Nathusius sugar factory
The Nathusius sugar factory (also known as the Althaldensleben sugar factory or the beet sugar factory ) existed from 1812 to 1820 and was part of the Nathusius industrial establishments in Althaldensleben . It was founded during the continental blockade, was the largest and most modern sugar factory in Prussia in its time and served the Prussian state as an object of investigation for a model institute. After the Prussian Ministry of Finance decided not to support the young beet sugar industry in Prussia despite the lifting of the continental barrier, the sugar factory in Althaldensleben ceased operations in 1820 as the last of the Prussian sugar factories.
The eight-year history of the Nathusius sugar factory shows particularly clearly the effects of the dogmatically pre-determined liberal tariff, tax, commercial and agricultural policy of Prussia on the young and technically immature beet sugar industry, which fought against overwhelming competition from Great Britain from 1814.
prehistory
Franz Karl Achard had built the first Prussian sugar factory on Gut Cunern (Konary) and put it into operation as early as 1802 . This was soon followed by a second from his student Moritz Freiherr von Koppy in Krayn in Silesia .
In November 1806 Napoleon imposed a continental ban on English merchandise by decree on mainland Europe. As a result, the imported cane sugar used at the time became scarce and expensive. Correspondingly, the state as well as the entrepreneurial interest in the development of domestic sugar production increased . In the following seven years the isolation from the cane sugar market led to a strong upswing in the still young beet sugar industry in continental Europe. In many places, small, often primitive factories quickly sprang up that produced a bad-tasting, brown, sticky sugar from beetroot.
In 1810 the Magdeburg merchant and tobacco producer Johann Gottlob Nathusius acquired the secularized monastery of Althaldensleben . This was the beginning of the Nathusius industrial establishments . In the following years Nathusius set up various commercial businesses and factories in Althaldensleben as well as in the neighboring Hundisburg . At first he concentrated on improving agricultural and livestock farming methods and the processing of the products obtained there. That is why he quickly became aware of the sugar industry that was just emerging. At that time, there were already two sugar factories in Magdeburg, but the new factory that Nathusius was planning in Althaldensleben was to produce beet sugar products of the same quality as previously made from cane sugar for the first time.
founding
“ Now I come to the story of my beet sugar factory. Although in my earlier circumstances I had no inclination to set up such a factory, because before the war in 1807 I ran so extensive other factory and commercial businesses, the matter itself interested me. I read almost everything that was written about it. But nothing was enough for me. I didn't have time to try things out myself. In addition to the brewery and brandy distillery, it seemed to me that sugar production from beetroot would also be useful. ... In the spring of 1812 the beet cultivation began and at the same time the construction, the establishment of the factory and the manufacture of the machines began ... The press was entirely in accordance with the regulations, which can be found in Archard's European sugar factory. "
After initial small tests on a flower pot base in the oven pipe of his living room in Hundisburg Castle, in 1812 Nathusius was able to win the Goslar pharmacist Julius Heinrich Friedrich Lohmann, later a member of the natural research society in Halle, as director of his sugar factory. The press according to Achard's design specifications mentioned in the above quotation quickly turned out to be less than fully developed and was replaced by modified cylinder presses from Nathusius' tobacco factory in Magdeburg.
Nevertheless, the factory was already doing remarkable things in the trial operation under Lohmann and so Nathusius decided in 1813 to start the factory as a new branch of business. The experienced Althaldensleber gardener Heinrich Reinhard took over the cultivation of the beets to produce more sugar.
Factory building
The sugar factory was built with extensive use of the existing building stock in the facilities of the former Althaldensleber monastery and its estate. Production facilities and warehouses (west wing) were built in the old monastery building. A new building was built for the evaporation plant in the former cloister courtyard of the cloister.
Contemporary descriptions of the factory:
"In addition to the sugar factory, Mr. Nathusius used his monastery building at Althaldensleben, which was in good condition, very appropriately and, apart from the changed interior furnishings, only added a completely new building in the middle of the inner monastery courtyard."
