Walther von Selve

Walther von Selve (born July 25, 1876 in Altena , † January 5, 1948 in Vaduz , Liechtenstein ; full name Hermann Heinrich Max Walther Selve , ennobled in 1918) was a German entrepreneur , inventor and athlete.

Life

Walther von Selve was born in Altena in 1876 as the son of the entrepreneur Gustav Selve (1842–1909). He attended a humanistic grammar school in Bonn up to the lower level . He then completed a commercial-technical training and in 1897 went as a trainee to an armaments company in Herstal, Belgium . In 1898 he studied for a semester at the University of Liège .

In 1898/1899 he did his military service as a one-year volunteer with the Guard Cuirassier Regiment in Berlin and then studied engineering at the Technical University of Charlottenburg . After completing his studies, he went to Paris to expand his commercial knowledge at a company.

In 1910 he married Else Wieland (1888–1971), a daughter of Philipp Wieland (1863–1949), the co-owner of the Wieland works in Ulm.

During the First World War , Walther von Selve served at the front for a short time and traveled abroad on behalf of the Prussian War Ministry .

Entrepreneurial activity

Linscheid plant of Basse & Selve GmbH in Altena, around 1899

Advertisement for the Basse & Selve aircraft engine

In 1901 Walther von Selve joined his father's company, Basse & Selve , one of the leading German companies in the metal industry. At the beginning of the 20th century, he traveled abroad for the company, some of them lasting several years, including New Caledonia , Australia and North America . After his father's death in 1909, he became a partner in Basse & Selve in 1911 .

At his urging, Basse & Selve began producing engines for airplanes and airships in 1911 . In addition to aluminum coolers and rims, von Selve also constructed pistons from aluminum, which was a significant innovation in engine construction. At the suggestion of the War Ministry, Kaiser Wilhelm II offered a price of 50,000 marks for the best German aircraft engine. The competition should be organized by the German Research Institute for Aviation, which was founded as an association . But when Selve wanted to take part in this Kaiserpreis competition in 1912 , he had to convert the engine to cast iron pistons at the request of the jury . In previous tests, cracks appeared in the piston crown after a few hours of running, from which it was concluded that aluminum, with its melting temperature of 800 ° C, could not withstand gas temperatures of over 1000 ° C. The military finally gave up their reservations after Rolls-Royce machines with aluminum pistons were found from 1916 onwards.

Even after the First World War, the focus of Selve's entrepreneurial activity was on engine and automobile production.

Model Selve 6x6 from Selve Automobilwerke AG (1928)

In 1917 he took over the company Norddeutsche Automobilwerke in Hameln , which was renamed Selve-Automobilwerke GmbH . In 1918 Basse & Selve supplied the engines for the long-range bomber Siemens-Schuckert R VIII .

In 1921 the company Basse & Selve was converted into a public limited company. In the same year, the Reich Ministry of Transport organized a piston competition.

However, the group was hit hard by the global economic crisis and the resulting concentration process in the metal industry. Selve-Automobilwerke AG in Hameln had to cease operations in 1929 and went bankrupt. Basse & Selve AG was later transferred to Vereinigte Deutsche Metallwerke AG (VDM) .

Walther von Selve increasingly withdrew from operational business , but held several supervisory board mandates. Towards the end of the 1930s he moved to Liechtenstein, where he was also naturalized in 1940. Here he devoted himself to family research and the publication of autobiographical writings.

After Walther von Selve's death, his wife Else von Selve-Wieland took over the company Schweizerische Metallwerke Selve & Co. , which she also successfully expanded into a large company. She set up several foundations for in-house social institutions.

Athletic career

Advertisement with sporting successes of the Selve automobiles

Walther von Selve was an avid cyclist and was one of the most successful German cycling amateurs at the end of the 1890s. By 1900 he had taken part in 33 cycling races and won 18 first, five second and three third prizes.

From 1906 he took part in car races and motorboat races , where he even set world records in 1926/1927. The sporting successes achieved with Selve automobiles were used as advertising for the company.

Honors

In 1913 Walther Selve was awarded the Prussian Red Eagle Order, 4th class. He was also the recipient of the 3rd class Red Cross medal .
In 1918 Walther Selve was ennobled with the title of baron.
In 1919 the Technical University of Aachen awarded him an honorary doctorate (as Dr.-Ing. E. h.) For his services in technology, in particular through the invention of the aluminum piston.
After retiring from the operative business of his company, Walther von Selve continued to hold numerous honorary positions in the fields of sport and science. From 1923 to 1938 he was a member of the board of trustees of the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Flow Research .
Walther-von-Selve-Strasse in Hameln is named after him.

Fonts

The aluminum pistons in the engine industry. In: Replacement metals in telegraph and telephone technology. 1920.
Nickel, its occurrence, its manufacture and use. Vieweg, Braunschweig 1921.
The ancestors of Maria Katharina Selve geb. Fisherman. 1922.
Selve [family history]: Dedicated to his children. 1923.
New Caledonia. The South Sea island of nickel and cobalt. 1927.
Selve. 1928.
From Selve. Family chronicle and genealogy. 1941.
From Selve. Loyalty for loyalty. 1941.
My journey through five continents. (with three plates, travel map and list of countries) 1943.
My travels through five continents. Addendum. 1946.
Sport and technology. 1947.

literature

Eckhard Trox (ed.): Triumph of the luxury class. Selve, Maybach and the engine building traditions in the south of Westphalia. (Accompanying volume for the exhibition) Lüdenscheid 2004, ISBN 3-929614-51-0 . ( Table of contents as PDF with 53 KB)
Ralf Stremmel: Selve, Hermann Heinrich Max Walther Freiherr von. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 24, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 2010, ISBN 978-3-428-11205-0 , p. 232 ( digitized version ).

Web links

Literature by and about Walther von Selve in the catalog of the German National Library

Individual evidence

↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ Ralf Stremmel: Selve, Hermann Heinrich Max Walther Freiherr von. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 24, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 2010, ISBN 978-3-428-11205-0 , p. 232 ( digitized version ).

↑ Archived copy ( memento of the original dated December 8, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2
^ Stefan Zima: engine pistons
^ Rudolf Vierhaus (ed.): Selve-Wieland, Else. In: German Biographical Encyclopedia , Volume Schlumberger - Thiersch. 2nd edition, KG Saur, Munich 2008, p. 397.
↑ Dr.-Ing. Eh Walther von Selve (1876–1948). Entrepreneur, inventor and athlete. In: oldtimer-selve.de. December 9, 2015, accessed December 9, 2015 .
↑ http://swb.bsz-bw.de/DB=2.1/SET=1/PRS=HOL/SHW?FRST=1
↑ http://gso.gbv.de/DB=2.1/PPNSET?PPN=135672198

personal data
SURNAME	Selve, Walther von
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Selve, Hermann Heinrich Max Walther (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	German entrepreneur, inventor and athlete
DATE OF BIRTH	July 25, 1876
PLACE OF BIRTH	Altena
DATE OF DEATH	January 5, 1948
Place of death	Vaduz

[Stremmel-1] ↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ Ralf Stremmel: Selve, Hermann Heinrich Max Walther Freiherr von. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 24, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 2010, ISBN 978-3-428-11205-0 , p. 232 ( digitized version ).