Petit & Gebr. Edelbrock

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Petit & Gebr. Edelbrock
legal form GmbH & Co. KG
founding 1690
Seat Gescher
management Dirk Huettemann
Number of employees 25th
Branch Bell and art casting
Website www.petit-edelbrock-gescher.de

Petit & Gebr. Edelbrock is a bell and art foundry based in the Westphalian town of Gescher . According to the company, it has existed since 1690.

history

Beginnings among the petits

Foundry premises
Bell casting at Petit & Gebr. Edelbrock on September 5, 2008

While in the official information the year 1690 is given as the foundation date, there is no clearly documented date of the foundation. The year 1690 refers to the year of birth of Joseph Petit, but the origins of the company go back even further to the middle of the 17th century in Lorraine . The bell and cannon founder Jean Francois Petit married Maria Julliens on November 29, 1688, daughter of the bell founder Nicolas Julliens, who also dominated the bell foundry. After this family union, they poured bells together in the decades that followed. The places of activity were not limited to Lorraine, but also extended to Germany. In 1715 the Petits moved to Nederweert in the southern Netherlands, probably as a result of the Huguenot persecution and the resulting deterioration in the economic situation .

In the years 1718 to 1721 the two brothers Joseph and Jean Petit traveled through the Netherlands as well as the Rhineland and Westphalia . They poured several bells together. When Joseph married Johanna Maria Guns on January 27, 1720, the family came into the possession of De Donck Castle, where they set up a permanent bell foundry. His brother Jean established a bell foundry in Niederelten near Emmerich in 1743 and a bell foundry in Hünxe in 1744 .

In 1745 Alexius Petit the Elder took over the bell foundry as the eldest son of Joseph Petit. On the side he also founded a brewery, but he lost track of the shops, so that in 1778 he was forced to sell the castle to the brothers Johan and Philip de Rooij. In the following years he moved with his sons through the Netherlands, the Rhineland and Westphalia, where they worked together as bell founders.

In 1787 Alexius' path led to Gescher, where he built a foundry in the following years. The first bell cast in Gescher was the casting of a bell from St. Pankratius. His son Alexius Petit the Younger granted extended warranty periods of up to four years for the first time in the 1790s. After his father's death in 1801, Alexius d. J. finally settled in Gescher on February 19, 1806. In December he married Maria Theodora Catharina Agnes Elisabeth Edelbrock from Horstmar and became a citizen of Gescher on January 2, 1808. Immediately after settling in Gescher, Alexius the Elder established J. on Hofstrasse has a company site with an oven with a capacity of 5000 kg. His special abilities as a bell caster were mentioned in the Düsseldorfer Zeitung on July 26, 1841 , according to which he had cast 447 bells without a single faulty casting, and not one of them had cracked.

Edelbrock Brothers (1823–1912)

The marriage with his wife remained childless, so Alexius d. J. in 1823 to accept his two nephews Joseph and Bernhard Wilhelm Edelbrock into the company. After the death of Alexius d. J. in 1842 they continued the company as Petit & Gebr. Edelbrock . You were honored with the silver medal at the Paris World's Fair in 1855. After the deaths of Bernhard Wilhelm in 1859 and Joseph in 1885, the foundry passed to Rudolf Edelbrock, who had already taken over the management of the company. Carl Edelbrock emerged from his marriage to Crescentia Mayer from Hechingen and took over the foundry in 1899. He is considered the most important bell founder of the Edelbrock family and made a number of well-known bells and bells, but emigrated to the USA in 1912 .

Management under the Hüesker family (1912 to 2010)

Four new bells for St. Lamberti in Münster (Westphalia), cast on September 5, 2008

Since Carl Edelbrock's only son was killed in an accident, he handed over management of the company to his friend and relative Werner Hüesker. He led the foundry through the difficult economic situation during the First World War and the hyperinflation during the Weimar Republic . After the economic situation had improved, a third bell pit and a 13,000 kg furnace were built in 1925. This furnace is still in use today.

