Tube works Coppel - Kronprinz - Mannesmann (Hilden)

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In Hilden Schillerstraße 11, right next to the railway line, the Solingen entrepreneur Alexander Coppel built the Coppel pipe works , a pipe drawing shop for seamless, cold-drawn precision steel pipes . In 1936 it was sold to the automotive supplier Kronprinz AG in Solingen - Ohligs . But already in 1938 the majority of the shares went to the Mannesmann Group. Production stopped in 1972.

Today the Terrania industrial park (Ellerstrasse 101) comprises a 100,000 m², enclosed industrial area.

Coppel pipe works (Hilden) (1897–1938)

Coppel Hilden letterhead 1937
Coppel Hilden logo 1937
Röhrenwerk Coppel, invoice no.2363 from February 1, 1937

The Solingen industrialists Carl Gustav Coppel (born December 14, 1857 in Solingen; † September 25, 1941 in Düsseldorf) and Alexander Otto Coppel (born September 18, 1865 in Solingen; † August 4, 1942 in Theresienstadt concentration camp ) built a large pipe drawing shop in 1897 as Hilden external works of the Solingen company Alexander Coppel Solingen, Stahlwaren (1897–1936) (ALCOSO) directly on the track at Hilden station (Schillerstr. 11 / Ellerstraße 57) Her company symbol was a scale. On July 12, 1897, permission was granted to set up a fixed steam boiler, which supplied the drive energy with 9 atmospheres overpressure.

In coordination with Mayor Heitland, the company in Hilden, which was previously characterized by the textile industry, was rescheduled for heavy industry . In the new Hilden company, Röhrenwerk Coppel , a cold-drawn precision steel tube was manufactured for the first time, which became known worldwide as the "Coppel tube". This resulted in u. a. white enamelled towel rails and water handles. The company manufactured steel tubes for bicycles , bicycle frames , front forks, front wheel disks, bicycle handlebars , fork heads, seat posts, bottom bracket housings, rear wheel sets and other vehicle parts.

In 1900, two years after the company was founded, the company employed 47 workers. The number of employees rose to 380 in 1912. Additional steam boilers were installed in 1905, 1908 and 1911. At the beginning of 1908 the official acceptance for the production of acetylene gas took place. They needed the gas for the new technology of the autogenous welding process for the production of bicycle parts and steel tubes.

During the First World War , the Coppel company took over the production of war supplies d. H. of weapons and ammunition parts. In 1917 a second boiler house was built. After the war, the number of employees rose sharply to 700 by March 1919. It could have been above 800 by the time the economic crisis hit. Thereafter it sank to 558 employees by 1932.

In 1931, the city of Hilden authorized Coppel to purchase direct gas from Ruhrgas AG

During the period of National Socialism , economic life was gradually affected by anti-Semitism . The Alexander Coppel company and its Jewish owners were among the first to fall victim to the nationalist expropriation program. On March 1, 1936, the takeover by Röhrenwerk Coppel GmbH, with a significant participation of Kronprinz-Aktiengesellschaft, Solingen Ohligs .

Due to carbon dioxide and sulfur from the acetylene gas extraction plant of the Coppel company, manganese had dissolved in the ground. This would have made the drinking water unusable. The “In den Hülsen” waterworks, built in 1899, could no longer pump clean water and had to stop operating.

Kronprinz AG, Röhrenwerk Hilden GmbH (1936–1938)

Kronprinz company, Hilden plant
60 years of Kronprinz AG (1957)

As part of the Aryanization of Jewish companies, they were sold at a ridiculous price in 1936 and the Coppel company was transferred to the Solingen-Ohligser automotive supplier company Kronprinz AG . They were manufacturers of electrically welded steel tubes and car and truck wheels.

With the takeover of the Hilden tube factory (Fabriciusstrasse 40) from Alexander Coppel, Kronprinz expanded its precision tubes capacity. In Hilden, they manufactured seamless and oxy-fuel-welded pipes. Kronprinz AG's range of services included the production of welded and seamless tubes, profiles, parts for further processing, aircraft parts and automobile wheels.

