Julius Römheld

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Julius Wilhelm Römheld (born July 11, 1823 in Dautphe ; † November 7, 1904 in Mainz ) was a German ironworks technician and entrepreneur.

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After an apprenticeship with the court mechanic Friedrich Wilhelm Breithaupt in Kassel, where he learned the production of mathematical, physical and optical instruments, Römheld worked as a trainee in Emil Keßler's locomotive factory in Karlsruhe from 1845 and at the same time attended the local polytechnic .

In 1846 he moved to the machine shop of the Friedrich Wilhelms-Hütte in Mülheim an der Ruhr as a mechanic , where he was transferred to the technical management of the blast furnace operation a year later. In 1849 he put the first coke oven in the Ruhr area into operation there, for the construction of which he was responsible.

In 1852 Römheld went to the Niederrheinische Hütte in Duisburg as technical director , where further coke ovens were put into operation under his direction. From 1855 he was in charge of the metallurgical division of Vulkan AG in Duisburg, but after disagreements with the shareholders, he left the Ruhr area in 1858 and started his own business.

In 1859 he opened an iron foundry in Weisenau , which he soon expanded to include several processing workshops and an iron construction department.

After his two sons Wilhelm and Hugo joined the company in the early 1890s, Römheld turned to new tasks. In 1884, for example, he played an important role in the establishment of the South German Iron and Steel Employer's Liability Insurance Association, today's professional association for wood and metal , as well as in establishing the Reich accident insurance .

Römheld's outstanding achievement is the introduction of the coke oven in the Ruhr area. He replaced the previously common charcoal in pig iron production with hard coal coke. The better availability of this new fuel allowed the mining industry in the Ruhr area to grow rapidly and made the Ruhr area one of the most important mining industrial centers in Germany.

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personal data
SURNAME Römheld, Julius
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Römheld, Julius Wilhelm (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German ironworks technician and entrepreneur
DATE OF BIRTH July 11, 1823
PLACE OF BIRTH Dautphe
DATE OF DEATH November 7, 1904
Place of death Mainz