Johann Friedrich Krigar

Johann Friedrich Krigar (also Heinrich Friedrich Krigar ; born November 21, 1774 in Kreuzburgerhütte , † April 1, 1852 in Berlin ) was a German engineer and the first German locomotive builder.

Life

In 1804 the son of a blast furnace and former master was summoned to Berlin by Minister Count Reden as the founder and head of the Royal Iron Foundry in front of the Oranienburger Tor.

He was a Royal Prussian civil servant in the function of a steelworks inspector and factor for the Royal Prussian iron foundry. At state expense he made several study trips to various countries to promote the domestic economy, for example around 1805 or 1806 as an assessor together with the then factory commissioner Heinrich Weber (1771-1831) and the architect Frank in the Netherlands and Belgium to visit the in the factories of the Cockerill brothers in Seraing , which at that time also operated a branch in Berlin.

In 1814 Krigar traveled - again accompanied by Weber - to England, then again in 1815, as a smeltery inspector and together with Oberbergrat Eckardt , to examine the possible uses of steam engines for traffic. There he studied exactly the four locomotives of the Middleton Colliery in Leeds , which were built by Blenkinsop in 1812–1814 . After Krigar had studied the development of the British railway system , he constructed the first locomotive in Germany between 1815 and 1816 in Berlin, which was then used in mining in Saarland .

Krigar built the first locomotive on the European mainland based on this model , which made its first journeys on the company premises in Berlin in June 1816. Interested onlookers were able to ride in attached wagons for a fee , which is why, strictly speaking, it was also the first passenger transport with a steam locomotive in Germany . The vehicle was intended for the Königshütte in Upper Silesia , but could not be used there because the track gauge of the locomotive was too small and the cylinders proved to be too weak. The locomotive was still rebuilt, but was still not used.

Membership card for the "Ober Bergamts Assessor Krigar" in the Association for the Promotion of Industrial Work in Prussia , signed on February 22nd, 1821 by Peter Beuth

A second, larger locomotive based on the same model was delivered in 1818. It arrived in Geislautern near Völklingen / Saar at a mine railway in 1819 and was only able to make its first trips in October 1821 after several repairs. This locomotive was not used regularly either; probably because there was simply a lack of technical understanding. It was parked in Geislautern next to the office building and sold as scrap metal in 1836.

Krigar later became Oberbergrat. He was a member of the Berlin Masonic Lodge Pilgram and died on April 1, 1852 in the house at Marienstraße 22 (formerly Marienstraße 15) in Berlin.

The musician Hermann Krigar was his son.

literature

Kurt Pierson: Locomotives from Berlin. Motorbuch Verlag, Stuttgart 1977, ISBN 3-87943-458-1 .

Individual evidence

↑ ^a ^b Sigfrid von Weiher, Manfred von Weiher: Memorial days of technical culture (April - June 2002) , in: Kultur & Technik , 2/2002, p. 59 ff., Here: p. 59 (PDF file).
^ ^A ^b ^c Ilja Mieck : Prussian industrial policy in Berlin 1806–1844. State aid and private initiative between mercantilism and liberalism (= publications of the Historical Commission in Berlin at the Friedrich Meinecke Institute of the Free University of Berlin , vol. 20), at the same time revision of the dissertation of the same name at the Free University, Berlin: de Gruyter, 1965, passim ; limited preview in Google Book search
↑ Hanswalter Dobbelmann (Ed.): "Das Prussische England ..." Reports on the industrial and social conditions in Upper Silesia between 1780 and 1876 (= studies by the Research Center for East Central Europe at the University of Dortmund , Vol. 10), Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 1993, ISBN 978-3-447-03361-9 and ISBN 3-447-03361-4 , p. 128; limited preview in Google Book search
^ ^A ^b Claude Keisch, Marie Ursula Riemann-Reyher: Adolph Menzel , letters. Volume 1, Deutscher Kunstverlag , Munich 2009, ISBN 978-3-422-06740-0 , p. 468.

personal data
SURNAME	Krigar, Johann Friedrich
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Krigar, Heinrich Friedrich; wrongly also Kruger
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	German engineer, first German locomotive builder
DATE OF BIRTH	November 21, 1774
PLACE OF BIRTH	Kreuzburgerhütte
DATE OF DEATH	April 1, 1852
Place of death	Berlin

[Gedenktage-1] Sigfrid von Weiher, Manfred von Weiher: Memorial days of technical culture (April - June 2002) , in: Kultur & Technik , 2/2002, p. 59 ff., Here: p. 59 (PDF file).

[Mieck-2] A ^b ^c Ilja Mieck : Prussian industrial policy in Berlin 1806–1844. State aid and private initiative between mercantilism and liberalism (= publications of the Historical Commission in Berlin at the Friedrich Meinecke Institute of the Free University of Berlin , vol. 20), at the same time revision of the dissertation of the same name at the Free University, Berlin: de Gruyter, 1965, passim ; limited preview in Google Book search

[Forschungssstelle_Ostmitteleuropa-3] Hanswalter Dobbelmann (Ed.): "Das Prussische England ..." Reports on the industrial and social conditions in Upper Silesia between 1780 and 1876 (= studies by the Research Center for East Central Europe at the University of Dortmund , Vol. 10), Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 1993, ISBN 978-3-447-03361-9 and ISBN 3-447-03361-4 , p. 128; limited preview in Google Book search

[menzel-4] A ^b Claude Keisch, Marie Ursula Riemann-Reyher: Adolph Menzel , letters. Volume 1, Deutscher Kunstverlag , Munich 2009, ISBN 978-3-422-06740-0 , p. 468.