Rudolf Ernst Wolf
Rudolf Ernst Wolf (born July 26, 1831 in Magdeburg ; † November 20, 1910 ibid) was a German designer , entrepreneur and founder of the " Maschinenfabrik R. Wolf " in Magdeburg.
Life
childhood and education
Rudolf Wolf was the seventh of nine children of Friedrich Wilhelm Wolf (teacher of mathematics, history and Greek language at Magdeburg Cathedral Gymnasium ) and Dorothea Christiane Elisabeth Wolf , née Schmidt. The family lived at the address Hinter dem Dom 9 , immediately south of Magdeburg Cathedral , today the undeveloped south side of the street Am Dom . Rudolf Wolf was also born here. His childhood is described as happy, even if the family lived economically. Rudolf played often in the immediately adjacent facilities of the fortress Magdeburg belonging Bastion Cleve . An incident has been handed down according to which the children removed old balls from the fortress grounds and played with them in front of their parents' house. A sergeant caught Rudolf and his brother August doing it, took the bullets from them and took the children to the artillery brigadier, who gave them a sermon. The brigadier is said to have been the later Prussian War Minister Karl Adolf von Strotha .
The first school he attended for three years was the school of the Royal School Teacher Seminar School at Magdeburger Prälatenstrasse 29 . One of his schoolmates was Otto Gruson , who later also worked in mechanical engineering . The family then moved into the house at Kreuzgangstrasse 5, built in 1506 . From the winter of 1846/47 Rudolf attended the Domgymnasium, although he described this school time as "not very refreshing" in his personal memories. Teachers used unreasonable violence against the students and in some cases did not master their subject. He described his music teacher Johann Joachim Wachsmann more positively, even if overwhelmed by the students . As a teenager, Wolf joined the gymnastics movement . However, Wolf later switched to Realgymnasium because of his interest in technology . As a child he had considered becoming a pastor, but then was initially interested in architecture, but soon showed great interest in mechanical engineering . In 1847 he passed the secondary school leaving certificate . He decided against further education and, despite his parents' doubts, took up an internship in the machine factory of the " United Hamburg-Magdeburg Steamship Compagnie " in Buckau near Magdeburg. His father had personal relationships with the management there, as the sons of the factory director Albrecht Tischbeins were among his students. Tischbein waived the customary demand for an apprentice fee to be paid. Wolf took up the internship at Easter on April 12, 1847, although the company hardly dealt with the training of the interns. Since Buckau was seen as too far from Magdeburg, Wolf took a room in Buckau.
From 1849 to 1851 Rudolf Wolf attended the provincial trade school in Halberstadt , where he received extensive theoretical training. Although the principal of the school tried to persuade him, Wolf decided not to take the voluntary final exam. The cause was probably an existing fear of exams . At the end of his training, Wolf took up a job as a volunteer at the F. Wöhlert'schen Maschinenbau-Anstalt in Berlin in October 1851 , under the chief engineer and technical director Hermann Gruson . Wolf's father was friends with Louis Gruson , Gruson's father, which resulted in a personal mediation. The job was technically very diverse. In addition to locomotives , Wolf was busy with steam hammers, switches, turntables and sawmills . He received an initial payment of 16 and later 25 thalers a month. With the Gruson-led areas of the company losing money, Gruson had to leave the company. The engineers he brought to the company, including Wolf, also had to leave.
Activity in Stuttgart-Berg
Wolf planned to seek a new position in the Rhenish-Westphalian industry. In April 1854, however, he met the Stuttgart factory owner Gotthilf Kuhn in the restaurant of the Magdeburg train station. The meeting took place on a recommendation from Hermann Gruson. As a result of the conversation, Wolf went to Stuttgart - Berg in 1854 for an annual salary of 400 thalers and worked there from April 17, 1854 as chief engineer in the G. Kuhn machine and boiler factory . The factory was quite small compared to the Buckau and Wöhlert machine works. Wolf was able to perfect himself in constructive questions and also got to know the financial aspects of machine manufacturing. For the first time he dealt with locomotives here . In 1855 he attended the World Exhibition in Paris .