"A part of the refectory determined or dining room what has been Locals summarized the rubbing and screw presses , another of which separate room was for 3 clarifier , a deviated befindlicher shed to a vaporization institution , the Klosterküche to Siedung of the sugar, and it abutting chamber for cooling and Filling of the sugar mass prepared. Above this filling room was the sugar base for separating the molasses from the sugar and for further preparing it to purify it. "
The technical equipment of the factory in 1815 comprised eleven double graters, ten screw presses, four clarification kettles, seven evaporation pans, six further pans, three kettles, around 2,000 pot, candis, bastard and crockery shapes as well as around 2,000 unequal laid paper. There was also a steam engine that was not yet operational, which was supposed to drive rubbing and pressing. At the time, 40 people, including sugar boilers, were employed in the factory with poor capacity utilization.
Climax
Initially, the pressing method already known from other factories was used in Althaldensleben. To do this, the beets were crushed and grated on carrot grinders. The resulting mass was wrapped in linen cloths, stacked on top of each other in the form of packages and finally pressed out as a stack in a press.
By using a hydraulic press both for grinding and for juicing, the result should be significantly increased. Tests showed that with the new production variant, 4 kg of syrup could be obtained from one hundredweight of beet, which accounted for 1/3 molasses and 2/3 sugar mass. The quality of the sugar products obtained in this way ( raffinate , Melis sugar, Farin , raw sugar) was comparable to the old pressing process. The result in terms of production speed as well as the quantity was better than that of any other German sugar factory.
“ Mr. Nathusius, heir to Alt-Haldensleben, Hundisburg, etc., who has earned the greatest merit in perfecting so many agricultural trades, stands out in the manufacture of sugar from beetroot, the highest of which, without sparing either effort or expense Brought perfection. "
Althaldensleben was the most progressive beet sugar factory in Prussia as early as 1813. In the second campaign (from autumn 1813) good results were achieved in terms of product sales. In the earliest recorded report of Nathusius' beet sugar factory from December 1813, the following is stated:
“Only recently did I visit Gottlob Nathusius's factory. The graters, the presses, the way of clarifying the juice, the addition of lime was completely different from what I have seen before. His raw sugar was golden yellow, instead of all the rest that I had seen until then, from the molasses still hanging on the crystals, was black-brown. His book of results, as he calls it, showed the daily gain in juice, raw sugar, and other products, and I was astonished to see how much higher he had brought everything than I had hitherto according to the statements of the manufacturers and my own Experience. "
This year, 73 acres of beetroot were grown on Althaldensleber, and another 43 acres on Hundisburg's farm. In 1814, 144 acres were grown, 6,563 quintals of beet were processed and 210 quintals of raw sugar were obtained from it. In 1815 Nathusius expanded the acreage to 184 acres. The harvest was 8,464 quintals, which yielded 296 quintals of raw sugar.
The products of the Nathusius sugar factory were also in demand outside the region. In April 1815, five small batches of refined sugar and rock candy in quantities between 20 and 60 pounds were delivered to Loburg . Also from 1815 is a sale to Berlin documented to the company Walcker: ... four barrels of refined sugar in the total weight of six quintals and 29 boxes of candy with total weight of 9 quintals and 20 pounds ... .
Like several other sugar producers, Nathusius expanded production in his sugar factory to include the use of by-products, especially sugar molasses, to make brandy and vinegar.
Decline
With the fall of Napoleon and the associated lifting of the colonial ban in 1814, the cane sugar stocks that had been stored for years flooded the European market and the German factories previously protected from competition had to cope with a significant drop in prices for sugar products. As a result, many beet sugar factories closed in France and almost all beet sugar factories in Germany. In 1818 the last of the originally 18 sugar factories in Magdeburg ended production.
