Langbein-Pfanhauser works

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The long leg Pfanhauser Werke AG (LPW) was a manufacturer of equipment and systems for electroplating and electrochemistry as well as for electric motors . The company was based in Leipzig , later in Neuss am Rhein.

history

The Langbein company in Leipzig-Sellerhausen in 1906
Production building of the Langbein-Pfanhauser works in Leipzig-Sellerhausen (around 1925)
Lanbbein-Pfanhauser Werke AG share of more than 1,000 marks on August 19, 1907

On February 1, 1873, Wilhelm Pfanhauser founded the Wilh company at Windmühlgasse 39 in Vienna . Pfanhauser , a trading company for the sale of potassium cyanide and relief supplies for electroplaters. This made it the first Austrian production facility for cyanides . Pfanhauser began building systems as early as 1877. So he created a nickel-plating system that was equipped with new types of machines similar to today's electric motors. In addition, he built a galvanizing plant in 1900, which was delivered to Moscow.

With his book Practical Guide to Electroplating Metals , written in 1878, Wilhelm Pfanhauser is considered one of the fathers of electroplating. First, he further developed electrochemical nickel plating based on the work of Max Schlötter. The company had a branch in Berlin.

The German chemist Dr. Georg Langbein opened the chemical factory and laboratory for electroplating and metal industry on December 1, 1881 in Leipziger Dösner Weg 9–11. G. Langbein & Co. In 1886 he also wrote a complete manual for galvanic metal deposits and thus laid the foundation for what was then the largest German galvanizing company with branches in Berlin, Solingen, Vienna, Milan and Brussels. As early as 1889 Langbein was able to start building new factories at Torgauer Strasse 76 in Leipzig- Sellerhausen .

In 1907, the two probably oldest specialist companies in electroplating merged. On April 25, 1907, with effect from January 1, 1907, a stock corporation was established under the name Langbein-Pfanhauser Werke AG with a share capital of 2,250,000 marks and entered in the commercial register in Leipzig on August 19, 1907. Georg Langbein was chairman of the supervisory board of the new company with a total of 250 employees until his death in 1909. Pfanhauser's son Wilhelm Pfanhauser jr was the chairman of the board until 1945 .

The newly established company built the first semi-automatic machines for nickel plating as early as 1920 and the first fully automatic nickel-chromium machines in 1933. Other major merits of Langbein-Pfanhauser Werke are the practical introduction of chromium-sulfuric acid electrolytes as well as the development of the anodizing process, which has become a household name, and its patenting in 1935. These processes only acquired their current economic importance through the initiative of LPW Chromium Interest Group founded in 1928 and the Eloxal Working Group founded in 1934.

By 1940 the company grew into the largest German electroplating specialist company with more than 2,000 employees.

The Langbein-Pfanhauser works in West Germany

After the expropriation of the Leipzig company and its seven foreign subsidiaries by the Soviet military administration , the company was relocated to Wiesbaden in 1948 . The employees from Leipzig tried to resume production in the former Düsseldorf branch using old recipes and construction plans. The administration also came to Düsseldorf in 1951. In 1952 the new plant was built in Neuss , where Langbein-Pfanhauser Werke AG was also based from 1954. In 1962 the Deinert & Co. company in Bernhausen was taken over.

In 1982 Langbein-Pfanhauser Werke AG was converted into a holding company with several associated companies, such as LPW-Galvanotechnik GmbH, which was later split up into LPW-Chemie GmbH for process engineering and LPW-Galvanotechnik GmbH for plant construction.

LPW-Chemie GmbH was taken over in 1998 by Enthone-OMI Inc. (USA). After the merger of the United Deutsche Nickel-Werke AG and the DOAG Holding AG in 2001 to the Langbein-Pfanhauser Werke AG, the name was changed to VDN Vereinigte Deutsche Nickel-Werke AG , Düsseldorf, which in turn took over the Hindrichs-Auffermann AG in 2003. In 2004 the subgroup Deutsche Nickel AG was sold. After the financial holding had to apply for insolvency proceedings on May 31, 2005, the Cologne District Court opened insolvency proceedings on the assets of VDN AG on September 1, 2005 due to insolvency and over-indebtedness.

LPW-Galvanotechnik GmbH für Anlagenbau became LPW-Anlagen GmbH & Co. KG in Hagen , which had to file for bankruptcy in May 2012.

Galvanotechnik Leipzig in East Germany

Development laboratory for chemical-technical products at VEB Galvanotechnik Leipzig (1973)

In the GDR, VEB Galvanotechnik Leipzig (GTL) was built in 1950 at the old location and in the old buildings . When the first combines emerged in the GDR , in 1970 VEB Galvanotechnik was assigned to the newly founded VEB Lokomotivbau Elektrotechnische Werke "Hans Beimler" (LEW) in Hennigsdorf. In the 1970s and 80s, the company developed and produced almost exclusively standardized automated systems, and by 1989 it became the leading electroplating specialist company in the entire Eastern Bloc.

After the political turning point , VEB Galvanotechnik Leipzig (GTL) was converted into GalvanoTechnik Leipzig GmbH (GTL) in 1990 , then privatized and sold to a new partner. GTL moved to a new location in Leipzig- Lindenthal in 1992/93 . Above all, the company produces flexible special systems tailored to the customer for almost all electroplating processes such as coating systems, water treatment systems and control technology. GalvanoTechnik Leipzig GmbH filed for bankruptcy in August 2013, was sold to a new shareholder and continues its business activities.

The galvanochemistry division was privatized from TLG and operated under the name Galvanochemie Leipzig GmbH (GCL) with the main shareholder, Vopelius Chemie AG (a medium-sized family business from Fürth / Bay.) Until its merger in 2002 . Today there is a branch of Vopelius Chemie AG at the historical location.

Former employees of GCL GmbH and Vopelius Chemie AG initiated a museum association in 2010 to commemorate the historical site and the importance of electroplating. This is also followed by an exhibition with various historical exhibits.

Another company, the Blasberg-GTL-Vertriebs- und Service GmbH , flowed into the Blasberg Oberflächentechnik GmbH Solingen in 1997 . In 1998, the company surface and electrical engineering Scheigenpflug was established at the Sellerhausen site .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Company portrait of the VDN Ver. German Nickel-Werke AG at .comdirect
  2. ↑ Insolvency portal : Insolvency proceedings LPW Anlagen GmbH & Co. KG
  3. ^ Vopelius Chemie AG. Retrieved on June 25, 2020 (German).
  4. ↑ Welcome to the VDMG eV | the association for history + technology of electroplating in Germany. Retrieved June 25, 2020 .

literature

  • Ralph Gambihler: Nickel-plated, chrome-plated, copper-plated. On the history of electroplating in Leipzig. In: Leipziger Blätter , H. 62 (Spring 2013), pp. 36–38, ISSN  0232-7244 .
  • G. Ringleb: 100 years of electroplating. Langbein-Pfanhauser Werke AG, Neuss 1973.

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