomeyer
legal form	Initially sole proprietorship , later KG / GmbH
founding	1866
resolution	2010
Seat	Wellentrup → Steinheim → Lügde / Pyrmont → Detmold
Branch	mechanical engineering

Ottomeyer (full company initially Friedrich Ottomeyer , later also Wilhelm Ottomeyer and Otto Ottomeyer ) is a former family business of agricultural machinery technology from East Westphalia-Lippe . The company was founded in Wellentrup in 1866 , later the three branches of the company had their main locations in Steinheim , Lügde (near Pyrmont ) and Detmold .

The company is best known as a manufacturer and operator of steam plows in the middle of the 20th century. The deep plows of the Mammut type developed by Ottomeyer for peat cultivation are the largest plows in the world, and the associated plow locomotives , reinforced by Ottomeyer, are the most powerful self-propelled locomotives ever built .

history

Foundation and development under Friedrich Ottomeyer (until 1895)

The company's founder Friedrich Ottomeyer (1838–1895), economist, manufacturer, member of parliament in Lippe

The company was founded by the industrial pioneer and later member of the Lippe state parliament, Friedrich Ottomeyer. He came from a large farming background and ran a farm in Wellentrup as an oeconom (farmer) (courtyard no. 10, Alte Ortsstraße 3, 51 ° 56 ′ 24.3 ″  N , 9 ° 1 ′ 29.6 ″  E ).

In addition to his agricultural business, Ottomeyer built up a trade and a mechanical workshop for agricultural machinery and mill technology . As a general agent, he imported various agricultural machines ( mowing , chopping , drilling and hay turning machines , as well as plows , harrows and pumps ), mainly from England, and sold them in the region. Among other things, Ottomeyer introduced the first locomobile in East Westphalia in 1859 .

In 1866 Ottomeyer received his concession for the commercial use of steam engines, imported two locomobiles from England and offered them as a contractor in the region's agriculture and forestry for threshing and wood sawing .

From 1871 the company traded as Ottomeyer & Cordes and was based in the nearby Prussian Pyrmont. In 1874 Ottomeyer bought together with the businessman Lewi Emmrich the Buiter Mühle , a saw and grinding mill on the Heubach in the southwest of Steinheim (Detmolder Str. 65, 51 ° 51 ′ 42.7 ″  N , 9 ° 5 ′ 19.7 ″  E ) . Emmrich remained involved in the company as a financier until 1879. In 1877 Ottomeyer parted ways with his business partner Cordes in Pyrmont; the Ottomeyer family moves the business to Steinheim.

After moving to Steinheim, Ottomeyer sold his former machine shop in Wellentrup. In 1888 the building was converted into the region's first cooperative dairy ("Alte Molkerei", Istruper Str. 74, 51 ° 56 '26.5 "  N , 9 ° 1' 23"  E ). The Ottomeyersche Hof was also given up a few years later (1903, to the widow Meyer zu Biesen ).

In 1877 (or 1887?) Ottomeyer bought the first set of steam plows from John Fowler & Co. (Magdeburg branch). This plow was also rented out along with the operating team in a tried and tested manner. In 1889 Ottomeyer purchased another machine set with a threshing machine from Lanz .

Division of the company

After the death of the company founder Friedrich Ottomeyer in 1895, the family business was initially continued by his widow Friederike and his sons. The Ottomeyer brothers later decided to split the company among themselves. This resulted in three branches of the company:

Friedrich Ottomeyer (1838–1895) farm in Wellentrup, machine shop and trade in Steinheim

Friedrich Ottomeyer jun. (1862–1944) Mill and agricultural machinery trade in Steinheim

Wilhelm Ottomeyer (1867–1950) Steam plow business in Pyrmont / Lügde

Otto Ottomeyer (1877–1945) brick factory in Meinberg , engineering office in Horn , machine factory in Detmold

Werner Ottomeyer (? –1964)

Fritz Ottomeyer (1904–1970)

Hans Ottomeyer (1909–?)

