Oelchenshammer
The Oelchenshammer is a hammer forge near Bickenbach in the Oberbergisches Kreis . The facility, including the master blacksmith's house, is now an industrial monument, a branch of the LVR industrial museum, Kraftwerk Ermen & Engels in Engelskirchen .
history
The Oelchenshammer lies on the river Leppe . It is one of the last forging hammers still operated with water power in the Rhineland . There is also the historic Stellershammer, which opened in 2013/14, also in Leppetal, and the Westerhammer in the Bergisches Museum for Mining, Crafts and Trades in Bergisch Gladbach . The Oelchenshammer struck the first blow in 1787. For many years, bands for barrels filled with wine, oil and other liquids and semi-finished products for the tool industry were forged here . In 1860 he was bought by the newly founded Eduard Dörrenberg Söhne company . The same company acquired the old Ründerother hut and puddle furnace in 1869 .
Since the invention of the puddling process in 1784, it was possible for the first time to produce a break-proof and elastic steel in large quantities, from which Osemund - a very soft, tough and easily malleable iron - could be forged. The Eduard Dörrenberg company refined this process by refining it up to four times and called the new product "Janus steel" . The ancient Roman god Janus has since appeared as a logo in the company's letterhead. Hatchets, axes, saws and all forms of knives were made from this steel, which achieved good sales opportunities because they remained permanently sharp and required less sharpening. In 1940 the puddling plant in Ründeroth was closed. That meant the end of the oil hammer. The existing raw materials were processed until 1947, after which the company was idle for many years.
The industrial museum
In close cooperation between the Dörrenberg Edelstahl company and the state curator , it was decided in the mid-1960s to restore the hammer forge and restore it as a monument to the Oberbergische Eisenproduktion. You had to do a complete overhaul. In 1967 the first smith's fire burned again and the old tupp, tupp, tupp of the blacksmith's hammer could be heard again. The LVR industrial museum took over the facility in 1993, initially with only one tail hammer . On June 19, 2006, thanks to a donation, a second tail hammer was used and put into operation.
Demonstrations
In the past, six blacksmiths and two gunmen worked on the four hammers in the Oelchenshammer. The rifle boys opened the weir with a wooden pole . The water shot over the water wheels, and the massive forge hammers began to beat in time. The blacksmiths held the glowing iron parts underneath with long tongs. At today's demonstrations only a blacksmith and a gunman work.
The Oelchenshammer is open from April to October on Sundays and by special arrangement. Public blacksmithing demonstrations take place every second Sunday, and guided tours every fourth Sunday.
The mill pond
View from the mill pond to the hammer mill
Drive wheel for the fan
Drive wheel for the hammer mechanism
View over the pond dam
Individual evidence
- ^ The Stellershammer in the Leppetal, accessed on March 23, 2015.
- ↑ a b c Oelchen's hammer - a historic water hammer. From: Festschrift “100 Years of Ed. Dörrenberg Sons. "Ründeroth, undated
- ^ Dörrenberg Edelstahl GmbH, Ründeroth ( Memento from March 23, 2012 in the Internet Archive )
- ^ Archive of the Ermen & Engels cotton spinning mill, index A, time table.
literature
- Brochure from Dörrenberg Edelstahl GmbH: Oelchens Hammer - a historic water hammer. Ründeroth, undated
- Oskar Dörrenberg, 100 years of Ed. Dörrenberg Sons, Ründeroth, 300 years of the Dörrenberg ironworks. Ründeroth 1960
- Company history 150 years of Dörrenberg, quality based on tradition. Ründeroth, 2010
- Claudia Euskirchen, Olaf Gisbertz, Ulrich Schäfer (edit.): Handbook of German art monuments , North Rhine-Westphalia, Volume I: Rhineland. Deutscher Kunstverlag, Munich / Berlin 2005, ISBN 3-422-03093-X .
Web links
- Dörrenberg Edelstahl accessed on March 23, 2015
Coordinates: 51 ° 0 ′ 15.8 " N , 7 ° 26 ′ 17.9" E