Wilhelm Kornhardt

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Wilhelm Kornhardt (1821–1871): Co-founder of Didier-Werke AG

Wilhelm Kornhardt (born December 28, 1821 in Zorge , † March 13, 1871 in Stettin ) was a German gas industrialist and manufacturer . He managed the construction of 40 gasworks in Germany. The Stettiner Chamottefabrik F. Didier co-founded by him still exists today under the name Didier-Werke AG .

Life

Kornhardt was born to poor parents in Zorge in the Harz Mountains . At the age of 14 he went to his uncle in Braunschweig , where he attended the Collegium Carolinum , the forerunner of today's Technical University of Braunschweig . He then worked in an ironworks in his hometown, then as a train driver for the Braunschweigische Eisenbahn. In Berlin he got to know the gas industrialist Rudolf Sigismund Blochmann and that is how he came to the gas industry. In 1847 Blochmann entrusted him with the construction of the gas works in Stettin .

This is how Kornhardt came to Stettin. The construction of the gas works was successful: in April 1848 the public street lighting could be started with gas. In 1853 Kornhardt was appointed director of the Szczecin gasworks by the Szczecin magistrate. In addition, Kornhardt dealt with the construction of further gas works both in and around Stettin (in the sugar boiling plant in Bredow , at Möller & Holberg and at Stettiner Maschinenbau Actien-Gesellschaft Vulcan ), as well as in the rest of Germany. Overall, he managed the construction of 40 gas works in Germany and gained an international reputation as a gas specialist.

In Stettin Kornhardt met Ferdinand Didier , who had been running a brick and lime kiln in Podejuch near Stettin since 1834 . Didier found natural deposits of quartz gravel and quartz sand near Podejuch in 1849 , which he - as one of the first entrepreneurs in Germany - used to manufacture refractory materials, so-called chamotte or chamotte. The chamottes were used in particular by the emerging gas industry. Didier and Kornhardt jointly founded the Stettiner Chamottefabrik F. Didier in 1864/1865 with headquarters in Stettin.

After Didier's death in 1867, Kornhardt continued to run the Stettin chamotte factory F. Didier as the sole owner. Kornhardt died in 1871 without leaving any children. Konrhardt's heirs sold the factory in 1871 to the Szczecin entrepreneur Zander, who converted it into a stock corporation under the name Stettiner Chamottefabrik Actiengesellschaft formerly Didier . After further restructuring, Didier-Werke AG was founded in 1932 with its headquarters in Berlin , later in Wiesbaden , which still exists today and, following the settlement of minority shareholders in 2010, now belongs 100% to the RHI Group .

literature

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Archived copy ( memento of the original dated December 30, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was 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@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.vdkf-ev.de
  2. ↑ RHI consolidated financial statements 2011; PDF ( Memento of the original from March 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was 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@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.didier.de
personal data
SURNAME Kornhardt, Wilhelm
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German gas industrialist and manufacturer
DATE OF BIRTH December 28, 1821
PLACE OF BIRTH Concern
DATE OF DEATH March 13, 1871
Place of death Szczecin