Hans Ottomeyer (* 1946) art historian, President of the DHM

Otto Ottomeyer (brick factory in Meinberg, engineering office in Horn, machine factory in Detmold)

As early as 1904, Ottomeyer's youngest son Otto left the family business and took over a brick factory in Meinberg (No. 151, 51 ° 53 ′ 21.4 ″  N , 8 ° 58 ′ 3.2 ″  E ) , which he converted into a steam brick advanced. He also founded an engineering office and a machine and fittings factory, with which he later moved to Detmold (Hornsche Str. 35, 51 ° 55 '52.4 "  N , 8 ° 52' 49.7"  E ) and which he shared with his son under the company O. Ottomeyer & Sohn oHG .

From 1959 Hans Ottomeyer, a son of Otto Ottomeyer, was a member of the board of the agricultural machinery manufacturer Rheinstahl Hanomag AG in Hanover. His son Hans Ottomeyer jun. is known as an art historian and president of the Foundation of the German Historical Museum .

Most recently (from 1998) the branch in Detmold operated as Ottomeyer Armaturen GmbH .

Wilhelm Ottomeyer (steam plow company in Lügde / Pyrmont)

Wilhelm Otto Meyer (right, with melon ) at the launch of Kuhlpflugs "Mammoth" (1948)

Plow and locomobile from Ottomeyer in the outdoor area of ​​the Emsland Moor Museum
(before moving to the new hall in 2010)

Kuhlpflug "Mammut"

"Thuringia" plow locomotive, 450 hp (conversion based on Fowler / Henschel)

The contract operation of steam plows with the associated conversion and maintenance work increasingly developed into the most important branch of the Ottomeyer company from 1900. By buying used plow locomobiles from competitors and either refurbishing or scrapping them, Ottomeyer grew to become one of the leading suppliers in this competitive market. Up until the end of the First World War in 1918, Ottomeyer plows worked mainly in the cultivation of wasteland in the Wiedenbrück district and on fields in the Magdeburg Börde , around Braunschweig , Kassel and Hanover .

With increasing success and increasing experience, Ottomeyer started developing machines and devices himself and building them in his own workshop. Ottomeyer always used locomobiles from other manufacturers ( Fowler , Henschel , Heucke , Rheinmetall , ASTO , Kemna ) as a basis for the plow locomotives , which were then converted and improved. Ottomeyer also produced completely in-house designs for plows and other agricultural implements.

After the decision to split up the company, Wilhelm Ottomeyer started his own business in 1920 with the steam plow business. He moved the company, which had meanwhile grown to six machine sets and has therefore become too big for the narrow workshop buildings in Steinheim, to Lügde , where he worked on the border with the city of Pyrmont (Pyrmonter Straße 64, near the train station, 51 ° 58 ′ 13 , 2 ″  N , 9 ° 15 ′ 51.6 ″  E ) took over a site. By 1925 the number of plow teams had risen to nine.

From 1925 onwards, Ottomeyer lost many orders to the newly founded, state-run German Wasteland Culture Society (Dökult), which had up to 25 locomobiles and, as a public company , was preferred to private providers when awarding public contracts. Ottomeyer survived the crisis by increasingly moving abroad (especially to the Netherlands and Denmark ). After Dökult was dissolved in 1931, Ottomeyer again received more orders from within Germany. Ottomeyer experienced an economic upswing from the mid-1930s, particularly in the context of the Third Reich's striving for self-sufficiency. In 1938 Wilhelm Ottomeyer already had twenty-four steam plow sets and more than 100 other agricultural machines. Between 1887 and 1947 the Ottomeyer company deep plowed around 200,000 hectares of land in Germany, the Netherlands and Denmark.

During the Second World War Otto Meyers were Planier -Dampfpflüge also be used to airfields for the German Air Force to create.

The Wilhelm Ottomeyer company achieved its greatest historical importance in the post-war period between 1945 and 1970. Although Ottomeyer operated fewer machine sets than before the war (in 1960 there were only sixteen plow sets compared to 24 in 1938), they were much larger and more powerful. Compared to the pre-war period, the plowing depth and the drive power of the plow locomotives were more than doubled.

