Adolf Bleichert (born 31 May 1845 in

Dessau Dessau is a district of the independent city of Dessau-Roßlau in Saxony-Anhalt at the confluence of the rivers Mulde and Elbe, in the ''States of Germany, Bundesland'' (Federal State) of Saxony-Anhalt. Until 1 July 2007, it was an independent ...

Anhalt-Dessau Anhalt-Dessau was a principality of the Holy Roman Empire and later a duchy of the German Confederation. Ruled by the House of Ascania, it was created in 1396 following the partition of the Principality of Anhalt-Zerbst, and finally merged into th ...

; † 29 July 1901 in

Davos Davos (, ; or ; ; Old ) is an Alpine resort town and municipality in the Prättigau/Davos Region in the canton of Graubünden, Switzerland. It has a permanent population of (). Davos is located on the river Landwasser, in the Rhaetian ...

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

) was a German engineer and entrepreneur, pioneer of

cable transport Cable transport is a broad class of transport modes that have cables. They transport passengers and goods, often in vehicles called cable cars. The cable may be driven or passive, and items may be moved by pulling, sliding, sailing, or by driv ...

construction and founder of Adolf Bleichert & Co., factory for

aerial tramway An aerial tramway, aerial tram, sky tram, cable car or aerial cablecar, aerial cableway, ropeway, téléphérique (French), or Seilbahn (German) is a type of aerial lift which uses one or two stationary cables for support, with a third movin ...

s, Leipzig-Gohlis, which later became the world's largest cable car factory.

Life

Adolf Bleichert was born as the second child of the Gohlis

miller A miller is a person who operates a mill, a machine to grind a grain (for example corn or wheat) to make flour. Milling is among the oldest of human occupations. "Miller", "Milne" and other variants are common surnames, as are their equivalents ...

August Bleichert and his wife Wilhelmine Henriette and grew up in Gohlis, today a neighbourhood of

Leipzig Leipzig (, ; ; Upper Saxon: ; ) is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Saxony. The city has a population of 628,718 inhabitants as of 2023. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, eighth-largest city in Ge ...

. He studied at the ''Gewerbeakademie'', a forerunner of

Technische Universität Berlin (TU Berlin; also known as Berlin Institute of Technology and Technical University of Berlin, although officially the name should not be translated) is a public university, public research university located in Berlin, Germany. It was the first ...

. After initial jobs at a company specialising in mill construction in

Bitterfeld Bitterfeld () is a town in the district of Anhalt-Bitterfeld, Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Since 1 July 2007 it has been part of the town of Bitterfeld-Wolfen. It is situated approximately 25 km south of Dessau, and 30 km northeast of Hall ...

and a machine factory and

iron foundry A foundry is a factory that produces metal castings. Metals are cast into shapes by melting them into a liquid, pouring the metal into a mold, and removing the mold material after the metal has solidified as it cools. The most common metals pr ...

Schkeuditz Schkeuditz (; ) is a ''Große Kreisstadt'' in the district of Nordsachsen, in Saxony, Germany. It is situated on the White Elster river, 12km northwest of Leipzig. Leipzig/Halle Airport is located in Schkeuditz. The letter processing center for ...

, he founded the engineering office for cable cars together with his college friend Theodor Otto, whose first success was the construction of a

material ropeway A material ropeway, ropeway conveyor (or aerial tramway in the US) is a subtype of gondola lift, from which containers for goods rather than passenger cars are suspended. Description Material ropeways are typically found around large mining co ...

Teutschenthal Teutschenthal () is a municipality in the Saalekreis district, Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. In January 2005 it absorbed the former municipalities Holleben and Zscherben, in January 2010 Dornstedt, Langenbogen and Steuden and in September 2010 Anger ...

