Otto Wilhelm (engineer)

Otto Wilhelm (born February 25, 1906 in Glauchau , † March 7, 1975 in Magdeburg ) was a German engineer and professor of drive technology . He is one of the pioneers in the field of innovative applications and is a co-founder of the engineering training specializing in metallurgy equipment . From 1954 to 1971 he was several founding director of institutes and a section as well as vice dean of a faculty at the University of Heavy Engineering and at the Technical University of Magdeburg.

Live and act

Otto Wilhelm was born into a family of craftsmen; his father ran a saddlery, later a car upholstery shop, in which benches and folding tops for convertibles were made. The associated mechanisms sparked his general interest in machines, in particular his love for gear theory. At an early age, he was brought up to help in the parental business and to be thrifty.

Wilhelm attended secondary school in Glauchau and graduated in spring 1922. He then completed a 17-month internship and began studying at the State Academy for Technology in Chemnitz . According to the terms of the time, this educational institution was a technical college (HTL) . From this institution a technical college (engineering school) emerged after 1945 and in 1953 the university for mechanical engineering , which developed over the technical university Karl-Marx-Stadt to today's technical university Chemnitz .

The high level of training at this State Academy of Technology has found appropriate recognition in specialist circles, so that graduates with an outstanding degree were able to transition to the 3rd semester of mechanical engineering at the TH Dresden . Wilhelm used this opportunity and studied mechanical engineering in Dresden from May 1928 to July 1931 . Here he received a well-founded and broad education in the field of mechanical engineering as a whole. This was of the utmost importance for his later professional career, in particular the constructive basic subjects such as machine elements and gear theory under Professor Karl Kutzbach (after whom the Kutzbach plan was named) and the applications in different branches such as piston and processing machines through constructive test work. In 1931 Wilhelm obtained the academic degree of graduate engineer (Dipl.-Ing.) With his diploma thesis on "Geared and dynamic investigations on a packaging machine" . The mentor of the work was Professor Hermann Alt (1889 to 1954).

The topic of his diploma thesis was decisive for his entry into the industry. After completing his studies, he took up a position as a designer in packaging machine construction at the “Maschinenfabrik Beco” in Dresden .

In 1935 Wilhelm moved to the Friedrich Krupp company in Essen . Here he became a designer for gear drives , and this activity shaped his entire subsequent professional development to a large extent. The tasks to be solved here were very varied. His field of activity included in particular the design of drive systems , especially the construction of large gears , into which he quickly grew and which he later worked on largely independently. Every new construction contains the familiar, but at the same time also means an advance into the unknown. There are always risks associated with this, which Wilhelm was able to assess and take on within an acceptable framework. In doing so, he also developed his empathy for the respective specific situation, which ultimately made his very successful development work possible.

In 1937 Wilhelm worked for the Loesch machine factory in Dresden. But then he went back to the Krupp company in Essen. Towards the end of the war, Wilhelm was working in the Harz region , where his design office in Essen had been relocated due to the bombing raids.

His further career path led him to the Kratsch company in Gößnitz (Thuringia) in 1946 . Up until 1949 he worked as an engineer here, designing and manufacturing auxiliary bicycle motors with which bicycles could be retrofitted in the post-war years in the absence of motorcycles, which was a very popular product at the time.

From 1949 he worked at the Penig transmission plant in Saxony as a designer and main designer . In 1953 he was appointed chief designer of the GDR transmission industry. During his work as a designer, he also developed the idea of ​​one day passing on his extensive experience in the gearbox sector to the next generation of engineers and working in engineering training.

Professor in Magdeburg

The building at Am Krökentor 2 of the technical college for heavy engineering and the technical school for civil engineering, in which on March 3, 1954, theoretical teaching began at the college for heavy engineering, founded in 1953

The re-establishment of the Magdeburg University of Heavy Mechanical Engineering (HfS) in September 1953 gave him the opportunity to pursue these considerations. When the founding rector Heinz Schrader looked around among the chief designers for suitable teachers, Wilhelm agreed to take up a position as a professor in Magdeburg.

In 1954 Otto Wilhelm was appointed professor at the HfS in Magdeburg. He became director of the Institute for Machine and Drive Elements and thus responsible for basic training in machine elements . Since the spring semester of 1954 he has given his first lecture on machine elements in lecture hall I in the building Am Krökentor 2 , making him one of the first university professors who started teaching theory at the HfS on March 3, 1954. Wilhelm based his lectures and exercises on the all-German standard work by Gustav Niemann from Springer Verlag.

After completing the 6 semesters of basic studies, the first matriculation began in the fall semester of 1956 in optional subjects. Wilhelm took over the management of Metallurgy Equipment (AdM) and also the provisional management of the Institute for Rolling Mills and Metallurgical Machinery . The department also included an institute for drive technology , which was also founded and headed by Wilhelm. Wilhelm saw the field of AdM as a supporting pillar of the HfS because it was tailored to the production program of the heavy machinery construction combine "Ernst Thälmann" (SKET) Magdeburg as the largest heavy machinery construction company in the GDR. At the same time, the rolling mill machines had found a home at the HfS / TH Magdeburg.

Wilhelm expanded the connections to heavy industry: to SKET, to the design office for heavy engineering in Magdeburg and to other VVB equipment for heavy industry and gear manufacturing (ASuG). Around 1960 the project of a cold rolling machine test facility was prepared as a joint project between industry and the university for heavy engineering and the agreement was signed between the main director Karl Grünhaid of VVB ASuG and the rector Ernst-Joachim Gießmann . On April 22, 1970, the system was put into operation in Hall 2 of the mechanical engineering section . Otto Wilhelm, as the incumbent section director, brought about this new form of cooperation and joint investments between industry and higher education at the time. With the help of the test facility, a large number of research tasks could be processed and practical technological and mechanical engineering solutions found and tested, which in turn found their way into industrial use.