The trigger for this development was a greatly increased need for land in western Germany for the settlement of displaced persons and refugees from the German eastern regions . For recovery of additional agricultural land was planned, among other things, the cultivation of peat - and wasteland , especially in northwest Germany. The largest project of this kind was the Emsland Plan adopted in 1950 . Since deep mixing was required to improve the soil structure, the cultivation plans led to a high demand for powerful and large deep plows. Steam plow combinations were particularly suitable for this. As early as 1946, Ottomeyer received his first orders for operations on the German-Dutch border, e.g. B. at Neugnadenfeld (Alexisdorf) in the Bourtanger Moor .

Starting in 1936, together with the state moor research station in Bremen, Ottomeyer had developed a method for the particularly difficult moorland in the Emsland. To achieve the required plowing depth, Ottomeyer designed and built a new type of tilting plow, called the Mammut (see pictures), which could turn the soil up to 2.2 meters deep. Because of the two long plowshares , reminiscent of the pointed wings of a swallow , the tilting plow was also popularly known as the "Emsland swallow ".

To drive the plow, Ottomeyer also built a high-performance locomobile based on a Fowler machine with a Henschel steam boiler. Many parts were modified and reinforced by Ottomeyer in order to be able to implement the high tractive power of 450–500 hp each  . These were the most powerful self-propelled locomotives in the world ever built. Two such machines, almost 1000 hp, pulled on each side of the mammoth plow, i. H. a total of four machines were in use.

Wilhelm Ottomeyer died in 1950, just as his method was breakthrough. After that, the rental plow business was managed by his son Fritz. The successful era of the mammoth plows in peatland cultivation lasted for Ottomeyer until the early 1970s. The last mission was - documented by film recordings - on September 20, 1972 at Groß Hesepe . Thereafter, Ottomeyer stopped steam plowing. Other deep plowing operations, such as the last state-funded deep cultivation measure in Germany in 1986 near Groß Hesepe, were carried out by Ottomeyer with attached plows behind teams of caterpillar vehicles .

Friedrich Ottomeyer jun. (Mill, machine shop and trade in Steinheim)

After the death of Friedrich Ottomeyer, the mill in Steinheim with the attached sales and repair company for agricultural machinery was taken over by his eldest son Friedrich jun. ("Fritz") continued.

In 1911 the mill was modernized, the drive was changed from traditional water wheels to turbines . In 1924 the mill was rebuilt again and two floors were added.

Fritz Ottomeyer died in 1944 and Werner Ottomeyer took over management of the company.

The sawmill operation in Steinheim continued until 1948, the grain mill operation until 1969, after which the mill was shut down. The activities at the Steinheim location were then limited to trading as well as the construction and maintenance of agricultural machinery and vehicles.

Parallel to his cousin's rental plow business in Pyrmont, which was still flourishing at the time, Werner Ottomeyer in Steinheim had already started to expand in the agricultural machinery and tractor trade in the late 1950s. For the growing retail business, Ottomeyer founded several branches in the wider area, starting from the headquarters in Steinheim, for example in 1957 in Beverungen , 1958 in Bösingfeld , 1960 in Kleinenberg and 1967 in Hohenwepel . In 1959, Ottomeyer also opened a Fiat brand car dealership in Steinheim in addition to the agricultural machinery trade . From 1971 onwards, Ottomeyer exclusively imported and sold tractors and agricultural machinery from the American manufacturer John Deere in Germany.

In his last will , the company boss Werner Ottomeyer, who died in 1964, stipulated that the executor should take over the functions of a supervisory board for the family company Ottomeyer. From 1979 this task was transferred to the previous managing director Julius Stiel. In 1984 Dietmar Sieland took up the position of managing director; In 1988/89 he bought the company and became the sole owner. He made Gerhard Niehaus managing director. In 1995 and 1997 respectively, Sieland transferred 40% of its shares to his sons Volker and Ralf and made them managing directors.

From 1985 Ottomeyer also sold small machines and devices for gardening and landscaping and for municipal companies and opened its own horticultural store in 1990 . In the 1990s, after German reunification , Ottomeyer expanded massively through the purchase of companies in the New Länder , among others. a. in Klebe , Grimma , Dannenwalde , Neustadt - Kampehl and Bad Dürrenberg . In addition , further trading branches were founded in the original West German region, in Paderborn and Groß Berkel .