Crown Prince Mannesmann (1938–1970)

Mannesmann Röhrenwerke AG.
Kronprinz- Mannesmann AG (Hilden) Ellerstr.-Körnerstr.-Fabriciusstr. (1958)

The Mannesmann Group took over the majority of the shares in 1938 . She held 20 percent of the Kronprinz shares. After the Second World War , the plant was dismantled. Then the Kronprinz factory in Coppel Hilden was equipped with the most modern machines. The plant made considerable progress, the number of employees had risen to 622 in 1956. The workflows have been adjusted. Two new factory halls were built in 1956. In the new 1,400 square meter hall for the precision pipe drawing shop , large window areas in the sheds let in enough light. On the other side of Ellerstrasse, the new, illuminated hall with 2000 square meters was used for further processing of the pipes. Their basement accommodated the warehouse.

In 1956, the pipe drawing shop in the Hilden plant was modernized. After the decline in orders for the two-wheeled industry, steel drainage pipes for building drainage, irrigation and mining pipes were added as new products. This enabled them to deliver such pipes, including the couplings, ready for installation. In 1957 it added a new type of hydraulically operated pit ram for the mining industry to its production program. Hilden supplied bent and machined tubes for the automotive industry. The large wagon conversion program of the Federal Railroad created employment. After the Kronprinz Meto plant was closed, the Hilden plant took over the rims, mudguards and profile rings operating departments.

The department for “oxy-fuel welded pipes” was moved to Ohligs. The following were also shut down: "Cold rolling mill, pipe rolling mill, pot annealing plant, the oxygen and acetylene plant".

At the beginning of the 1970s, the "seamless tube drawing" was relocated to Rath due to rationalization .

Mannesmannröhren-Werke GmbH, Hilden operations department

On January 26, 1970, the tube production of the old Kronprinz AG was transferred to Mannesmannröhren-Werke GmbH , (Eichenstrasse 2) in Hilden, and the wheel production in Solingen to the new Kronprinz AG (100% owned by Mannesmann AG). The Hilden pipe drawing shop was shut down in February 1972. 200 affected employees were given new jobs in Hilden. Mannesmann sold the site that Gustav Coppel had once acquired.

Terrania industrial park in Hilden (Ellerstraße 101) (1975 to today)

Terrania Industrial Park (1975 - today) Ellerstrasse 101 The former Coppel, Kronprinz, Mannesmann site was converted in 1975 to the commercial and industrial park Terrania Industriepark (Eller Str. 101).

The industrial park is a successful synthesis of classic substance, modern architecture and technical functionality. In 1975 it was founded as one of the first and largest business parks in North Rhine-Westphalia . Today the park encompasses a 100,000 m² enclosed industrial area. Firms and businesses have 65,000 m² of usable space available, including numerous offices, warehouses, production, service and sales halls. Generous maneuvering and open areas facilitate the use of the facility. The industrial park houses u. a. Companies from the fields of technology, logistics, trade, pharmaceuticals, IT, telecommunications, electronics, trade, pallet trade, building technology, services.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b c Wilhelm Bramann: Coppel - history of a Jewish family in Solingen. 1770–1942 , Solingen City Archives 2012, Series: Anchor and Sword, Vol. 13, ISBN 978-3-928956-21-5 .
  2. ↑ Alexander Coppel Solingen 1821 - 1921, Stahlrohrwerk Hilden , Festschrift 100th company anniversary 1921.
  3. ↑ Wolfgang Wennig: History of Hilden industry, from the beginning of commercial activity by the year 1900 , City Archives Hilden, 1974, pages 71, 150th
  4. ^ Gerd Müller: Stadtwerke Hilden, foundation, structure and history , Hilden city archive 1984.
  5. ^ Kronprinz GmbH history
  6. ↑ Increase in production through new buildings , Rheinische Post, August 29, 1956.
  7. ↑ 60 years of Kronprinz AG , 1957 annual report.
  8. ↑ a b Willi Krey (born April 16, 1903 in Hilden), In Memoriam Alexander Coppel , memories of the tube factory Coppel, Hilden May 1996.
  9. ↑ 1972 shutdown of the pipe drawing shop, In: Wolfgang Wennig: Hildener Chronik (1971-1974), In: Hildener Jahrbuch 1981, page 227

Coordinates: 51 ° 10 ′ 6.8 ″  N , 6 ° 55 ′ 16.5 ″  E