Max Giese (building contractor)

portrait

Max Giese (* 1879 in Sigmaringen ; † 1935 in Kassel ; buried in Kiel ) was a German building contractor and invented the concrete pump in 1928 . A street in Kiel is named after him.

The invention

Inadequacies in dealing with the conventional casting tower gave the engineers Max Giese and Fritz Hell the idea in 1927 of pumping the concrete from the mixer directly to the point of use. The main thing was to keep the power consumption as low as possible compared to the casting tower method. The reduced water content of the concrete in the pumping process not only saved energy, but also allowed the material to set faster and more firmly. Gravel or broken stone material was used. It was possible to pump up to a height of 38 m and a distance of 120 meters.

Companies

Type plate on a power pole from Max Giese from 1972

Max Giese was also the founder of Max Giese Bau GmbH, which developed into a major construction company based in Kiel . The company had been manufacturing precast concrete parts since 1951, and in 1967 another plant was opened in Wankendorf . Initially, production mainly comprised prestressed concrete poles and prestressed concrete driven piles . The driven piles were used as deep foundation elements and in coastal protection for the construction of groynes . The masts were used as electricity, railway and lamp masts. In 2003 the company had to file for bankruptcy.

Patents granted

Patent specification of the concrete pump (1931)

The following patents were granted to Max Giese and Fritz Hell:

Method for conveying concrete on structures

Patent No. 553 060 dated December 25, 1927, published June 2, 1932, claim:

Method for conveying concrete on buildings, in which the concrete is pressed through pipelines from the mixer to the point of use, characterized in that the ready-to-use concrete flows to a feed pump and is fed from this in an uninterrupted stream to the point of use.

Concrete mortar delivery pump with piston flush

Patent Specification No. 485 470 dated September 22, 1928, published October 17, 1929, claim:

1. Concrete mortar feed pump with piston flushing, characterized in that in order to keep the inlet and outlet valves free of the material to be conveyed during the working strokes of the pump, the inlet valve on the inlet nozzle ending in the middle of the pump chamber, the outlet valve on the end of the connecting line protruding into the air chamber Pump room is arranged ago.

2. Pump according to claim 1 with an annular space provided between the piston and cylinder, characterized in that the annular space provided between the seals holds a measured amount of flushing water for the piston and cylinder wall.

Patent rights abroad

The two patents were registered in the following countries or areas:

England, New Zealand, South Africa, British India, Egypt, Australia, France, Belgium, Switzerland, Italy, Spain, North America, Central America, South America, West Indies, Hawaii, Philippines, Japan, Union of Soviet Republics, Poland, Bulgaria, Austria, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, Romania, Norway, Denmark, Sweden etc. a.

Parallel developments

In Holland, on December 16, 1931, Jacobus Cornelius Kooijman was granted patent No. 26113 for a concrete pump (published February 15, 1932). When the patent specifications were published, both parties had already produced and marketed concrete pumps. In view of the similarities of the inventions, an agreement on the joint use of the patents of Giese / Hell and Kooijman was passed in June 1932.

License rights

The engineers Giese and Hell have granted licenses for their pump patents and their process patents to the following companies:

• from 1931 Torkret-Gesellschaft mbH, Berlin, Germany
• from 1932 Société Allied Maschinery Company SA, Almacoa, France
• from 1932 Chain Belt Company, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA

First use on construction sites

The concrete pump was used for the first time on the following construction sites :

• Marine Memorial Laboe , pump height 38 m
• German House (Flensburg) , length of the pipeline 87 m

Concrete pump prices

In 1941 the L7 concrete pump under license from Torkret cost 12,600 Reichsmarks .

Further patent applications

In addition to the granted patents, Max Giese and Fritz Hell had the following patent applications:

• H. 114,491 Method of making concrete work, filed December 23, 1928
• G. 76 658 Device for feeding the material to concrete mortar delivery pumps with reciprocating piston, filed June 11, 1929
• G. 76 937 Method for the Treatment of Concrete, filed July 11, 1929 or the like.
• G. 77 807 Pump for conveying mortar, concrete, filed October 30, 1929 and the like.