In 2010 there was a falling out with John Deere after economic difficulties . Subsequently, the traditional company Ottomeyer had to file for bankruptcy. Only the former, now independent subsidiaries Ottomeyer & Schmücker-Geringhoff (OSG) and Ottomeyer-MV were not affected.

Preserved steam plows

Of several dozen steam plow sets that Ottomeyer built and operated, the following specimens have been preserved in museums or from private collectors:

Type	Original manufacturer	Surname	Construction year	Serial no. (Original manufacturer)	Location	Note / sources	image
Kuhlpflug type " Mammut "	Ottomeyer (self-made)	"Heumar" (?)			Emsland Moor Museum , Groß Hesepe , Lower Saxony	Relocated from the outdoor area to the new hall in 2010
		" Oldenburg "			Cloppenburg Museum Village , Cloppenburg , Lower Saxony
Plow locomotive (Ottomeyer conversion)	Rheinmetall	"Mecklenburg" I + II	1922	457	Heusser farm, Zurich - Hönggerberg , Switzerland ( 47 ° 24 ′ 20.9 ″  N , 8 ° 30 ′ 12.3 ″  E )	Private property, with plow
				458
		"Heumar"	1928	775	Cloppenburg Museum Village , Cloppenburg , Lower Saxony
	Kemna	"Berlin" I + II	1911	337	German Museum of Technology , Berlin	In the archives of the museum, not on public display
				338	Bad Pyrmont (?)	Status and exact location unclear
		"Küstrin" I + II	1912	413 (or 338?)	Hemp labyrinth / Leonhard Nordhues distillery, Oelde	Private; Visits by appointment only
				412	Car and Technology Museum , Sinsheim , Baden-Württemberg
	Henschel / Fowler (license)	"Magdeburg" I + II	1955	5183	Swabian Farming and Technology Museum , Eschach - Seifertshofen , Baden-Württemberg	Lokomobile is in working order and is regularly demonstrated at steam festivals
				5184
		"Thuringia" I + II		5185	Emsland Moor Museum , Hesepe , Lower Saxony	Relocated from the outdoor area to the new hall in 2010
				5186
		"Zeven"	1958		Preston , UK	Private property; 2007 offered for sale at the Preston Steam Rally (whereabouts unclear)

References

literature

• Dietmar Sieland: F. Ottomeyer Landmaschinenfabrik. 125 years in the service of agriculture 1866–1991 . Ottomeyer Group, Steinheim i. Westphalia 1991.
• Heinrich Stiewe: From the Meierhof to the machine factory. The beginnings of the Ottomeyer company in Wellentrup and Steinheim . In: Heinrich Stiewe (Hrsg.): Wellentrupp: History of a village in the Blomberger basin . Michael-Imhof-Verlag, Petersberg 2002, ISBN 3-935590-36-9 .
• Norman Poschwatta (Technical State Museum Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania): Steam plowing with Ottomeyer . In: Traktor Classic . No. 03/10 , 2010, p. 72 ( traktorclassic.de ).
• Andreas Kuntz-Stahl: The steam plow: Pictures and history of the mechanization and industrialization of agriculture and rural life in the 19th century . Jonas-Verlag, 1979.
• Dennis Borries et al .: Traction engines on Lippe's streets - the beginning and end of the smoking giants . Detmold 1991 ( short synopsis at LWL ).
• Bernd Oeljeschläger: The mammoth in the moor - steam flights in Emsland . In: Lower Saxony. Magazine for culture, history, homeland and nature since 1895 . Special issue Moor . Wildeshausen 2005, p. 38 ff .

Documentaries

• Historical film service Fridolin Benteler (ed.): The last steam plow use. Peat cultivation with Ottomeyer steam plows . consisting of two parts. wk & f Filmverlag (EAN: 4260069252192).
  • Part 1: The last steam plowers . ( Preview on Amazon.de - B / W sound film from 1962, annotated, approx. 20 minutes).
  • Part 2: Cultivation of peatlands with Ottomeyer steam plows . (Compilation of black and white sound film from 1940 and color silent film from 1959, annotated, approx. 26 minutes).
• Ottomeyer Lokomobile in Emsland. Color silent film (amateur video, Super 8), around 1970. Uploaded to YouTube by the Emsland-Moormuseum, accessed on April 10, 2013 . 
• “Mammut” deep plow from Ottomeyer / Pyrmont in Emsland. Color silent film from 1970. Uploaded to YouTube by the Emsland-Moormuseum, accessed on April 10, 2013 . 
• Ottomayer plowing engines 1972. Video from 1972. YouTube , accessed April 10, 2013 . 
• Stoommachine Stoomploegen. B / W sound film, with commentary in Dutch. YouTube , accessed April 10, 2013 . 

