Wilhelm Lefeldt

Wilhelm Lefeldt (* 19 / 29. May 1836 ; † 21 / 23. May 1913 ) was an engineer , inventor and mechanical engineer.

He invented and built the milk extractor in Schöningen in 1876 . This machine automatically separated the cream from the skimmed milk and has revolutionized milk processing. It was the first practically usable centrifuge ever and led to a significant reduction in the production times for butter , an increase in the butter yield and thus made industrial production possible. Before that, it took about ten days to make butter from milking to finished butter, and it was very tedious and ineffective, and milk and cream could easily go bad during long periods of standing. The milk centrifuge from the Schöninger Molkereimaschinenfabrik Lefeldt und Lentsch was used both in research (e.g. as a laboratory centrifuge) and in industry (e.g. for beet sugar production).

The functional principle was later adopted and technically developed by Gustav de Laval .

The name “Lefeldt” is often incorrectly spelled without a “t” or “d” all over the world.

proof

1. ↑ May 29, 1836 - May 21, 1913 according to Männer um Martiny (1936) and Scientific Reports of the XI. World Dairy Congress, Volume 4 (1937), May 19, 1836 - May 23, 1913 according to Centrifugal Separators (1959)

Web links

• Contemporary witnesses: Effects of his invention of the centrifuge during the industrial revolution of the 19th century ( Memento from August 30, 2005 in the Internet Archive )
• Wilhelm Lefeldt invented the milk centrifuge - today someone else is celebrated for it