Ultramarine factories Carl Leverkus
Ultramarine factory Carl Leverkus is the name of a former chemical factory in which ultramarine was synthetically produced from 1834 to 1996 . Then the production went to the company Ciba-Geigy .
history
Carl Leverkus opened the first factory for the production of artificial ultramarine in Wermelskirchen in 1834 . As the supply of the factory with raw materials at this location became more and more difficult, he moved the factory to the Kahlberg near Wiesdorf a few years later . In memory of the family seat in Lennep, he named the newly emerging settlement “Leverkusen”. At this location, production was expanded to include an alizarin factory. After his death in 1891, his sons sold the Alizarin factory and part of the factory premises in Wiesdorf to the Elberfelder paint factories vorm. Friedr. Bayer & Co AG . Carl Leverkus' factory was the cornerstone of today's Bayer AG site in Leverkusen.
In order to be able to cope better with the economic problems, the manufacturers of ultramarine merged from 1890 to form the United Ultramarine Works, formerly Leverkus, Zeltner and Consorten . This new company was founded on May 31, 1890 with effect from January 1, 1890. The companies Ultramarinfabrik Dr. C. Leverkus & Sons in Leverkusen near Cologne and the Joh. Zeltner ultramarine factory in Nuremberg. Also in 1890 was the inclusion of the works in Marienberg near Bensheim, Sophienau near Eisfeld, Hannoversche Ultramarinfabrik vorm. Egestorff in Linden, Schweinfurt ultramarine factory as well as the companies Jordan & Hecht in Goslar, J. Nuppeney & Co. in Andernach and Gebr. Bahl & Co. in Montabaur.
In 1899 the seat was moved to Cologne . In 1906 the ultramarine factory in Duisburg was bought by the company Julius Curtius Fabrication of ultramarine, chromium oxide green , chemical and other items . On the other hand, the Leverkusen plant was sold to Friedr in 1918 . Bayer & Co.
After the Second World War , the Sophienau plant in Thuringia was converted into a state-owned company in 1946/47 . The Duisburg and Hannover-Linden plants were badly damaged in the war.
The Marienberg plant near Bensheim an der Bergstrasse was retained and expanded considerably in the 1950s. Under the direction of Carl Botho Leverkus , 60 employees began a series of replacement productions, as there was a particular lack of coal. With the beginning of the economic miracle in the 1950s, as in the entire chemical industry, production was expanded. In 1954 the Deutsche Advance-Produktion GmbH (DAP) was founded and in 1955 the production of thermal stabilizers for the PVC industry began. In 1959 the plant employed almost 100 people, in 1963 there were already 270. Therefore, in 1960/1963 the company headquarters were relocated to Marienberg.
With the economic success, the number of employees rose to 436 by 1969 and sales to almost 65 million German marks. The increased activities required an expansion of the research and production facilities. In 1970 - when Geigy took over DAP - the building "on the mountain" was put into operation. The German subsidiary of the Swiss group traded under the name Ciba-Geigy Marienberg GmbH after the merger of Geigy with Ciba . Another upswing in the chemical industry in Lautertal followed in the 1970s and 1980s, and in 1990 up to 512 employees generated annual sales of over 500 million German marks.
1954 to 1967 the operative solvents and paints business was spun off into a joint venture with Anglo-Saxon chemical companies and the establishment of a US subsidiary. Its relocation to Lampertheim was already under discussion in 1959 and, in particular because of the more favorable traffic situation, an industrial plot of 100,000 square meters was acquired there. Ultimately, the relocation to the Ried was only realized in 1996. This also laid the foundation stone for today's Ciba-Geigy plant and the entire chemical site in Lampertheim .
source
- From blue paint production to the modern chemical plant in Lautertal 1852 - 1996 . Ciba Additive GmbH, Gadernheim Beautification Association.