Web links

Commons : Wilhelm Ottomeyer  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Jens Große-Brauckmann: Gallery steam plows - Ottomeyer . Historical photos on fotocommunity.de
• Gert Hinrichs: Steam traction engine with plow , with photos from 1957
• Johann Beerens: The moor is awakening , with lots of photos

Remarks

1. ^ ^{A b c} Wilhelm Ottomeyer often stated "(at the station) Pyrmont " as the location on company signs and in advertising ; in fact, the property is in the municipality of Lügde and thus not in Lower Saxony (then Prussia), but in Westphalia.
2. ↑ Friedrich Ottomeyer was the heir to the court of Heinrich Philipp Ottomeyer (Ottomeier), who in 1817, as head of the Wellentruper peasantry, had caused a sensation with an open letter “Appeal to my Vatterland farmers” with the demands for a farmer's representation in the Lippe state parliament (cf. Johannes Arndt: The Principality of Lippe in the age of the French Revolution: 1770–1820 . Waxmann, Münster 1992 ( excerpt [PDF; 714 kB ]). )
3. ^ Name according to the map of the Prussian first recording : Butter Mühle
4. ↑ In Steinheim today, not far from the Ottomeyer company, a street is named after Friedrich Ottomeyer.
5. ↑ The bus stop in front of the former company premises on Pyrmonter Straße still bears the name "Ottomeyer" today.
6. ↑ Identical to one of the machines that von Ottomeyer acquired from pioneers of the British Army ( Royal Engineers ) stationed in Northern Germany ?