Wolf married his first wife Emilie Höfer , daughter of a local mason and stone mason , on May 13, 1856 in Stuttgart-Berg . The couple moved into an apartment in Stuttgart-Berg.
The economic success of the factory increased, Wolf received a small percentage of the net profit and earned 1,300 guilders annually, which, however, seemed very modest to him. Due to the knowledge about the technology acquired in Stuttgart and the increasing demand in the market, Wolf came to the decision to found his own company. At first he planned to become self-employed in Württemberg . He dealt intensively with the acquisition of a machine factory in Lörrach . Kuhn increased his salary to 1900 guilders, with which Wolf was initially satisfied, but soon made plans to start his own business again. As the first German manufacturer, he planned to devote himself specifically to the construction of locomobiles .
Construction of the Wolf machine factory
On March 13, 1862, after consulting with Buckau mayor Christoph Griesemann , who was still known to him from his earlier time in Buckau, he bought a plot of land on the field path in Buckau for 2900 thalers and founded the company " Maschinenfabrik R. Wolf ". Five days later the construction of the factory began. A factory and an administration building were built. In addition, a residential building was built. He acquired various machine tools from various manufacturers and an 8 hp locomobile from the Kühn company. On June 16, 1862, the company started work with six employees. The result was the first single-cylinder locomobile with eight HP, which was characterized by low steam consumption. Under Wolf's leadership, the products were constantly improved technically and the capacities increased. In the beginning, Wolf often used tools himself to instruct employees who were inexperienced in building locomotives. The number of employees at the plant rose to 87 by 1871.
Rudolf Wolf participated as a silent partner in the company founded by his school friend Otto Gruson, which from then on became O. Gruson & Comp. traded.
In 1873 Wolf married his second wife, the daughter of a landowner Ottilie Litzmann from Schoenermark near Kyritz and had three sons and two daughters with her. The two oldest sons Rudolf and Max later took over the company. The other children were Franz, Ottilie and Elisabeth.
The 500th locomobile was built in 1874 and the 5000th was built in 1895. The company achieved a worldwide reputation in its field. This is probably one of the reasons why the first locomobile built in 1862 could be bought back by the customer in 1887 after 25 years of service. It then served in the company's joinery for 15 years and was donated to the Deutsches Museum in Munich in 1904 . Wolf was also active in other technical areas. With the Buckauer screw he developed a ship propeller especially suitable for river navigation. He also dealt with facilities for drilling deep boreholes.
In 1888 Wolf suffered a stroke on the way to a board meeting of the Association of German Engineers (VDI) in Berlin , which severely impaired his professional activity. After about a year he was able to work again to a limited extent. Wolf remained successful in a leading position in the company for a long time. In 1889 he moved his residence away from the factory to Magdeburg- Sudenburg to the spacious villa previously built by bank director Albert Marcks in Westendstraße 38/39 , today's Klausenerstraße 11-13 . In addition, the Wolf couple had a country house at Punierstraße 23 in Ilsenburg with a park, pond and garden.
After the turn of the century, Wolf moved the plant to Magdeburg-Salbke , where 3,000 workers were later employed. Wolf expanded his company's business area to include complete systems for breweries and sugar factories and also included technical systems for centrifugal pumps and deep boreholes in the program.
In line with Wolf's corporate philosophy , great value was placed on quality. From Wolf the frequent saying “Clean, only clean, no matter what it costs!” Is passed down. Even before Bismarck 's social legislation, Wolf introduced social benefits in his company, founded a pension, widows and orphans' fund and set up a spa and convalescent home in Braunlage .
In addition to his technical talent, Rudolf Wolf is also credited with willpower and tenacity. In addition, he is also certified with a sense of humor, social commitment and a desire for close contact with the company's employees. A predisposition to hot temper and the occasional abuse of alcohol is indicated as negative characteristics.