At first, Nathusius tried to keep the Althaldensleber factory by developing even more effective production methods. A plantation inspector from Surinam visited the factory in 1817 and gave new ideas regarding the clarification of the beet juice. Even if progress was made in this regard, the negative revenue development in the liberalized sugar market could not be offset. On April 30, 1816, Nathusius wrote a letter to the Prussian Ministry of Finance explaining his establishment of the factory and his efforts to continue operating the factory despite the financial difficulties about this period of growing technical success and the simultaneously shrinking financial income in his factory:
“ No award from the state, not rank and title, or any other distinction, has prompted me to make the sacrifices that made the preservation of this branch of industry necessary under the previously unfavorable circumstances. Only the conviction and the prospect of securing such an excellent source of food for the fatherland as well as the continent in general, through which not only industry but also the national culture is increased, and to make us independent of the productions of distant regions, was it which guided my efforts and it will be the greatest gain for me, arouses emulation everywhere and to see an industry handed down to posterity which will have a blessing effect on future generations. "
At first sight, the drop in prices resulting from the competition for cheap cane sugar was the biggest problem for beet sugar manufacturers. The real obstacle to competitive pricing, however, was the lack of high quality seeds and suitable machines to crush and press the beets. The devices available at the time were not powerful enough to extract an economically sufficient proportion of sugar from the beets. Nathusius endeavored to increase the yields of his factory through the free delivery of the best seeds at the time to suppliers as well as the expensive purchase and later even the in-house development of machines. However, the ambitious attempt to develop steam engines in addition to presses in the company's own machine factory failed.
As the last of the Prussian sugar factories, the Althaldensleber factory had to give up at the end of 1820. According to documents from the Magdeburg customs and tax office, the last registered shipment of sugar products (1 hundredweight and 8 pounds of refined sugar) to a Count von Dzialkowsky took place on December 2nd. It was switched to the processing (refinery) of cane sugar.
Beet sugar production was no longer started in Althaldensleben during Nathusius' lifetime. Shortly before his death (1835), the factory equipment was sold to a newly founded facility of the civil servant and entrepreneur Joseph von Utzschneider in Erding near Munich .
Second attempt
The German Customs Union was established in 1834 . Associated with this was the introduction of a drastic import tax on cane sugar. As a result, there was a second wave of start-ups in the beet sugar industry, which was to finally establish this industry. In 1836, 122 factories in Germany were producing beet sugar again.
After the death of Johann Gottlob Nathusius in 1835, the second eldest son Philipp took over the management of the Althaldensleber estate and the businesses that still existed there. In 1848, a year before he ceded Althaldensleben to his younger brother Heinrich , he founded a new sugar factory in Althaldensleben together with his older brother Hermann , who had already taken over the Hundisburger estate in 1830. It existed until 1878.
meaning
In several respects the - even if only short-lived - Nathusius'schen sugar factory was of particular importance for the development of the beet sugar industry in Prussia. First of all, the quality of the products manufactured there exceeded previous results and thus led to greater acceptance of the novel process. In the Neue Annalen der Mecklenburgische Landwirthschaftsgesellschaft it was stated that Nathusius was able to dispel the distrust of beet sugar, since the products could no longer be distinguished from refined cane sugar in terms of appearance and taste.
The sugar factory in Althaldensleben also served as a model for the establishment of such operations elsewhere. For example, Alexander Graf von der Schulenburg-Emden had his own factory built in neighboring Emden based on the Althaldensleber model. Apparently, however, it was not as fully equipped as Nathusius' factory, since Schulenburg neither produced refined sugar nor candy, but sold raw sugar and sugar mass to its neighbor in Althaldensleben.
In addition, the Nathusius factory had an indirect effect on the industrialization of the region. In contrast to the Rhineland or Saxony, industrialization in central Prussia (Saxony-Anhalt) did not begin until a little later. In contrast to these areas, sugar beet (which was mainly grown there because of the suitable soil) acted as the trigger for mechanical engineering in Saxony-Anhalt. Beet sugar production in particular, with the need for heavy production machines, had led Nathusius to want to manufacture such machines himself instead of expensive imports. The first machine manufacturers also emerged elsewhere in Saxony-Anhalt.
The chemist and technology professor Sigismund Friedrich Hermbstädt , advocate of beet sugar production and supporter of Nathusius' production methods as well as advisor to the Prussian government, suggested an investigation into the profitability and competitiveness of the beet sugar industry in the run-up to the foreseeable lifting of the continental blockade in 1814.
