Theodor Zeise

Theodor Zeise (born April 6, 1826 in Altona ; † February 22, 1890 there ) was a German manufacturer.

Live and act

As a member of the Zeise family, Theodor Zeise was a son of the factory owner Heinrich Zeise and his wife Julie, née Cordts. He had two sisters and two brothers, including the poet Heinrich Zeise .

From Easter 1834 to Easter 1842 Zeise learned from Michael Andresen at the Altona private school. He then received a four-year training course in mechanical engineering at Schweffel & Howaldt in Kiel . In the fall of 1846 he began studying at the Hanover Polytechnic School. In 1848 he volunteered for the Schleswig-Holstein Army . The following year he was given leave to help build the Von der Tann gunboat at Schweffel & Howaldt . He also produced field kitchens that his father had ordered.

In 1850 Zeise returned to the army and fought at the Battle of Idstedt. At the end of 1850 he left the army and briefly went back to Schweffel & Howaldt. He then lived for a few months in Magdeburg and from mid-May 1851 worked for the mechanical engineering company and iron foundry JC Freund & Co. in Berlin. Here he managed the assembly of machines in Saxony, Hungary and Silesia.

In 1853 Zeise went to Altona and from mid-March worked here as a works manager for the foundry and mechanical engineering company E. Burger. He pursued the goal of absolutely establishing his own company, for which he spent several years in addition to his main job with the mechanic Gustav Lange. This is how the “Lange & Zeise” factory was established in 1865, producing mostly transportable, but also larger, permanently installed steam engines. Customers were, for example, sugar factories.

In 1865, "Lange & Zeise" set up its own iron foundry. In 1868 Zeise took over the sole management of the foundry. This is how the Theodor Zeise company came into being . Zeise concentrated on cast products that were used in particular in shipbuilding, mainly large ship propellers that weighed up to 11,000 kilograms. In 1885 he took his son Alfred into the company as an engineer. The following year his son invented the "Zeise screw", which offered greater utility and led to an increase in production.

Zeise was considered a good technician and businessman. He worked hard, took risks, and was a popular supervisor who participated in public life. In his spare time he created oil and pastel paintings and lyric poetry.

literature

• Fritz Treichel: Zeise, Theodor . in: Biographical Lexicon for Schleswig-Holstein and Lübeck . Volume 8. Wachholtz Verlag, Neumünster 1987, pp. 399-400.