Rudolf Wolf died at 2:00 a.m. on November 20, 1910. He was buried on November 23, 1910 in Magdeburg's West Cemetery with great sympathy and the presence of regional dignitaries.
Club work
He was also involved outside of his company. Wolf belonged to the Athene association active in Magdeburg , where he gave lectures on a wide variety of topics such as the history of Württemberg, geography, aesthetics, traffic and the development of science. As early as 1862 he joined the Association of German Engineers (VDI). He also gave several lectures here. In 1879 he reported on the world exhibitions he had visited , and in 1882 he spoke about deep drilling at the general meeting in Magdeburg. In 1887 and 1888 he was chairman of the VDI.
On December 28, 1883, Wolf became a member of the college of the elders of the merchant class and the Magdeburg Chamber of Commerce. In 1898 the R. Wolf Foundation was established, which was administered by the Chamber of Commerce.
Honors
In 1885 Wolf was awarded the honorary title of Kommerzienrat and in 1897 the Order of the Red Eagle . The Technical University (Berlin-) Charlottenburg awarded Wolf an honorary doctorate (as Dr.-Ing.Eh ). In later years the city of Magdeburg named a street in his honor as Rudolf-Wolf-Straße . A memorial commemorates him on the site of the plant he founded in Salbke, later known as the SKL .
literature
- Manfred Beckert: Wolf, Rudolf Ernst. In: Guido Heinrich, Gunter Schandera (ed.): Magdeburg Biographical Lexicon 19th and 20th centuries. Biographical lexicon for the state capital Magdeburg and the districts of Bördekreis, Jerichower Land, Ohrekreis and Schönebeck. Scriptum, Magdeburg 2002, ISBN 3-933046-49-1 .
- Günter Hammerschmidt : Magdeburg company founder , Part IV, Magdeburg 2010
- Willy Harsch: Rudolf Wolf In: Central German Life Pictures. Volume 1, Lebensbilder des 19. Jahrhundert, Magdeburg 1926, pp. 331–343.
- Conrad Matschoss : Life story of R. Wolf. In: Die Maschinenfabrik R. Wolf Magdeburg-Buckau 1862-1912 , Magdeburg 1912, p. 6 ff.
- Martin Wiehle : Magdeburg personalities. Published by the Magistrate of the City of Magdeburg, Department of Culture. imPuls Verlag, Magdeburg 1993, ISBN 3-910146-06-6 , p. 97.
Individual evidence
- ^ Wiehle, Magdeburg Personalities , page 97
- ↑ 100 years Buckau-Wolf 1838-1938, page 162; other information: November 10, 1912; so in Manfred Beckert, Magdeburg Biographical Lexicon, page 818
- ^ Günter Hammerschmidt: Magdeburg company founder , Part IV, Magdeburg 2010, page 15
- ^ Günter Hammerschmidt: Magdeburg company founder , Part IV, Magdeburg 2010, page 16
- ^ Günter Hammerschmidt: Magdeburg company founder , Part IV, Magdeburg 2010, page 31
- ^ Günter Hammerschmidt: Magdeburg company founder , Part IV, Magdeburg 2010, page 44
- ^ Günter Hammerschmidt: Magdeburg company founder , Part IV, Magdeburg 2010, page 86 f.
- ^ Marie-Luise Heuser , Wolfgang König : Tabular compilations on the history of the VDI . In: Karl-Heinz Ludwig (Ed.): Technology, Engineers and Society - History of the Association of German Engineers 1856–1981 . VDI-Verlag, Düsseldorf 1981, ISBN 3-18-400510-0 , p. 566 .
Web links
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Wolf, Rudolf Ernst |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Wolf, Rudolf |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German entrepreneur |
| DATE OF BIRTH | July 26, 1831 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Magdeburg |
| DATE OF DEATH | November 20, 1910 |
| Place of death | Magdeburg |