The state appraisal procedure of 1814
Despite the official lifting of the continental blockade on April 6, 1814, the Prussian state was still looking for an exemplary factory ("normal factory plant") for beet sugar production. This wish went back to the Prussian finance minister Hans Graf von Bülow and the state chancellor Karl August Fürst von Hardenberg , who initially wanted to maintain the Prussian beet sugar industry. The then chairman of the Halberstadt Government Commission and later Prussian Finance Minister Friedrich von Motz was also interested. After giving up considering the production facility set up by Achard as a model factory, another was to be found that could be recommended as a practical model under the new economic and political conditions of free trade. First, a captain Leberecht von Bülow was commissioned to assess the future of the beet sugar industry and to suggest a suitable company for assessment. After he had selected the factory of Johann Gottlob Nathusius, a commission was convened to review Bülow's proposal. Its members included the agricultural scientist and State Councilor Albrecht Daniel Thaer , the Secret Higher Government Council of the Interior Ministry Gottlob Johann Christian Kunth (both as head of the commission) and the artillery captain and chemistry professor Tunte.
Thaer's report with the title Report on the beet sugar factory of Mr. Nathusius in Alt-Haldensleben was available on October 20, 1814, four weeks after the order was placed. His assessment of the Althaldensleber factory was very positive, but overall Thaer came to the conclusion that beet sugar production made no sense for Prussia.
Hermbstädt, on the other hand, saw the Althaldensleber factory as the cornerstone for a reorganization of the sugar industry in Europe:
“ Nathusius alone will have the Prussian state, and indeed all of Europe, to thank if Indian sugar is no longer needed in a period of 30 years. Impoverishment will force governments to do so. "
Even after the protective continental barrier was lifted, the Althaldensleber factory seemed so progressive that Hermbstädt rated it as competitive and therefore capable of survival:
“ And it will be sufficient to name this man to draw the attention of every landowner who has many estates to the fact that he shares the advantages which the good cause causes. Herr Nathusius also assures me that the sugar from beetroot will at this time be in competition with the Indian in terms of price, without requiring an increase in the compost or any other requirement. "
This prediction should not come true because of the developing conditions, especially the lack of government funding for the young industry.
The refining comparison
As a further attempt to convince the Prussian government of the Althaldensleber production methods, Nathusius agreed on February 14, 1815 a refining comparison with the cane sugar boiler Schickler's heirs in Berlin, which is known for the high quality of its cane sugar products . 30 quintals of raw sugar from beetroot from 1814 were to be processed into fine refined sugar at Schickler and in Althaldensleben. The clarification and boiling work began on April 28, 1815 and continued until November 17, 1815. The results of the processing carried out in Berlin yielded 44 kilograms less refined product than with the Althaldensleber production method. The products of the boiling comparison were submitted to the Prussian Ministry of Finance, but could not change anything in the state's rejection of future support for the beet sugar industry based on Thaer's report.
literature
- Friedrich Benedict Weber : Comments on various subjects of agriculture. Collected on economic trips in Silesia, Saxony, Thuringia, on the Rhine and in other German regions in the summers of 1814, 1815, 1816 and 1817. In addition to a state-economic treatise on the previous grain haying. With 1 copper plate and 2 tables , Hartknoch, Leipzig 1819, pp. 287–297 plus Appendix A: Table for an overview of the technical and economic operations in Althaldensleben and Hundisburg
- Ulrich Hauer: The businessman Johann Gottlob Nathusius and his agro-industrial complex in Althaldensleben and Hundisburg , in: Model and Reality. Politics, culture and society in the Grand Duchy of Berg and in the Kingdom of Westphalia , LWL Institute for Westphalian Regional History Münster: Research on Regional History , Volume 56, Gerd Dethlefs u. a. (Ed.), Ferdinand Schöningh, Paderborn a. a. 2008, pp. 441-446
- Ulrich Hauer: 850 years of Hundisburg , brochure for the 850th anniversary, council of the Hundisburg community (ed.), Hundisburg 1990
