Mechanical workshops Harkort & Co.
The mechanical workshops Harkort & Co. in Wetter an der Ruhr are a forerunner of DEMAG .
history
founding
The reason for the establishment of the mechanical workshops lies in England , in the technical revolution that had manifested itself there in the late 18th century with the invention of the steam engine and the development of modern machine shops . Heinrich Kamp was training in Glasgow in 1815 , where he got to know the power of steam engines and knew how to acquire the skills to run a company. The impetus for this was probably provided by Jakob Aders , co-owner of the Brink banking company, because he had family ties in London to the company "James & Aders". Through this relationship, there were constant reports of technical innovations from England and the newspapers were studied with interest.
Together with Friedrich Harkort , who already operated a copper hammer mill near Hinsbeck , Johann Heinrich Daniel Kamp founded the mechanical workshops Harkort & Comp on September 18, 1819 as one of the first machine factories in Germany . in the ruins of the Wetter Castle above Wetter ad Ruhr . Steam engines were manufactured there based on the English model and with mainly English workers. The location was probably not ideal on a mountain, but probably relatively inexpensive at 2000 Taler. On a trip to England in 1819, Harkort and Eduard Thomas, an Englishman, obtained the necessary skilled workers and machines, including a steam engine for 822 thalers. Initially, Friedrich Harkort acted as technical and commercial manager, Heinrich Kamp as banker with a deposit of around 10,000 thalers.
First successes and branches
The company's first successes were quite cheap. Everything was manufactured that was in demand, for example banisters, irons , grave crosses, rollers, ovens, machine parts and of course steam engines and rolling mills . New companies and branches had to be set up in Magdeburg, Berlin and Elberfeld (Julius Blank), which soon became independent. In Wetter ad Ruhr a sheet rolling mill was built, in 1826 a blast furnace , in 1827 a puddling and rolling mill, and finally a blast furnace near Olpe in 1829/30 , the so-called Henriettenhütte , named after the name of Kamp's wife.
The company's steam engines in particular became famous, and by 1821 ten different models were offered up to a price of 23,000 thalers. This was followed by publications in newspapers and visits by ministers, because at this time technical developments in Prussia were extremely promoted.
Financial problems and restructuring
However, the expansion of the company did not go hand in hand with an expansion of the capital, and the profit did not correspond to the assets invested, so that the warning letters from Elberfeld from the Kamp and Brink bank became more and more urgent to pay more attention to the money. Eventually the payments were temporarily suspended altogether and Harkort had to step in with his own fortune, which was not enough either. Harkort was also traveling more than looking after the company, because even then he was more interested in technical innovations and political events than in the daily routine of the company. So it came to a financial disaster, and Harkort had to leave the company on January 10, 1834 and take on an obligation of 11,400 thalers by pledging his land in Wetter, which was foreclosed 15 years later at Kamp's application. A sad end to this groundbreaking undertaking, but for Harkort only a transit point for his further political life as a member of the Prussian National Assembly, a founding member of the German Progressive Party and a member of the North German Federal Parliament from 1867.
Now Johann Heinrich Daniel Kamp felt compelled to take the company into his own hands and take his oldest son Otto Kamp into it. On May 1, 1837, the second son, Hermann Kamp, also joined the company and took over the operation of the hammer and rolling mill, as his brother Otto was often ill and had to stay in the south. On July 1st, 1841, Julius Blank and Emilie Blank moved to Wetter ad Ruhr and joined the Kamp & Co. company as a senior businessman. In 1851 Otto and Hermann Kamp and Julius Blank took over the company from Johann Heinrich Daniel Kamp. In 1853 Julius Blank became the sole owner of the Kamp & Co. company and continued to run it with great success until his death in 1865. Shortly before his death, he took his sons Heinrich Blank and Julius Blank d. J. as a partner and appointed the long-standing technical manager Alfred Trappen as authorized signatory. He, a grandson from Daniel Kamp's second marriage, worked for the company for 54 years and one of the best designers the company has ever had. In 1869 the company's 50th anniversary was celebrated in the presence of Friedrich Harkort together with 25 employees and 300 workers. The workers presented the management with a silver trophy and received a flag and poems in return.
Heinrich Blank was now the chief businessman and Julius Blank the Elder. J. the technical manager. In addition, Hugo Blank, another brother, joined the company and these three brothers took over the company after the death of their mother Emilie Blank, nee. Kamp, until it had to be converted into a stock company in 1873 due to a lack of capital. Heinrich Blank still ran the company together with Alfred Trappen until 1896, until he resigned due to differences of opinion about the formation of reserves with a Berlin bank and lived as a pensioner in Wetter ad Ruhr until 1906.
Takeover and merger
Julius Blank the Elder J. had left in 1884 and died in 1891 at the age of 56. The way led in 1906 to the assumption by the Märkische Maschinenbauanstalt Ludwig piece of wood under the direction of Wolfgang Reuter and 1910 to unite with other companies under the name German Maschinenfabrik AG , headquartered in Duisburg , which later under the name of German mechanical engineering company ( Demag ) changed its name and existed until it was split up and partially taken over by Siemens AG in 1972 .
literature
- Conrad Matschoß : A Century of German Mechanical Engineering. From the mechanical workshop to the German machine factory 1819–1919. Verlag Julius Springer, Berlin 1919, ( online at www.digitalis.uni-koeln.de)