. Soon after, they built a material cable car for the Sayner Hütte of the

Krupp Friedrich Krupp AG Hoesch-Krupp (formerly Fried. Krupp AG and Friedrich Krupp GmbH), trade name, trading as Krupp, was the largest company in Europe at the beginning of the 20th century as well as Germany's premier weapons manufacturer dur ...

company. Otto separated from Bleichert in 1876 and worked with the

Siegen Siegen () is a List of cities and towns in Germany, city in Germany, in the south Westphalian part of North Rhine-Westphalia. It is located in the district of Siegen-Wittgenstein in the Arnsberg (region), Arnsberg region. The university town (n ...

cable car pioneer Julius Pohlig, who designed cable cars for use in transporting

coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other Chemical element, elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal i ...

and

ore Ore is natural rock or sediment that contains one or more valuable minerals, typically including metals, concentrated above background levels, and that is economically viable to mine and process. The grade of ore refers to the concentration ...

in mines. Bleichert then founded Adolf Bleichert & Co., Fabrik für Drahtseilbahnen, Leipzig-Gohlis, with his brother-in-law, the businessman Peter Heinrich Piel, with which he developed the basis for the construction of

aerial lift An aerial lift, also known as a cable car or ropeway, is a means of cable transport in which ''cabins'', ''cars'', ''Gondola lift, gondolas'', or Chairlift, open chairs are hauled above the ground by means of one or more Wire rope, cables. Aeria ...

s and successfully put them into practice. By 1890, the company had built well over 600 cable cars. Grab Adolf Bleichert

Adolf Bleichert died at the age of 56 of

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB), also known colloquially as the "white death", or historically as consumption, is a contagious disease usually caused by ''Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can al ...

during a

spa A spa is a location where mineral-rich spring water (sometimes seawater) is used to give medicinal baths. Spa health treatments are known as balneotherapy. The belief in the curative powers of mineral waters and hot springs goes back to pre ...

stay in Davos. He was buried in the Leipzig-Gohlis cemetery. His company was successfully continued by his sons Max and Paul, who were raised to the hereditary

nobility Nobility is a social class found in many societies that have an aristocracy. It is normally appointed by and ranked immediately below royalty. Nobility has often been an estate of the realm with many exclusive functions and characteristics. T ...

in 1918. Adolf Bleichert joined the ''

Verein Deutscher Ingenieure Verein Deutscher Ingenieure (VDI) (English: Association of German Engineers) is an organization of about 135,000 engineers and natural scientists. More than 12,000 honorary experts process the latest technical findings each year to promote the te ...

'' (Association of German Engineers, VDI) and the

Thuringia Thuringia (; officially the Free State of Thuringia, ) is one of Germany, Germany's 16 States of Germany, states. With 2.1 million people, it is 12th-largest by population, and with 16,171 square kilometers, it is 11th-largest in area. Er ...

n district association of the VDI in 1869. He later joined the

Saxon The Saxons, sometimes called the Old Saxons or Continental Saxons, were a Germanic people of early medieval "Old" Saxony () which became a Carolingian " stem duchy" in 804, in what is now northern Germany. Many of their neighbours were, like th ...

district association of the VDI.

Memorial

The sculptor Friedrich Walter Kunze created the Adolf Bleichert memorial, which was unveiled in 1908 on the factory premises in Leipzig-Gohlis. It was removed under communist rule on May 1, 1950.

Bibliography

* * G. Dieterich: ''Die Erfindung der Drahtseilbahnen''. Verlag Hermann Zieger, Leipzig, 1908
Digitalisat
* Manfred Hötzel, Stefan W. Krieg (Hrsg.): ''Adolf Bleichert und sein Werk''. Gohliser Historische Hefte, Sax Verlag Beucha, Leipzig 2002, ISBN 978-3-934544-35-2. * * P. Stephan: ''Die Drahtseilbahnen''. 2. Aufl., Verlag von Julius Springer, Berlin, 1914
Digitalisat

External links

Peter von Bleichert, ''Adolf Bleichert's Wire Ropeways''
in Wire Rope News & Sling Technology, June 2005 * *

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bleichert, Adolf

Life

Memorial

See also

Bibliography

External links

Notes