- Justus Heinrich Friedrich Lohmann: About the current state of sugar production in Germany, especially in relation to a very simple and advantageous process, without much effort and expense, to obtain pure sugar and syrup from it. According to the results of several years and other experiences obtained in the agricultural business establishment of Mr. Nathusius in Althaldensleben, presented theoretically and practically , W. Heinrichshofen, Magdeburg 1818
- Elsbeth of Nathusius: Johann Gottlob Nathusius. A pioneer of German industry , Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt, Stuttgart and Berlin 1915
- Herbert Pruns (Federal Ministry for Consumer Protection, Food and Agriculture): European beet sugar industry in early capitalism - economy, state, association, 1747 - 1799 - 1850, commemorative publication on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of the Sugar Industry Association and the 50th anniversary of the Sugar Economic Association
- Herbert Pruns: Collapse of the beet sugar industry in Prussia (1814-1822), third chapter, in: Manuscript to Volume 4 of: History of the European sugar industry
- Karl Ulrich: On the history of the beet sugar factory Alt-Haldensleben , in: Die Deutsche Zuckerindustrie , Berlin 1926
Web links
References and comments
- ↑ according to Ulrich Hauer : Of art gardeners and garden art. The gardeners and gardens of the Nathusius family in Althaldensleben and Hundisburg . KULTUR-Landschaft Haldensleben-Hundisburg eV and Museum Haldensleben (ed.), Haldensleben-Hundisburg 2005
- ↑ according to a table providing an overview of the technical and economic operations in Althaldensleben and Hundisburg at Friedrich Benedict Weber: Comments on various objects of agriculture ... , see LitVerz., the sugar factory was run internally as a beet sugar factory and belonged to the first administration (from two administrations) of the agricultural sector of the Nathusius agricultural trade institute . A Mr. Bracker was also named here as the head of the factory or “co-interested”
- ↑ a b according to Acta because of the ordered investigation of the Runkel beet sugar factory in Magdeburg, Wanzleben, Althaldensleben and Salzwedel 1815, 1816, 1817 . In: GStAPK, Rep. 151 III, No. 10448 (inter alia Bl. 7-13) and No. 10449
- ↑ relates to beet sugar production, but not to the processing of cane sugar
- ↑ a b c d e f g acc. Herbert Pruns: Third chapter: collapse ... , see LitVerz.
- ↑ a b c according to Betina Meißner: Success can be seen, 150 years of KWS (Klein-Wanzlebener Saatzucht) , Wallstein, Jena 2007, p. 17 ff.
- ↑ his son, Georg Friedrich Wilhelm Freiherr von Koppy (1781-1854) continued his father's sugar production
- ↑ namely in Magdeburg-Neustadt: Johan Wilhelm Placke and August Leberecht Bodenstein . Later Magdeburg factories were Hammer & Lange , Foelsche & Burchardt , Listemann & Burchardt and Reinhardt & Helle , gem. Herbert Pruns: Third chapter: Collapse ... , see LitVerz, pp. 11 and 14
- ↑ a b according to Elsbeth von Nathusius: Johann Gottlob Nathusius ..., see LitVerz.
- ↑ according to an advertisement for Lohmann's publication about the ... current state of sugar production in Germany , see LitVerz., in: Magdeburger Zeitung , 1818, No. 101 of August 25, 1818, Magdeburg 1818
- ↑ according to Schrohe: The first vacuum device in Germany
- ↑ a b c d acc. Ulrich Hauer: The businessman Johann Gottlob Nathusius and his agro-industrial complex ... , see LitVerz.
- ↑ according to Lohmann: Instructions for the easy representation of sugar , Magdeburg 1837
- ↑ a b c About the current state of sugar production in Germany ..., see LitVerz.
- ↑ Friedrich Benedict Weber: Comments on various objects of agriculture ... , see LitVerz.
- ↑ according to Info on the website of the Alvensleben Family Association
- ↑ Information elsewhere in which the cessation date of beet sugar production is given as the year 1817 (according to Sugar in the life of the peoples. A culture and economic history , Jakob Baxa and Guntwin Bruhns, A. Barten, 1967, p. 389 ) must be regarded as incorrect become
- ↑ July 27, 1814, p. 480
- ↑ Production ended in Emden in 1819
- ↑ Besides Nathusius, probably only the factories Burchard & Listemann , Placke and Büttner & Schulze (seat: Salzwedel ) were able to produce candy in Saxony-Anhalt . This can be concluded from the fact that only these companies are named in the export registers of the Magdeburg customs and tax office, according to Herbert Pruns: Third chapter: Collapse ... , see LitVerz., P. 16
- ↑ according to Mathias Tullner: In the beginning there was sugar beet ...
- ↑ Despite this report, which was false in terms of content and also fatal for the Prussian beet sugar producers, Nathusius and Thaer remained friends.