Obermühl paper mill
| Paper mill Obermühl Sonnberger GmbH | |
|---|---|
| legal form | GmbH |
| founding | 1869 |
| Seat | Obermuhl |
| management | Roland Sonnberger, Tobias Sonnberger |
| Number of employees | 5 |
| Branch | Paper wholesale, paper equipment, power generation |
| Website | www.sonnpapier.at |
The Obermühl paper mill is a factory site in the lower valley of the Kleine Mühl in Obermühl on the Danube . In its eventful history, paper was produced over a period of 120 years .
The paper mill was an important employer in the region for many years; in the first half of the 20th century, over 240 people were employed at peak times. Since the closure of paper production in 1993, the company has specialized in the processing and trading of packaging paper. This includes, in particular, tissue paper (sulfite silk and recycled tissue paper), wrapping paper (soda kraft paper and soda mixed paper) and crumpled and stuffing paper (Schrenz). The base papers are purchased throughout Europe and sold in the form of industrial or shop rolls as well as format paper to wholesalers and commercial customers throughout Austria and Germany. Another line of business is electricity generation from hydropower, which is continuously being expanded.
history
In 1865, the forester Carl Christian Müller, who came from Zittau , acquired the Pürnstein Castle and forest areas in the area around the small mill. In 1869 he set up the first wood grinding shop on the Daglesbach, the so-called A grinding shop . As early as 1873, the first paper machine was put into operation.
In the following years, CC Müller bought more properties along the small mill, so that grinding shops B and C and in 1891 a second paper machine could soon be put into operation. The name of the company was then "Augustenthaler Papier-Maschinenfabrik". The main purpose of the expansion along the small mill was to use the water rights associated with the property to generate energy.
After CC Müller's death in 1899, the company was taken over by his heirs and managed by several different directors. The paper mill then ran into difficulties due to a poor order situation and insufficient water supply, so that bankruptcy was declared in 1913.
Then the paper mill was taken over by the Länderbank Wien.
After the end of the First World War (1918), the paper mill - under the management of Ernst Karl Nemeth since 1924 - experienced an upswing, and in 1928 a factory cable car was built. In 1930 the annual production was 6400 t. During this time, the factory premises reached its greatest extent of 3.3 km in length.
In 1941, Peter Reinhold , who had to close his paper factory in Kröllwitz near Halle , bought the Obermühl paper factory from the Länderbank and renamed it "Cröllwitz-Obermühl GmbH paper factory". Annual production reached a new high of 6560 t in 1941.
After the end of the war, during the Soviet occupation , the factory was confiscated and managed by the USIA group. During this time, in addition to an accumulation of debts and the delay in technical investments, the former customer base was also lost, as the USIA mainly supplied its own operations.
In 1955 the company was handed over to the Austrian state. The factory then went back to Reinhold's sons. Since 1957 under the leadership of Lukas Reinhold, the urgently needed technical upgrades were finally carried out. A previously approved ERP loan, however, was paid out too late, so that bankruptcy in 1964 could no longer be prevented with the simultaneous recession of the paper market. The paper mill was then taken over by a rescue company. This leasing company did not have to take on any old debts. After a short-term improvement in the economic situation in the sixties, things went down again, so that in autumn 1972 there was a foreclosure auction .
Alois Sonnberger, who bought the company for 10.6 million schillings, was awarded the contract. In 1974 he was the first in Austria to produce recycled paper in the Obermühl paper factory. After his death in 1986, the plant was taken over by his son Roland Sonnberger.
After one of the two paper machines was sold in 1990, paper production finally had to be shut down in 1993.
Since then the company has specialized in wholesaling and retailing as well as in the manufacture of paper products. In addition, electrical energy is generated from hydropower.
Today, many of the buildings on the site of the paper mill are unused, some in a state of disrepair. Renovation work was carried out on other buildings. The site has retained the character of an industrial company from the first half of the 20th century.
Hydropower
The use of hydropower has always been very important to the paper mill. In the past, power was transmitted from the water turbines to the machines by means of transmission . However, this had the disadvantage that if the water flow in the water bodies used was low, restrictions or production stoppages were to be expected. In the paper mill, some of the transmissions were retained until paper production was shut down in 1993. Since then, all hydropower systems have been converted to generator drives.
Today there are four small hydropower plants on the site of the paper mill , a fifth is being planned:
- The power plant A-Schleiferei uses the water of the Daglesbach. This is dammed above the valley of the Kleine Mühl and then fed to the turbine via a pipeline with a head of around 125 m. The history of the paper mill began in 1869 at this point, which is favorable for hydropower.
At the small mill, the water is dammed starting at the Bruckmühle and then used by three hydropower plants in a row:
- The power plant B headquarters in the B grinding shop ( Höllmühle )
- The power plant A headquarters
- The power plant factory headquarters was rebuilt in 2004 directly on the banks of the Kleine Mühl. A Kaplan spiral turbine with 386 kW was installed here.
During the modernization of the small hydropower plants, fish ladders have also been built in recent years.
literature
- Hans Falkenberg: Obermühl paper factory (= Upper Austrian homeland sheets. 1992, no. 1 ). Institute for Folk Culture, Linz 1992, p. 99–142 ( online (PDF) in the forum OoeGeschichte.at).
- Fritz Bertlwieser: Mills - hammers - saws - Upper Mühlviertel, Bohemian Forest, Bavarian Forest . Haslach 1999, p. 153-156 .
Individual evidence
- ↑ F-headquarters. (PDF) (No longer available online.) Global Hydro Energy, 2004, archived from the original on March 4, 2016 ; accessed on February 28, 2015 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Document with information on power plant construction
