Powder mill Elisenthal
| Powder mill Elisenthal | |
|---|---|
| Type | Black Powder Mill |
| founding | 1871 |
| Shutdown | 1918 |
| use | Mining, military |
| founder | Everhard Schülgen |
| last owner | United Cologne-Rottweiler Pulverfabriken AG |
| Status | ruin |
| Place name | Windeck - Dattenfeld |
| Coordinates | 50 ° 48 '59 " N , 7 ° 33' 46" E |
The Elisenthal powder mill was the largest black powder production facility in the Rhineland. The ruins of the black powder mill are located in Windeck in the Rhein-Sieg district in North Rhine-Westphalia . They extend from the Dattenfeld district about 1.2 kilometers into the Nutscheid . The plant belonged to one of the numerous powder mills in the Bergisches Land, which offered good conditions for the production of black powder due to the foul trees growing here .
history
The Elisenthal powder mill , established in 1868, appears in 1870 as Elisenthal bei dattenfeld vorm Berg , owned by the Cologne manufacturer Everhard Schülgen. The system was built in the valley of the Trimbach ( Ommerothsbach ) to use water power . The black powder produced was initially used for blasting in mining and quarries . The Elisenthaler powder mill is therefore a very young plant. Already shortly after the Thirty Years War, powder production in the Bergisch region began in the Kaltenherberg area and experienced its heyday in the 18th century. From 1790 a production plant was built in the Bröltal near Benroth , in the nearby Paulinenthal Philipp Stommel converted his fruit mill into a powder mill in the 19th century.
From 1873 the black powder mill belonged to the Vereinigte Rheinisch-Westfälische Pulverfabriken AG with headquarters in Cologne , before it was transferred to the Vereinigte Köln-Rottweiler Pulverfabriken AG in 1890. It was part of a network with other mills in the region, for example factories from Bergisch Gladbach , Benroth , Hamm , Nisterau and Rönsahl ( Krommenohl ).
From 1896, a special safety explosive powder was also produced, which required new machines and special bearings. For this purpose, the company premises on the eastern side were expanded to a total of 1.2 kilometers. Until 1918, gunpowder was also produced for use by the military administration in Berlin. After the First World War , the plant had to be shut down in accordance with Article 168 of the Versailles Peace Treaty, and the machines were brought to Russia in 1922.
production
In the sieving mill, charcoal , saltpeter and sulfur were sorted according to diameter for different purposes. The composition was decisive for the further processing in the running works, in which the black powder was rolled with the help of stone wheels weighing several tons and pressed into hard forms. The system was operated with hydropower from the nearby Trimbach.
In the mixing, reeling and shredding plant, the previously sorted raw materials were shredded in a large mixing drum filled with hardwood balls. As this production building was particularly prone to serious accidents, an additional five-meter-high, massive protective wall was built behind which the works horse-drawn tram for the powder transport ran.
With the help of water and graphite , the black powder pellets were processed in the polishing plant so that they could be portioned safely and dust-free. Shortly before the closure in 1918, an electrically operated machine was used here for the first time.
The production site also included a boiler house, small storage and drying rooms, several shelters , a breakfast house and individual buildings that were equipped with lightning rods to protect against thunderstorms.
safety
On the grounds of the Elisenthal powder mill, which was built away from the inhabited villages and important traffic routes, strict police- controlled instructions were in place for the workers. Easily flammable objects were not allowed to be carried, as were movable iron objects . To avoid sparks, buttons and nails also had to be made of copper or brass . Felt shoes were required to enter the magazines in which the black powder was stored. Windows were painted with white oil paint to reduce the risk of a burning glass effect caused by possible bubbles in the glass. The consumption of alcohol was also strictly forbidden .
The roofs of the production buildings consisted only of light boards supported on beams. In addition, one wall of the building was made very thinly in order to divert the pressure to the so-called exhaust side in the event of an explosion and thus prevent a chain reaction . Additional earth walls separated the production facilities from one another. The Trimbach served not only as a source of energy, but also as a supplier for extinguishing water, which was stored in wooden barrels that were always full. In addition, three flood ponds were created in order to be able to access the dammed water if necessary.
Despite these safety measures, serious accidents continued to occur in the company. A total of 13 workers died in two documented explosions in 1915 alone. In the chronicle of the Windeck-Rossel school it says:
“Today, shortly after 4 o'clock, the powder mill in the Elisenthal exploded with a terrible bang. Six workers were literally torn apart in the process. The worker Steckelbach had an accident from Hahnenbach. The rest were from the mayor's office in Waldbröl . "
Flora and fauna
Since its closure in 1918, the site has largely been left to nature. During this time, wetlands have formed, some of which are home to rare plants, including valuable fern species . In addition, the great crested newt and several bat species have found a suitable habitat between the remains of the former black powder mill. The chestnuts growing here, rather unusual for the forest, are late evidence of the planting of the area that was required at the time.
use
The area, which is located directly on the Siegtal cycle path , was made accessible to interested parties as part of the Regional 2010 project “Nature and culture across the Sieg”. A staircase has been leading down to the bottom of the valley since 2012, two footbridges protect the wetlands and a path leads over the former route of the works horse-drawn railway . In order to further improve the habitat of the crested newt, the only remaining flood pond of the black powder mill is to be revived with the help of state funds.
The condition of the ruin is to be preserved. In addition, security measures are provided to protect visitors and hikers. The paths must not be left. The numerous building remains are to be numbered and provided with signs that provide information about the history and production processes.
photos
literature
- Brigitte Beyer: Missed powder - black powder production in Elisenthal . In: Archeology in the Rhineland 1997, Cologne / Bonn 1998, pp. 173–175.
- Willi Schröder: Pulvermühle im Elisenthal , Franz Druck GmbH, Windeck 1998.
- Wiebke Hoppe / Wolfgang Wegener: Archaeological War Relics in the Rhineland , (Guide to Archaeological Monuments in the Rhineland, Vol. 5), Essen 2014, pp. 80–83, 86–88.
- Thomas Brock: Archeology of War. The battlefields of German history , Mainz 2015, p. 213 (on the status as an archaeological site and on making accessible as a memorial).
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Klaus Heuschötter: powder mill. Up stairs to ruins. In: Rhein-Sieg-Rundschau . August 23, 2012, accessed September 13, 2013 .
- ^ Jürgen Röhrig: New attraction. Adventure trail at the powder mill. In: Rhein-Sieg-Anzeiger . July 15, 2012, accessed September 13, 2013 .