Individual evidence

1. ^ Derek Rayner: Traction Engines and other steam road engines (=  A Shire book . Volume 404 ). Osprey Publishing, 2008, ISBN 978-0-7478-0525-0 .
2. ↑ ^{a b c} Friedrich Ottomeyer . In: German Historical Museum (Hrsg.): Gründerzeit . Catalog for an exhibition in the German Historical Museum. Berlin 2008 ( excerpt ).
3. ↑ ^{a b c d} Chronicle. Wellentrup home page, accessed on September 25, 2012 (compiled from Heinrich Stiewe's village chronicle, see literature).  
4. ↑ Andreas Kuntz-Stahl: History of technology and museology: Contribution to a scientific history of museum-educational problems (=  European university publications: Volkskunde, Ethnologie . Volume 19 ). Lang, 1981, ISBN 3-8204-6857-9 .
5. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g h i j k l} Poschwatta (see literature)
6. ^ Roland Linde: Das Rittergut Gröpperhof (=  farms and families in Westphalia and Lippe . Volume 2 ). Books on Demand, 2006, ISBN 3-8334-4060-0 , pp. 91-93 .
7. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s} Albert Gieseler: Wilhelm Ottomeyer. Retrieved September 25, 2012 .  
8. ↑ ^{a b c d e f} F 134 - F. Ottomeyer GmbH & Co. KG. Archive inventory. Westphalian Economic Archive Foundation - North Rhine-Westphalia State Archive, accessed on January 12, 2012 .  
9. ↑ Anne Bentkamp: Henriette Meyer zu Biesen. Retrieved September 25, 2012 . 
10. ↑ ^{a b c} Ralf Vogeding: Lohndreschbetriebe and Maschinendrusch: a folklore study on the mechanization of agricultural work in Westphalia 1850-1970 (=  contributions to popular culture in north-west Germany . Issue 63). F. Coppenrath, 1989, ISBN 3-88547-312-7 .
11. ↑ familysearch.org
12. ↑ Herbert Penke: parish Meinberg: people. Retrieved March 9, 2016 . 
13. ↑ Herbert Penke: GermanyHofliste: Meinberg - No. 151 Otto Meyer.. (PDF; 59 kB) November 3, 2011, accessed on January 12, 2012 . 
14. ↑ ^{a b} When a mammoth plowed the Emsland . In: Meppener Tagespost . August 31, 2010 ( noz.de ).
15. ↑ Hen's March: Detmold Hornsche Straße (2) 1973. Photo from 1973 with the company sign of the Ottomeyer armature factory. Flickr, accessed April 9, 2013 . 
16. ^ ^{A b} Albert Gieseler: O. Ottomeyer & Son. Retrieved September 25, 2012 .  
17. ^ Albert Gieseler: Otto Ottomeyer, brickworks. Retrieved September 25, 2012 .  
18. ↑ Herbert Penke: GermanyHofliste: Meinberg No. 151 Otto Meyer. (PDF; 59 kB) November 3, 2011, accessed October 5, 2012 .  
19. ↑ Technology and agriculture: Landtechnischer Ratgeber . tape 11 , 1959, pp. 220 .
20. ↑ Detmold Local Court, Commercial Register Entry HRB 2742 of October 16, 1998, DUNS 317411288.
21. ↑ ^{a b} With the chair under his arm . In: Der Spiegel . No.  52 , 1948 ( online ).
22. ↑ ^{a b c d} Outdoor area: Mammut and Lokomobile, Emsland Moormuseum ( Memento from April 6, 2013 in the Internet Archive )
23. ↑ Kuntz-Stahl 1979 (see literature)
24. ^ ^{A b} Hermann Kaiser: Steam engines against moor and heather . Museumsdorf Cloppenburg , Cloppenburg 1982 ( excerpt ).
25. ↑ ^{a b c} Jörg List, Wolfgang List: Soil cultivation with steam power. (No longer available online.) Dampfpflug.de, archived from the original on November 11, 2014 ; Retrieved September 25, 2012 . 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.   
26. ↑ R. Eggelsmann in: Journal of Environmental Engineering Land surveyor 20 . Paul Parey, Berlin / Hamburg 1979, p. 108.
27. ↑ ^{a b} Rekers Digitaltechnik (Ed.): Ottomeyer steam locomotive. Model of the year 2006 . Information on the metal construction kit "Metallus". Self-published, Spelle 2006 ( PDF ).
28. ↑ Documentary The Last Steam Plow Use (see above, Section References: Documentaries )
29. ^ W. Schäfer: Moorkultivierung - a historical review . Lecture at the DBG conference 2012, Commission V. Ed .: Geozentrum Hannover, State Office for Mining, Energy and Geology of the State of Lower Saxony. 2012 ( Lecture presentation (PDF)).
30. ^ The history of the contract threshing and sawmill of the Meier family in Lüdenhausen / Weserbergland. ( Memento from October 25, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
31. ↑ Country seniors visited the Ottomeyer company in Kampehl A steep development ( Memento from April 29, 2013 in the web archive archive.today )
32. ^ The company Schmücker-Geringhoff Landtechnik: Chronicle. Retrieved April 9, 2013 . 
33. ^ David Schellenberg: Steinheim / Warburg: traditional company Ottomeyer bankrupt. nw-news.de ( Neue Westfälische online edition ), September 17, 2010, accessed on April 9, 2013 . 
34. ↑ Steam plows. Steam engine archive, September 26, 2010, accessed on September 26, 2012 . 
35. ↑ Susanna Austrup: Cultivated poor house . In: taz . August 3, 2010 ( taz.de ).
36. ^ Pia Meier: On foot in Höngg. (No longer available online.) Lokalinfo AG, 2010, formerly in the original ; Retrieved April 9, 2013 .  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.    
37. ↑ Züri z'Fuess. Out and about in Höngg . Civil Engineering and Waste Management Department of the City of Zurich, Zurich 2010 ( PDF ). PDF ( Memento of the original dated November 11, 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.  
38. ↑ Gabriele & Jörg Kantel: Dampfpflug 1906. Photo from the open day in the depot of the German Museum of Technology in Berlin. September 28, 2003, accessed April 9, 2013 . 
39. ↑ Steam plow locomobile. ( Memento from November 10, 2014 in the Internet Archive )