Manuelskotten
The Manuelskotten , also called the Kaltenbacher Kotten , is the only still functional, water-powered Schleifkotten in the Wuppertal city area.
The restored plant has belonged to the city of Wuppertal since 1993 and serves as an industrial museum to demonstrate the old craft of grinding . The complex is registered as a monument in the city's list of monuments. At the same time, machine knives for the food industry are still sharpened in the facility for a Remscheid-based tool company, so that the handicraft on display is by no means just museum-like.
location
The Manuelskotten is located on the Kaltenbach , which is 231 m above sea level. NN near the Cronenberger center and after 2.2 km to 110 m above sea level. NN flows into the Wupper at the district Kohlfurtherbrücke . Since 1692 there have been a total of six hydropower plants on the short stream , including three hammer mills , two Schleifkotten and a mill (the Friedrichshammer, the Obere Kotten, the Manuelskotten, the Kaltenbacher Hammer, the Cronenberger Grain Mill and the Schütterhammer). The Manuelskotten is the youngest of the plants.
The grindstones are driven by an overshot water wheel, which gets its water from a dam in the Kaltenbach. Transmission belts and gears distribute the torque between several grinding and polishing stones. A steam engine , a diesel engine from 1934 and finally an electric motor from 1950 supported the hydropower.
history
introduction
Iron and steel have been industrially processed on the streams and rivers in the Wuppertal, Remscheider and Solingen areas since the 14th century. In the area of these three cities several hundred hammer mills and grinding cabins settled , which used the region's hydropower until the end of the 19th century .
Although the degree of industrialization has been one of the highest in the entire German Empire since the 17th century due to the abundance of water in the region , the entire industrial output was divided into numerous individual workshops in which high-quality steel is refined from iron blanks and turned into sickles , scythes , tools and swords and other cutlery has been processed. The pig iron was imported from the Siegen area via the Bergische Eisenstrasse , the charcoal for the forge fires was obtained on site in coal piles.
The products were then sold all over Europe . It was only with the advent of steam engines (later electric motors ) and the construction of coal routes from the Ruhr area (later railways ) that the companies left the narrow, damp and dark valleys and settled on the mountain ranges with better transport connections.
History of Manuelskottens
The Manuelskotten was probably built around 1850 (according to other sources in 1755) and operated from 1867 by Emanuel Morsbach (1837–1903), who had previously completed his training as a grinder in the Kotten. The name Manuelskotten or dialect Manewellskotten is derived from the first name of this owner. Up to 28 grinders grinded, polished and plied in his wedding on their own account in Kotten.
In 1901 the Kotten burned out, but was rebuilt a year later a few meters upstream. A shed roof gave the facility the visual impression of a small factory. In 1934 the roof was renewed and the steam engine installed in the machine house was replaced by a diesel engine ( Anton Schlüter Motorenfabrik, Munich , 375 revolutions / min., 30 HP, built in 1927). Just a few years later, in 1950, an electric motor was added.
Since 1993 the Kotten belongs to the city of Wuppertal as a branch of the historical center . It was acquired by its last owners, the Morsbach and Bergmann families, with funds from the North Rhine-Westphalia Foundation through the commitment of the Manuelskotten Friends' Association. A full-time grinder in the Kotten still grinds cutter knives and special knives for the meat processing industry according to the traditional kneeling method . Interested visitors can watch his craft by appointment.
Web links
- Entry in the Wuppertal monument list
- Manuelskottens website
- Background information on grinding knots
- Historical center
Coordinates: 51 ° 11 ′ 38 ″ N , 7 ° 7 ′ 3 ″ E