After Werner Hüesker's death in 1932, his son Hans took over the foundry. During the Second World War , the casting of new bells was prohibited and production was limited to armament components as well as pipes, siphons and six-way taps. After the war ended and war damage had been repaired, the production of bells was resumed. The first cast bell was intended for the emergency church in Coesfeld . In October 1948, the largest bells cast in Germany after the Second World War were cast for the Catholic parish in Lindenberg im Allgäu with a total weight of 18,500 kg.

In 1956 the production of gray cast iron was started, but stopped a few years later because the machines that had become necessary for this would not have fit into the factory halls. Instead, the focus was on the production of art castings.

After Hans Hüesker's death in 1979, his wife Florence Hüesker took over the company. She had been involved in it since the wedding in 1959. In 1988 she cast the 13,000 kg heaviest bell ever made in Germany after the Second World War. In 1995 - after the death of Florence Hüesker - the management of the foundry was transferred to the son Hans-Göran Hüesker, under whose direction computer-controlled firing processes were introduced.

Hans Göran Hüesker died on August 17, 2019 at the age of 58.

Bankruptcy and a fresh start

On July 27, 2010, an application was made to the Münster District Court to open insolvency proceedings due to impending insolvency. The aim was to implement the necessary restructuring measures as part of the insolvency plan and to make the bell foundry fit for the future again. The bankruptcy proceedings ended on September 24, 2012. With a revised strategy and a new image, the company has since been concentrating on the bell and art casting manufacture and also offers a shop and tours through the heritage-protected production facility.

From March 1, 2012 to March 31, 2016, the management was held by the committed Düsseldorf entrepreneur Rainer Esser. During this period, more than 100 bells between 200 and 4800 kg were cast for the national and international market. In the field of art casting, the company also takes on orders for artists from Germany and neighboring countries.

As the successor to Rainer Esser, Andreas Hahner from Oelde took over the management from 2016 to 2017, who was replaced by Dirk Hüttemann in 2018. Today the company has 26 employees again.

Works (selection)

