Thiem & Töwe
Thiem & Töwe was a company based in Halle (Saale) that manufactured devices for generating benoid gas for private and urban energy supply. The company was located on the property at Hordorfer Strasse 4 in Halle, which later became the headquarters of VEB Elektrowaren Halle and VEB Neontechnik .
history
The company was founded by Walter Thiem and Max Töwe , who in 1903 developed and patented a new process for generating benoid gas . The financing came mainly from Thiem's father, the stockbroker and art collector Adolph Thiem , who for this purpose u. a. sold the painting "Man with a Steel Gorget" by Rembrandt, which he owned, to the American Benjamin Altman , who later donated it to the Metropolitan Museum of Art .
In 1905 the company had around 400 Benoidgas machines in use, mainly for individual buildings. The first urban supply system was set up in the city of Laage . 70 house connections and 30 street lights were supplied by two machines with an hourly gas generation capacity of 23 m³.
In Bad Berka , Thuringia , Thiem & Töwe was commissioned in 1905 to set up a gas center with the sole right to generate, supply and distribute light and heating for a period of 30 years. The city undertook not to allow any further lighting and heating systems on urban land. The head office was built on the corner plot of Bachgasse / Harthstraße (today Bachstraße 1) and went into operation on May 1, 1906. On May 16, the benoid gas-powered street lighting consisting of 48 street lamps was inaugurated. By 1911, 90 private gas connections had been made. In the course of electrification , there were disputes between Thiem & Töwe and the city of Bad Berka. In order to avoid the 30-year blocking period, the newly founded Bad Berkaer Gaswerkgesellschaft bought the gasworks back for the city, and in 1923 the company was dissolved for economic reasons.
In 1914 the company, meanwhile with the owners Felix Rabe and Svend Olsen, had over 3,000 systems in operation, e.g. B. at the Serbian Ministry of War in Sarajevo , in various local courts in Alsace and Lorraine, at the Imperial Military Building Office in Metz and in the Cadet Institute in Odessa , Russia. The Prussian Ministry of Public Works , especially the Sea Marking Committee, was one of the multiple clients .
In addition to benoid gas devices, the company also manufactured cutting machines (e.g. for tobacco), gas-powered pumps and car coolers. The Perplex 1000 screen beater mill was also developed and manufactured. During the Third Reich , a successor company manufactured spare parts for the Luftwaffe , operations later merged with VEB Elektrowaren and finally VEB Neontechnik. Today the factory premises belong to Gabriel Machemer .
Patents
- Filing date: July 25, 1906 Patent number: RPBN 150 504. Description: Thiem & Töwe carburizing device. Hall a. Saale
- Filing date: March 20, 1909 Patent number: B. 42123. 4g. 375 464. Description: Bunsen tube for incandescent gas burner with Thiem & Töwe circulating chamber arranged on the inside. Hall a. Saale
- Filing date: March 15, 1915 Patent number: RPBN 253 414. Description: Water supply system with Thiem & Töwe pressure air boiler. Hall a. Saale
- Filing date: May 10, 1912 Patent number: RPBN KL 4ь. No. 260594. Description: Fan burner for poor gases, especially for air gas. Thiem & Töwe. Hall a. Saale
Gasworks
- Wasungen in Thuringia (for city lighting)
- Bad Berka (for city lighting)
Advertising by Thiem & Töwe
“The lack of gas and water prevents some from setting up a place of work or residence as needed. Outside the cities, the gas and water conditions are usually poor. This is not only felt by private people who want to settle away from the noise of the big city, but also by factories, hotels, sanatoriums, etc., who have to equip their rooms in all facilities with modern comfort and modern hygiene. However, they can all be helped by a modern gas and water supply system such as that produced by the Benoid gas and water appliances from Thiem & Töwe in Halle (Saale). The systems replace the municipal gas and water pipes in any case and allow all conveniences, such as lighting, heating, cooking, roasting, baking and plating with gas, bathing facilities, hot and cold water in all rooms, toilet flushing, etc. Benoid gas and In addition to being used in households, water systems are used in thousands of factories, laboratories, and other commercial operations for heating and supplying water to machines, etc. The devices work in an unlimited number of flames. Taps; they are easy to install and can be easily adapted to all circumstances. The named company sends brochures and catalogs containing all the details free of charge. "
View from 1914, drawing from a prospectus
Seal stamps of this kind were found mainly on the field post.
The losses caused by the strengthening of the electric light could be offset by some new budget funds for the gas systems.
Benefits of pumping even in remote locations
In the run-up to the First World War, Thiem & Töwe supplied half of Europe with its systems.
literature
- The Benoid gas apparatus from Thiem & Töwe. In: Deutsche Landwirtschaftliche Presse , 33rd year 1906, ...
- Journal of Natural Sciences , Volume 76 (1903), pp. 128 ff.
Individual evidence
- ^ Journal for Physical and Chemical Education , Volume 19/20 (1906)
- ↑ Built on art. In: Mitteldeutsche Zeitung of May 24, 2013
- ^ Fühlings Landwirtschaftliche Zeitung , Volume 54 (1905), p. 701.
- ↑ Demolished gas containers (gasometers) and gas works in Europe , last accessed on April 11, 2020
- ↑ Hella Tänzer: Once upon a time ... 100 years ago in Berka. (PDF; 518 kB) In: Official Gazette of the City of Bad Berka from June 3, 2006.
- ^ Documents on the Thiem & Töwe company in the holdings of the German Historical Museum
- ^ Hammerschlagmühle Google Books. In: Houben-Weyl Methods of Organic Chemistry Vol. I / 2, 4th Edition. ISBN 978-3-13-179634-9 . Thieme Verlag 1959. p. 22
- ↑ a b Hallescher painter with his own island. . In: Mitteldeutsche Zeitung of May 24, 2013
- ^ Rudolf Biedermann Julius Springer: Technisch-Chemisches Jahrbuch - Volume 27, 1906 - Page 684
- ↑ Patentblatt, published by the Kaiserl. Patent Office, Volume 33, Part 1C. Heymanns Verlag, 1909. P. 826
- ↑ Water and sewage: Collection sheet for water supply, sewage and garbage disposal, soil and air hygiene ..., Volume 9 Cover Gebrüder Borntraeger, 1915. P. 301
- ↑ Chemisches Zentralblatt - Volume 2, Part 1; Volume 84, Part 3. Akademie-Verlag Berlin. 1913. p. 186
- ↑ Journal for lighting, heating and ventilation technology , volumes 12/13 1906, p. 243.
- ↑ http://opus.kobv.de/zlb/volltexte/2006/631/pdf/BAW_1913_12.pdf
- ↑ Udo Leuschner: The German gas supply from the beginning to 1998. P. 10.