Machine monument

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The machine monument is a memorial in the Burgörner-Altdorf district of Hettstedt in the Harz foreland in Saxony-Anhalt . It commemorates the commissioning of the first German steam engine, Wattscher, on 23 August 1785.

The machine monument near Hettstedt in 2011

history

In the second half of the 18th century, when copper slate was extracted from the König-Friedrich-II.-Schacht in Burgörner, constant water inflows threatened the existence of the shaft, so the pumping out of the pit water was of outstanding importance. With various techniques one tried a dewatering until one decided on a steam engine called Wattscher construction called "fire machine", as it was also used in Welsh coal mines. In order to acquire the necessary detailed knowledge to build such a machine, the Prussian mining official Carl Friedrich Bückling traveled twice to England on a covert mission. The steam engine was put into operation on August 23, 1785. It was not replaced by a more powerful system until 1794, but continued to serve on a hard coal mine in Löbejün for another 54 years . In the workshop that had made this steam engine, nine more copies were made by 1806.

On the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the commissioning, the Thuringian District Association of the Association of German Engineers (VDI) decided in 1885 to erect a memorial on the dump of the König-Friedrich-Schacht. At the general meeting of the VDI in Koblenz in 1886, the corresponding funds were approved. There were also donations from individual large industrialists . The monument was inaugurated on August 20, 1890. The VDI, which had held its annual general meeting in Halle since August 17, 1890 , was represented by a delegation of around 120 people, including chairman Hermann Blecher.

execution

Bronze relief of the steam engine

The monument is designed as a granite block , which stands on a concreted base made of sandstone blocks that tapers upwards . On the granite block there are two bronze plaques, one of which shows a relief representation of the first steam engine. The other bronze plaque bore the inscription: “On August 23, 1785, at this point: King Friedrich Schacht, the first FIRE MACHINE, made from German material and by German workers, came into operation. The stone was erected by the Association of German Engineers in 1890 as a memorial. “There is a walk around the monument, which can be reached from the path below via stairs. This platform is rounded off by a circle made of sandstones.

The inauguration of the monument, which was initially still veiled, took place in 1890 with a large VDI delegation shouting: "So let the shell fall under the cry: A cheer for German technology, a cheer for German work!"

For the 150th anniversary of the steam engine in 1935 and again in 2007 after a theft, the latter plaque was replaced by a new one with a slightly different text. The new board reads: "On August 23, 1785, the first FIRE MACHINE, made from German material and by German workers, came into operation for King Friedrichschachte for permanent commercial use."

literature

  • Günter Jankowski: The VDI machine monument near Hettstedt . In: Association of German Engineers (ed.): Festschrift 140 years of VDI . Düsseldorf May 1996, p. 50-55 .

Web links

Commons : Machine monument in Hettstedt  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Harald Lachmann: At the birthplace of the first German steam engine . In: VDI news . September 18, 2015, ISSN  0042-1758 , p. 39 .
  2. ^ Franz Hendrichs: Bückling, Karl Friedrich. in: Neue Deutsche Biographie 2 (1955), pp. 724–725 [online version]; URL: https://www.deutsche-biographie.de/pnd135655773.html#ndbcontent
  3. ↑ a b 125 years of machine monument. (html) In: hettstedt-burgoerner.de. Anja Braunsteiner, April 17, 2015, accessed on August 15, 2019 .

Coordinates: 51 ° 37 ′ 59.3 "  N , 11 ° 31 ′ 32.3"  E