The Tobiashammer is a large, water-driven hammer mill in Ohrdruf in the German state of Thuringia. The mill, which dates to 1482, has been an industrial monument and museum since 1983.
The Tobiashammer is a large, water-driven hammer mill in Ohrdruf in the German state of Thuringia. The mill, which dates to 1482, has been an industrial monument and museum since 1983.
The first hammer forge was probably built in 1482 [1] on the River Ohra. In 1592 the mill was bought by Tobias Albrecht, since when it has been named after him. The works originally had three huge iron hammers which were raised by the motion of a water wheel.
The mill made iron products such as scythes, sickles, ploughshares, lances and swords. Later, it also carried out copper processing; washbowls, washtubs, kettle drums, brewing implements, pots, cans and pans were made. The kettle drums, which were produced into the late 20th century, were made from a single piece of copper, forged under the tilt hammer and still set a standard today in terms of their sound.
The Tobiashammer was owned by the Albrecht family until 1816 when they sold it. Thereafter its owners changed more often. From the mid-19th century the mill was significantly enlarged. A rolling mill and a second hammer mill was built. The office (Kontorhaus), built in 1882, now acts as a restaurant, the Hammerschenke.
In 1972 the old, ruined hammer mill was bought from private owners by the Ohrdruf Steelworks.
In 1983 the Tobiashammer was opened to the public as a demonstration mill.
The museum has five working trip hammers, a rolling mill, stamp mill and grinding workshop as well as furnaces. The mill is still driven by four water wheels.
Since 1988 the Tobiashammer has also housed one of the largest steam engines in Europe: a twin, tandem, reversing, steam engine, built in 1920, with a total weight of 305 tonnes and a power output of 12,000 horsepower. It comes from the old Maxhütte smeltery at Unterwellenborn and was decommissioned in 1985. The engine is fully working and is operated during guided tours.
An annual event that has taken place since the museum's opening in 1983 is the Blacksmiths’ Symposium (Schmiede-Symposium). In 2009 it was entitled "Tribute to Fritz Kühn" and brought together ornamental metalsmiths from three continents. Over the years many well-known metalsmiths and metal sculptors have created their works of art here. Many still grace the outer areas of the museum site as part of its sculpture park, such as the gigantic, forged water lily by Alfred Habermann and Das Gesicht by Rüdiger Roehl.
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The Medway and its tributaries and sub-tributaries have been used for over 1,150 years as a source of power. There are over two hundred sites where the use of water power is known. These uses included corn milling, fulling, paper making, iron smelting, pumping water, making gunpowder, vegetable oil extraction, and electricity generation. Today, there is just one watermill working for trade. Those that remain have mostly been converted. Such conversions include a garage, dwellings, restaurants, museums and a wedding venue. Some watermills are mere derelict shells, lower walls or lesser remains. Of the majority, there is nothing to be seen. A large number of tributaries feed into the River Medway. The tributaries that powered watermills will be described in the order that they feed in. The mills are described in order from source to mouth. Left bank and right bank are referred to as though the reader is facing downstream. This article covers the watermills on the tributaries that feed in below Penshurst and above Yalding.
A steam hammer, also called a drop hammer, is an industrial power hammer driven by steam that is used for tasks such as shaping forgings and driving piles. Typically the hammer is attached to a piston that slides within a fixed cylinder, but in some designs the hammer is attached to a cylinder that slides along a fixed piston.
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Eisenhammer Dorfchemnitz is an historic hammer mill in Dorfchemnitz in the Ore Mountains of Germany. The mill is an important witness to proto-industrial development in the Ore Mountains. Of the once-numerous hammer mills only three others remain working in Saxony apart from the Frohnauer Hammer: the Frohnauer Hammer Mill, the Grünthal Copper Hammer Mill and the Freibergsdorf Hammer Mill.
A water-returning engine was an early form of stationary steam engine, developed at the start of the Industrial Revolution in the middle of the 18th century. The first beam engines did not generate power by rotating a shaft but were developed as water pumps, mostly for draining mines. By coupling this pump with a water wheel, they could be used to drive machinery.
Thomas Walmsley and Sons was a company that manufactured wrought iron. It was founded in 1866 or 1869 by Thomas Walmsley at the Atlas Forge on a site bounded by Bridgeman Street and Fletcher Street in Bolton, then in Lancashire, England. The forge had at least 16 puddling furnaces and forging and rolling mills.
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The Low Moor Ironworks was a wrought iron foundry established in 1791 in the village of Low Moor about 3 miles (4.8 km) south of Bradford in Yorkshire, England. The works were built to exploit the high-quality iron ore and low-sulphur coal found in the area. Low Moor made wrought iron products from 1801 until 1957 for export around the world. At one time it was the largest ironworks in Yorkshire, a major complex of mines, piles of coal and ore, kilns, blast furnaces, forges and slag heaps connected by railway lines. The surrounding countryside was littered with waste, and smoke from the furnaces and machinery blackened the sky. Today Low Moor is still industrial, but the pollution has been mostly eliminated.
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Coordinates: 50°48′07″N10°43′54″E / 50.801873°N 10.731776°E
