Wilhelm Gustav Dyckerhoff

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Wilhelm Gustav Dyckerhoff

Wilhelm Gustav Dyckerhoff (born October 6, 1805 in Elberfeld (now part of Wuppertal ), † December 16, 1894 in Mannheim ) was a German cement manufacturer and founder of Dyckerhoff AG and one of the founders of Dywidag's predecessor company .

The grave in Mannheim

After an apprenticeship and work in a hardware store in Ronsdorf and from 1833 in a porcelain shop in Stuttgart, Dyckerhoff was an independent businessman in Mannheim from 1835 (porcelain and earthenware wholesaling, especially for the sale of goods from the Villeroy & Boch company ). In 1850 he gave up his own business and worked as an authorized signatory of the Mannheim sales office of Villeroy & Boch, until the latter found more favorable sales channels for itself with the completion of the railway line via Mettlach, their headquarters. Dyckerhoff then tried his hand at cement trading and cement production since 1861. In June 1864, he and his sons Gustav Dyckerhoff and Rudolf Dyckerhoff (1842–1917, who, as a trained mechanical engineer and chemist, was responsible for production) founded a cement factory in Mainz-Amöneburg (now part of Wiesbaden ) directly on the Rhine , the Portland Cement Factory Dyckerhoff & Sons . In the second year they produced 2,228 tons of cement. They were not only favored by the building boom of the early days , but were soon exporting abroad: in 1886 to over 100 countries. Their cement was used, among other things, in the construction of the Metropolitan Opera , the Waldorf Astoria Hotel and the foundation of the Statue of Liberty in New York City . Dyckerhoff remained active in the company management well into old age.

In 1865 Dyckerhoff was also a co-founder of the “Fa. Lang & Cie., Cementwaaren-Fabrik “in Karlsruhe , later the construction company Dyckerhoff & Widmann . At that time, the company produced concrete goods, for example sculptures and pipes. A year later, however, his son Eugen Dyckerhoff took care of the interests of the family and joined the company, which under his direction developed into a concrete construction company and erected a concrete bridge to demonstrate the capabilities of concrete at the trade exhibition in Düsseldorf in 1880 .

He was married to Caroline Eglinger (1813-1893).

Dyckerhoff's tomb in Mannheim is made of granite in the shape of an aedicle . The central projection rises on two steps, framed by pilasters and capitals decorated with angel heads . In a niche there is a reddish granite writing plate, above it a keystone volute with leaf decorations.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ W. Münkel: Friedhöfe in Mannheim (SVA, 1992) p. 155

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