Ludwig Kufahl

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Georg Leopold Ludwig Kufahl (born July 24, 1802 in Groß Garz (near Stettin ), † 1871 in Berlin ) was a German economist. He was the designer of the first locomotive designed and built in Prussia .

Life

First Ludwig Kufahl studied theology, then history. On May 11, 1830 he received his doctorate at the Humboldt University in Berlin , was habilitated on November 13, 1830 and taught there until 1837. In the second half of 1831 he took a teaching position as a private lecturer in the fields of political and camera science on. In this context, he led events on marine life , which he also lectured on between 1831 and 1833.

Johann Ludwig Blesson , who had read his writing Historical-Political Remarks on the French Revolution of 1830 , convinced Ludwig Kufahl to deal with iron processing. As early as 1833, Kufahl propagated steam-powered towing vehicles instead of towing horses , and also the expansion of the transport infrastructure, which at the time was mainly seen in waterways , as the most important basis for industrial promotion.

From mid-1833, business studies were added as a further subject with geography and statistics of the Prussian state . The focus of his activity shifted to the technology , which events on steam engine theory (1833-1835), technical and industrial mechanics (1834), technology (1834-1835), in addition to mechanical engineering (1835-1836) and construction and Document the use of machines (1837).

Kufahl locomotives

After Ludwig Kufahl left the university in 1837, he founded a mechanical engineering institute . In this he himself constructed a two-axle locomotive of type B n2 , which unlike the English and American a steam locomotive standing boiler had and just such pipes and cylinders. The vehicle may have been inspired by the US Atlantic 0-4-0 series , also known as the Grasshopper .

Most of the other information has different details and perspectives. According to one source, construction began in 1837 and was not completed until 1840, others cite 1839 as the year construction began. After its completion, the first steam locomotive of Prussian design received its operating license in December 1840. Thus, 1840 can be regarded as the year of commissioning and Kufahl's locomotive was completed about eight months before the first Borsig locomotive, which made its first run on July 24, 1841, and on August 24, 1841 by the Berlin-Anhalt Railway Company was acquired. Kufahl's locomotive was thus the first to be built in Prussia with the two steam cars of the Royal Iron Foundry in Berlin from 1816 to 1817 after the failure . Whether it went directly to the Berlin-Anhaltische Bahn and only came to the Berlin-Potsdam-Magdeburg Railway Company in 1843/1844 or 1845 , must also remain open. It may also have been used for building purposes only.

There are also different information about the whereabouts after 1845. After the locomotive was retired from the Berlin-Potsdam-Magdeburg Bahn, it was u. a. Used in the construction of the Port of Hamburg and on the Berlin-Hamburg Railway .

1854 may have been at Borsig to a trolley of the type rebuilt A1n2t.

Kufahl thought the locomotive was a failure. No other was built in his institution, but in 1842 or 1846 he constructed a second for Franz Anton Egells , which he delivered to the Lower Silesian-Märkische Eisenbahn . Egells built one locomotive in 1843 and three in 1846, but only the second was a Kufahl design. It is said to have been taken out of service in 1853, but according to Laurenz Demps it can be found in the annual reports until 1859.

The head of the royal Prussian trade institute Christian Peter Wilhelm Friedrich Beuth (1781-1853) organized the successful Berlin trade exhibition with 3,040 exhibitors in 1844 : 260,000 visitors were counted at the fair. One of the exhibitors was Ludwig Kufahl, who showed a balancing steam engine with expansion control and a piston valve with cast iron rings. Arthur Woolf (1766–1837) is considered to be the inventor of this type of steam engine .

Kufahl's mechanical engineering institute closed its doors in 1848. Afterwards he also dealt with weapon technology, as an entry in the Polytechnisches Journal of 1852 shows, in which it comes to a British patent on "improvements to fire rifles".

Publications (selection)

  • Historical-political remarks on the French Revolution of 1830 ; 1831
  • The history of the Germans up to the founding of the Germanic Empire in Western Europe , 1831
  • History of the United States of America ; several volumes from 1832
  • Theoretical-practical treatise on steam navigation, its latest improvements and its applicability to the waters of the Prussian state , 1833

literature

  • Erich Metzeltin: Kufahl, a missing locomotive builder, and his locomotive . In: Contributions to the history of locomotives February 1937, pp. 7–8.
  • Wolfgang Messerschmidt: Paperback German locomotive factories. Their history, their locomotives, their designers Franckh'sche Verlagshandlung, Stuttgart 1977, ISBN 3-440-04462-9 , ISBN 978-3-440-04462-9 .
  • Michael Dörflinger: German Railways: Locomotives, trains and stations from two centuries . Bassermann Verlag, 2011, ISBN 3-80942-849-3 , ISBN 978-3-80942-849-7 .
  • Michael Dörflinger: The great book of locomotives. Illustrated history of technology with the best models in the world . Verlag Naumann & Goebel, 2012, ISBN 3-62513-350-4 ISBN 978-3-62513-350-6 .

Web links


Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b c Humboldt University: History of Economics at the Humboldt University in Berlin / Georg Leopold Ludwig Kufahl
  2. ↑ a b c d e f g Werkbahn: Maschinenbau-Anstalt Dr. Kufahl
  3. ↑ a b c d e f g Albert Gieseler: Company Dr. L. Kufahl
  4. ↑ a b c d e Wolfgang Messerschmidt: Pocket book Deutsche Lokomotivfabriken, publisher: Franckh; September 1977; ISBN 978-3-440-04462-9
  5. ↑ albert-gieseler.de: August Borsig
  6. ↑ werkbahn.de: Mechanical Engineering Institute Dr. Kufahl, Berlin (accessed January 30, 2015)
  7. ^ Preussenweb.de: Berlin
  8. ↑ Modellisenbahner Issue 1/88; Pp. 12-13
  9. ^ New Berlin foundry FA Egells
  10. ^ Laurenz Demps: The Silesian Railway Station in Berlin. A chapter in Prussian railway history . Transpress, Berlin 1991, ISBN 3-344-70725-6 , pp. 55-62 .
  11. ↑ List of patents granted in England from January 31 to March 8, 1852. In: Polytechnisches Journal . 125, 1852, Miszelle 1, pp. 153-155.
personal data
SURNAME Kufahl, Ludwig
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Kufahl, Georg Leopold Ludwig (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German economist and engineer, designer of the first Prussian locomotive
DATE OF BIRTH July 24, 1802
PLACE OF BIRTH Groß Garz near Stettin
DATE OF DEATH 1871
Place of death Berlin