Lime funnel furnace Wuppertal
The lime funnel kiln on Eskesberg in the Elberfeld-West district of Wuppertal (Varresbeck district) is a historical industrial monument from the 19th century and one of the last remaining industrial lime kilns in the Lower Berg region.
History of the lime distillery
The technique of extracting lime from limestone has been proven in prehistoric times. As early as Mesopotamia in the 5th millennium BC, walls around the fireplaces are documented; in Central Europe, the Celts in the 6th century BC. The large limestone deposits on the Wuppertal-Hagen-Iserlohn line suggest that limestone mining in this area is also very old. Lime kilns are occupied in the area from around 800. The farmers in the area burned lime from the limestone (= calcium carbonate ) found just below the surface of the earth for their own needs: as fertilizer and for the production of mortar . It can therefore be assumed that the farmers of the Eskesberg farm were already burning lime. The ovens were fired with wood, the technology developed from simple pits in the ground to the first primitive slope ovens, in which a separate access for the fire was dug into the slope, to the principle of the funnel oven in the second half of the 18th century. With the beginning of industrialization , the demand for lime increased significantly. With the invention of the railroad and the beginning of industrial coal mining, there was enough fuel available to industrialize lime production. The last remaining large funnel furnace from this time is the one on Eskesberg.
How the funnel furnace works
In lime extraction, the limestone - calcium carbonate - is dissolved into carbon dioxide at a temperature between 900 and 1,250 ° C, and calcium oxide - lime - remains according to the reaction equation
The funnel furnace consists of a funnel in which the temperature of 1,100–1,250 ° C is kept constant by heating chambers roughly in the middle. A ramp that leads in a loop over a viaduct to the roof of the building enables the delivery of the limestone. This is filled into the funnel together with the coal from above, the chemical reaction takes place in the middle (the so-called “burning zone”), the rising hot gases from the burning zone heat the seeping coal. The resulting quicklime cools down until it exits the funnel and is removed there. This process enables continuous operation of the system.
History of the Wuppertal lime funnel kiln
There is no evidence of the time the stove was built. It was first mentioned in 1889, when the owner of the furnace, Emil Lipken in der Beek, submitted an application to the city for the construction of a ring furnace in the neighboring limestone quarry Grube Dorp . Today, however, the year around 1850 is assumed to be the time of construction.
The lime funnel kiln on Eskesberg remained in operation until 1942. Around this time it was converted into an air raid shelter and shut down, among other things because the working funnel was an easy target for enemy aircraft due to the embers that were visible from afar. The neighboring, more effective ring kiln remained in operation until 1956, when the Rheinisch-Westfälische Kalkwerke stopped all production at the site and dismantled the ring kiln. The older former lime funnel kiln remained untouched. The site was transferred to the city of Wuppertal in 1957. The pit of the limestone quarry Grube Eskesberg was used as a rubbish dump in the 50s and 60s and, when it was full, covered with earth. The area was covered by vegetation and increasingly renatured.
In 1978, two members of the “local recreation area DIE BEEK” rediscovered the building. Its importance as an industrial monument was recognized immediately, but it took until the 1980s for the building to be comprehensively renovated: in 1989, after around three years of construction, the lime funnel kiln was handed over to the care of the Fuhlrott Museum .
At the beginning of 2017, access to the filling platform via the viaduct, which was only possible during guided tours, was forbidden by the city due to safety concerns and the underpass was secured against falling rocks by scaffolding.
In October 2018, the furnace was then completely blocked for the same reasons. The former head of the historical center had already discussed the demolition of the ramp and viaduct, which was only to be remembered by a steel silhouette, but now the "dismantling" of the important industrial-historical monument was in full swing.
This prompted the Sonnborn-Zoo-Varresbeck citizens' association to get involved in the restoration and further preservation of this unique cultural monument. With the concept of a "Kalkpark" adventure site in the immediate vicinity of the Nordbahntrasse , which should also include the overgrown ring kiln of the neighboring Dorp mine and also address natural and environmental aspects in addition to local and industrial history, the new director of the historical center opened the door. He was able to persuade the city to assume the costs of a damage report, which is essential for all further steps.
literature
- Paul Reising: The lime kiln on Eskesberg. The heyday, decay and restoration of an industrial monument , Düsseldorf (Beton-Verlag) 1989, ISBN 3-7640-0253-0
Web links
- Entry in the Wuppertal monument list
Individual evidence
- ↑ [1] Wuppertaler Rundschau (online) from August 20, 2017
- ^ [2] Westdeutsche Zeitung (online) from October 5, 2018
- ^ [3] Westdeutsche Zeitung (online) from January 3, 2020
Coordinates: 51 ° 15 ′ 30 ″ N , 7 ° 6 ′ 22 ″ E