Wilhelm Schmidt (engineer)

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Wilhelm Schmidt (1858-1924)
Superheated steam Schmidt monument in Benneckenstein

Wilhelm Schmidt (born February 18, 1858 in Wegeleben ; † February 16, 1924 in Gadderbaum - Bethel , today Bielefeld ) was a German engineer and inventor. He brought the development of superheated steam technology for the steam engine to a breakthrough.

Life

At school Wilhelm Schmidt had difficulties with reading, writing and arithmetic . All his life he could not recite the alphabet without faltering. He couldn't remember verses and sayings. But he developed a passion for drawing and machines.

In view of the “looming forlornness of the world”, however, Schmidt saw his inventions as rather inferior. Schmidt, who was very religious, distributed "warnings to the people" from Bethel. Friendly connections existed with Friedrich von Bodelschwingh . He represented u. a. the opinion that Anglo-Saxon Christianity "softened" German.

Professional activities

Wilhelm Schmidt began his professional career as a machine fitter. He studied at the Technical University in Dresden under the direction of Gustav Zeuner .

Around 1880 he learned and worked at the Richard Hartmann company in Chemnitz , which was the largest Saxon company.

In 1883 he settled as a civil engineer in Kassel , where he developed superheated steam technology to the point of practical use. That earned him the nickname " Superheated Steam Schmidt" . In 1908 he moved his home and company headquarters to Benneckenstein (Harz) . He wasn't the first to work with superheated steam, but his predecessors used steam temperatures of a maximum of 250 ° C; only Schmidt dared to jump to 350 ° C. For further experiments with the superheated steam, there was a research institute on the Ilsenburg - Wernigerode railway line , near the Wernigerode train station.

The overheated steam increases the thermal efficiency of a steam engine by up to around 50 percent. This technology had a decisive influence on the development of the steam locomotive and the steamship , but also on all other drives in which steam engines were used.

Many detailed inventions by Wilhelm Schmidt, such as the Schmidt superheater (around 1890) or the piston valve , which he developed together with Robert Garbe from the Prussian State Railroad, brought the technology of the superheated steam engine to perfection.

In 1916 he was awarded the Grashof Memorial Medal from the Association of German Engineers .

On July 16, 1910, Wilhelm Schmidt, with the participation of Director Gustav Henkel, founded the Schmidt'sche hot steam company in Kassel- Wilhelmshöhe , Rolandstraße 2. After several changes of ownership, the company has been operating under the name ARVOS GmbH - SCHMIDTSCHE SCHACK since 2014 and is still in Kassel-Bettenhausen based with company headquarters, design offices and own production. Apparatus for process heat transfer for the petrochemical, chemical and metallurgical industries are developed and built there, e.g. B. Fission gas coolers for ethylene production, process gas coolers for the production of methanol, ammonia and hydrogen and a variety of devices for special applications. The company is still extremely innovative and the global market leader in its field.

Remembrance day

February 16 in the Evangelical Name Calendar .

literature

  • Robert Garbe : Building Councilor Dr.-Ing. honorable Wilhelm Schmidt †. In: Verkehrstechnik , Volume 5, No. 12 (March 21, 1924), pp. 110–111.
  • Helmut Schroeter: Wilhelm Schmidt 1858-1924 . In: Erhard Born (ed.): Pioneers of the Railway System, Darmstadt: Röhrig [1962], pp. 118–124.
  • Claus Priesner:  Schmidt, Wilhelm. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 23, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 2007, ISBN 978-3-428-11204-3 , pp. 218-220 ( digitized version ).

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Martin Haug: Who fought a good fight. Life pictures of German men. 11th edition Calver Verlag, Stuttgart 1978, ISBN 3-7668-0083-3 , p. 210.
  2. ↑ Martin Haug: Who fought a good fight. Life pictures of German men. 11th edition Calver Verlag, Stuttgart 1978, ISBN 3-7668-0083-3 , p. 212.
  3. ↑ Entry in the Ecumenical Lexicon of Saints .
  4. ↑ Book Myth Hartmann - ISBN 978-3-910 186-72-9 .
personal data
SURNAME Schmidt, Wilhelm
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Superheated Steam Schmidt (nickname)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German engineer and inventor
DATE OF BIRTH February 18, 1858
PLACE OF BIRTH Way life
DATE OF DEATH February 16, 1924
Place of death Gadderbaum - Bethel , today Bielefeld