Joseph Beduwe (Company)

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Joseph Béduwé was a German fabrication - companies for brass and bell foundry and for the production of fire engines and other water pumps in Aachen and Liege / Belgium .

Origins

The Beduwe family, then based in the Haaren district of Aachen , had been involved in the processing of copper and its alloys since the 18th century . So did Peter Joseph Beduwe (1805–1871) (also Peter Joseph Bedué), who completed his training in copper, bronze and brass processing in Liège, 50 km away, probably at the Francois Requile company founded in 1829. Meanwhile married and living in Aubel , Belgium , he applied for re-entry to Aachen in 1837, which was approved for him a year later. On January 1, 1840, he officially founded the company "Beduwe" , initially as a brass foundry (brass processing), which, a few years later, after he had received approval to operate a flame furnace and a steam boiler , he added the areas of bell foundry and the Production of fire extinguishers expanded.

Ursula bell from Beduwe in Cologne Cathedral

In these years in particular, numerous orders for the manufacture of church bells were placed with the Beduwe company. In Aachen itself, for example, the churches of St. Martinus, St. Jakob or the Evangelical Trinity Church were equipped with company bells. The Ursula bell in Cologne Cathedral and four bells for St. Martinus in Grevenbroich also come from Beduwe. The company also manufactured a bell for St. Laurentius in Erkelenz , St. Katharina in Kohlscheid and St. Rochus in Zweifall . In neighboring Belgium, too, the bells “Faith”, “Hope” and “Love” in the Friedenskirche as well as “Maria”, “Josef” and two others in the St. Josefskirche , both in Eupen , come from Beduwe.

In 1860 Peter Joseph Beduwe initially took over the first shares in the Liège company Requile and gradually took over the remaining shares between 1864 and 1869. Meanwhile the father of two sons, Beduwe transferred the Liège branch to his eldest son Caesar Joseph Beduwe (1838–1909) in 1863, which was then initially renamed “F. Requile, jun. & Beduwe ” ran. He placed his Aachen company in the hands of his second son Johann Hubert Andreas Beduwe (1839–1913) and reserved the overall management of both companies for himself. Only after the now complete takeover of the Belgian business and after his death in 1871 did two independent companies emerge and the official company names were: “Jos. Beduwe, Feuerspritzenfabrik, Gelb- und Glockengießerei, Aachen ” or “ Joseph Beduwé, Feuerspritzenfabrik, Gelb- und Glockengießerei, Liège ” , with the small difference that in the Belgian spelling the name Beduwé was given an“ accent aigu ”.

Jos. Beduwé, Liege

Hand pressure syringe from the Beduwe company, 1862

The company drew attention to itself in the early years under Caesar Joseph Beduwé. For example, she won first prize and a gold medal for her fire engines at a trade fair in Middelburg / NL . The company was able to successfully advertise with this seal of quality and sales figures rose in the following years to 400 hand pressure syringes per year. Compared to the Aachen company described below, the Liège company had an advantage due to the larger space available and better working conditions. The company Quack & Dürselen from Cologne acted as the general agency for their German sales.

From 1880 the company expanded its range to include the production of water pumps for mines and sugar factories . Like their previously known products, these were exhibited and awarded at the Antwerp World Exhibition in 1885 . By 1897, the company, now renamed “Usines Beduwé, SA” and converted into a stock corporation, had already been able to advertise with 25 medals and honorary degrees. In 1908 the new "Caesar" fire extinguisher was presented, which worked as a permanent pressure extinguisher and could be operated by means of a bicycle air pump. The company later expanded its product range to include automotive sprayers , gun mount sprayers and street sweepers . After the First World War , stationary handle pumps for public spaces were added.

Usines Beduwé SA continued to exist until 1952, but this traditional company gradually disappeared from the daily routine.

Jos. Beduwe, Aachen

After Johann Hubert Andreas Beduwe took over his father's company in Aachen, the company received a permanent contract as a house supplier to the Aachen and Munich fire insurance company , which was a forerunner of today's AachenMünchener . At the instigation of its general director Friedrich Adolph Brüggemann and the legal advisor Robert von Görschen, this had set itself the goal of equipping numerous cities and communities in the Rhineland and beyond the borders of the Rhineland with a free fire engine. Through this promotional campaign, the sale of fire engines was suddenly expanded by 5000 devices. With the help of built-in steam engines , the technology of the pumps could be improved and the company benefited. So it was for example in 1890 when the Swiss firefighters - props exhibition an honorary diploma for excellent design and great efficiency of its steam fire engine.

Even the son of Johann Hubert and corporate heritage, Egidius Joseph Béduwé (1866-1942), part time even volunteer fire chief and fees - a lecturer at the RWTH Aachen , the high expectations could initially maintained despite cramped conditions at the production site in Aachen Wirichsbongardstraße. Ultimately, however, these cramped conditions forced him to relocate the production facilities to the so-called Bleiberger factory , a former spinning oil factory of the Detilleux company from 1881, in 1925/26. After the Second World War and the death of Egidius Joseph Beduwe and the relocation of the construction of fire fighting vehicles to large-scale industry, no further activities of the company have been known since then.

A magnificent villa on the outskirts of the city in Aachener Lütticher Straße, called "Villa Margot" , which has been preserved to this day, testifies to the family's former prosperity. In their catalogs or in the labeling of their product range, Jos. Béduwé as a trademark stylish cartridge , either as a round seal or Gothic quatrefoil , framed with the legend of the old Charlemagne song: "urbs aquensis, urbs regalis" .

From company founder Peter Joseph Beduwe onwards, most of the members of the family found their final resting place in a family crypt in Aachen's Ostfriedhof .

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