Surname place Nominal Mass
(in kg) 		Caster Casting year Remarks
Gangolfus Heinsberg , St. Gangolf of the 1st approx. 1,930 Alexius d. Ä. and Petrus Petit 1764 It is one of the largest bells from these foundries. It was cast at De Donck Castle near Aarle-Rixtel.
unknown Vreden , St. Georg c 1 approx. 2,500 Alexius Petit the Elder J. 1822 one of the largest surviving bells in Westphalia from the beginning of the 19th century
3-part bell Sindorf , St. Maria Queen e 1 –fis 1 –gis 1 2,075 Joseph and Wilhelm Edelbrock 1850 It is one of the oldest, fully preserved bells from this foundry. In 1967 a fourth bell (nominal h 1 ) was added by the same company.
9-part bell Fulda , Fulda Cathedral h 0 -cis 1 -dis 1 -e 1 -fis 1 -gis 1 -a 1 -h 1 -fis 2 unknown Carl & Rudolf Edelbrock 1897 the only surviving bell is the Salvator bell in h 0
4-part bell Giesel , St. Laurentius near Fulda g sharp 1 -h 1 -c sharp 2 -g 2 1,225 Petit & Gebr. Edelbrock (1950) / Hans Hüesker (1971) 1950 1971 In 1950 the bells that were melted down in 1942 during World War II were purchased. 1971 Re-casting of the St. Laurentius and St. Anna bells newly acquired by Monasterium Eijsbouts in 1962 .
15-part carillon Denver , St. John's Cathedral a 0 17,500 Carl Edelbrock 1905 only the biggest bell rings
Osanna Fulda, Fulda Cathedral g sharp 0 5,526 Carl Edelbrock 1908 not received; Replaced in 1953 by a new cast by Friedrich Wilhelm Schilling
4-part bell Bonn , St. Elisabeth c 1 -es 1 -f 1 -g 1 6,050 Carl Edelbrock 1908 is under monument protection
St. Bernardus Munster , St. Paul's Cathedral g 0 5,745 Carl Edelbrock 1911 confiscated and melted down in World War II in 1942
unknown Osnabrück , St. Katharinen g 0 7.002 Werner Hüesker
7-part bell Lindenberg im Allgäu , parish church of St. Peter and Paul g 0 -a 0 -c 1 -d 1 -e 1 -g 1 -a 1 18,500 Hans Huesker 1945 Until 2009 the largest new casting in Germany after the Second World War
5-part bell Minden , Minden Cathedral h 0 -d 1 -e 1 -fis 1 -g 1 Hans Huesker 1948 Big ringing of 5 bells, shown at the Hanover Fair.
Expanded and scrapped in 1993.
6-part bell Landau in der Pfalz , parish church of St. Maria a 0 -c 1 -e 1 -g 1 -a 1 -h 1 Hans Huesker 1953 According to experts, one of the best chimes in the foundry
Maria Aachen , Aachen Cathedral g 0 +8 6,045 Hans Huesker 1958 Replacement for the cast by Rudolf Edelbrock, which was smashed in 1942 (1881)
Martin Fritzlar , Fritzlar Cathedral of St. Peter ais 0 +3 3,416 Hans Huesker 1972 largest of the eight cathedral bells (six historical and one more from 1972)
Joseph Bell Oberhausen , Provost Church of St. Clemens f '+ 9 775 ? 1974 in memory of the 100th anniversary of the KAB St. Clemens
Pope's bell Dietkirchen , St. Lubentius as 0 approx. 5,000 Florence Hüesker 1980 Cast in the presence of a Vatican embassy, ​​consecrated by Pope John Paul II on November 17, 1980
Stupa San Francisco e 0 13,000 Florence Hüesker 1988 heaviest bell cast in Germany after the Second World War
Peace Bell, Clemens Bell, Don Bosco Bell Oberhausen , Provost Church of St. Clemens a ° + 2, c '+ 7, d' + 8 3,150, 1,800, 1,220 ? 1988 The 3 bells were added to the 6-part ringing one year after the church tower was rebuilt. The peace bell is one of the deepest bronze bells in the Ruhr area.
Thanks bell Spandau , St. Nikolai Church b 0 3,400 ? 1990 The show with the mouse filmed their special show about bell casting .
Liudger Billerbeck , Propsteikirche St. Ludgerus ges 0 7,200 Florence Hüesker 1992
World Youth Day Bell
(officially: John Paul II Bell ) 		Cologne , St. Apostles g 0 6,700 Hans-Göran Hüesker 2005 She was by Pope Benedict XVI. consecrated at the beginning of the vigil ceremony at World Youth Day on August 20, 2005 on Marienfeld near Cologne .

Web links

Commons : Glockengießerei Petit & Gebr. Edelbrock  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Westf. Nachrichten: Petit & Gebr. Edelbrock apply for insolvency proceedings. July 26, 2010. ( Memento from February 12, 2013 in the web archive archive.today )
  2. ↑ Wamsiedler.de: Bell foundry Petit & Gebr. Edelbrock terminates insolvency proceedings. September 12, 2012.
  3. ^ Cathedral of St John in the Wilderness. Accessed July 30, 2020 (English).
  4. ^ Roland Pieper , Anna-Beatriz Chadour-Sampson: City of Minden . Part II: Old Town 1 & The Cathedral District. In: Fred Kaspar, Ulf-Dietrich Korn (Hrsg.): Architectural and art monuments of Westphalia . tape 50 . Klartext-Verlag, Essen 1998, ISBN 3-88474-632-4 , Chapter VII Equipment. The bells, S. 853 .
  5. ↑ Matthias Dichter: Tower recording of the bells of the Provost St. Clemens. In: YouTube. Matthias Dichter, November 25, 2017, accessed on November 25, 2017 (German).
  6. ↑ Die Maus Spezial - Glockengießen (shot in the 1990s by Petit & Gebr. Edelbrock) on YouTube .

Coordinates: 51 ° 57 ′ 20 ″  N , 7 ° 0 ′ 34 ″  E