This close cooperation also made it possible to include problems from industrial practice in the training, especially through large documents and diploma theses. In this way, the students got to know practical issues and were able to prepare for their work. At the same time, a large number of questions came to the university in this way, which led to the formulation of tasks for research work that resulted in dissertations and doctoral procedures .

Wilhelm organized special courses on problems of technology and economy, using the example of the Hettstedt rolling mill, with the honorary professor at the TH Magdeburg, plant director and later general director Franz Bandel .

Wilhelm recognized the importance of electrical engineering / electronics for modern mechanical engineering in good time and included corresponding courses in the curricula of the subjects he led: Electric motor drives, represented by Ernst Stumpp ; Measurement, control and regulation technology, represented by Heinrich Wilhelmi .

Well-known industrial experts, scientists and several professors emerged from Wilhelm's academic environment . Wilhelm particularly encouraged the development of capable assistants so that they could acquire the necessary qualifications to take on teaching and management tasks in the near future. In this way he was able to develop six of his assistants - all students in the first two years of study, Matrikel 1953 and 1954 - into university lecturers, including two in the field of metallurgy equipment.

In the years after the Third University Reform of the GDR in 1968, the substance of the institutes founded by Wilhelm in the form of scientific areas belonged to the newly founded "Section for Mechanical Engineering in Heavy Industry, Conveying Technology and Construction Machinery", of which Otto Wilhelm became the founding director (later the Mechanical Engineering Section). During these years he made a noteworthy contribution to the profile of the section with regard to practice-oriented teaching and industry-related research as well as to the development of young scientists. He was also effective as Vice Dean of the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering.

Wilhelm had a special interest in the historical development of technology . He saw mills and clocks as basic types of machines. He not only collected literature on historical windmills and water mills, he also knew almost every example in the GDR. Later he became interested in watches. His preoccupation with the history of technology was for him on the one hand a source of professional impulses and on the other hand an expression of his great respect for the remarkable achievements of previous generations of engineers.

The retirement of Otto Wilhelm was done with reaching retirement age in 1971. He died in Magdeburg 1975th

Memberships and honors (selection)

• Member of the University Union Management (HGL)
• Chairman of the mutual aid fund
• Chairman of the University Section of the Chamber of Technology (KDT)
• 1956 Award "Honored Technician of the People"
• Electoral Senator.

Publications (selection)

• Johannes Volmer (Eds.), Felix Leistner, Günther Lörsch, Otto Wilhelm: Transmission technology. Epicyclic gears. Verlag Technik, Berlin 1973.

literature

• Manfred Beckert (Ed.), Gerd Fleischer: Machine elements, manufacturing technology, industrial measurement, control and regulation technology. Fachbuchverlag, Leipzig 1973.
• Helmut Asmus: History of the City of Magdeburg. 1975.
• Reinhard Probst among others: Curriculum for training at universities and colleges in the basic study of mechanical engineering in the GDR. MHF, Berlin 1975.
• Manfred Beckert, Ludwig Winkler (illustrations): World of metals. Fachbuchverlag, Leipzig; Aulis-Verlag Deubner, Cologne 1977, ISBN 978-3-7614-0359-4 .
• Manfred Beckert (ed.), Karl Manteuffel : Business and work design, benefit calculation, operational research. Fachbuchverlag, Leipzig 1977.
• 25 years of the Otto von Guericke Technical University. In: Scientific journal of the Technical University of Magdeburg, vol. 22, 1978, no. 3–5.
• Manfred Beckert: Iron - facts and legends. German publishing house for basic industry, Leipzig 1981.
• Gerhard Hennings: Prof. Dipl.-Ing. Otto Wilhelm (1906 to 1975) - Biographical sketch. Scientific journal of the Technical University of Magdeburg, vol. 27 (1983) issue 3.
• 1953-1983. 30 years of the Otto-von-Guericke University of Applied Sciences in Magdeburg. In: Wissenschaftliche Zeitschrift, Technische Hochschule Magdeburg, vol. 27, no.3, 1983.
• Gerd Fleischer: Wilhelm, Otto, Prof. Magdeburg University Archives 2005. ›mbl› Biographies
• Mechanical and plant engineering in the Magdeburg region at the beginning of the 21st century. Future based on tradition. Delta-D publishing house, Axel Kühling, Magdeburg 2014, ISBN 978-3-935831-51-2 .
• Peter Neumann (Hrsg.): Magdeburg's automation technology in transition - from industrial to research location. Authors: Christian Diedrich , Rolf Höltge, Ulrich Jumar , Achim Kienle, Reinhold Krampitz, Günter Müller, Peter Neumann, Konrad Pusch, Helga Rokosch, Barbara Schmidt, Ulrich Schmucker, Gerhard Unger, Günter Wolf. Otto von Guericke University Magdeburg ; Institute for Automation and Communication Magdeburg (ifak), Magdeburg 2018, ISBN 978-3-944722-75-7 .

Web links

• Website of the Otto von Guericke University Magdeburg
• Website of the Max Planck Institute Magdeburg
• Website of the ifak - Institute for Automation and Communication Magdeburg

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Gustav Niemann among other things: Machine elements - Volume 1: Construction and calculation of connections, bearings, shafts. Volume 2: General gears, gear gears - basics, spur gears. Springer publishing house. ›Book