Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1898-05-20
THE KRUPP WORKS.
FAMOUS FACTORY AT ESSEN THAT
MAKES MONSTER GUNS.

A City Full of EmpIoyes-How This Enorm-
Gus Body of Men is Controlled-A Rail-
way system Employed for the Exclusive
Use of the Foundry.
The city of Essen, Germany, is To-
Gated in the center of a hilly valley,
which abounds in coal and iron ore,
and the digging for both and the melt
ing of the ore and casting the metal
into ingots and rolling it into bars
have been the occupations of the in
habitants for centuries past. Fried
rich Krupp, the founder of the great
works bearing his name, was born in
1887, and when crucible cast steel was
first being introduced in England and
it's importation from there into Ger
many had been impossible through
the edict of Napoleon, called "the con-
tinental-sperre, f. Krupp began to
produce crucible cast steel, first in
small quantities for files, stamps, rolls
for coins and shears, but only slowly
could he convince and persuade Ger
man manufacturers to use his cast
steel, and after a life full of disap-
pointments and hardships he died in
1926, after a long and severe illness,
leaving to his son Alfred little else
than the old homestead, which still
stands in the midst of the great works,
and the secret of his invention.
Alfred Krupp's energy and enter
prise soon conquered. His first sue
/ 70 ho f-I
steel of varying degree of hardness,
thereby increasing its adaptability for
many new purposes. Next came the
invention of the weldless car-wheel
tires, which were patented in 1853 in
all countries and furnished him CAPT
tai for enlarging his plant. In 1865 he
interested himself in coal mines, iron
ore mines and furnaces, which should
| furnish the material for his iron
works, and in 1867 he began to reap
the harvest from his experiments in
augurated long since with steel can
mons, and the great Franco-German
war of 1901 proved beyond doubt
their superiority against the old
bronze cannons. Since then the sue
cess of these works and their growth
have been phenomenal, and when AL
fred Krupp closed the busy and sue
cessful and philanthropic work of his
life, in 1887, at Villa Huegel, his
princely home on the side hills of the
valley of the Ruhr, the city of Essen,
in recognition of his great work. erect
ed in his memory a beautiful monu-
ment on the most prominent square of
the city, and Populations from many
nations mourned at his grave.
Essen is city of $4,000 inhabitants,
and over 10000 of this population are
employed in the works of the able and
energetic son of Alfred Krupp-Fried-
rich Alfred. Over 1900 acres of ground
are covered with buildings and ma
chinery. Many coal mines furnish
fuel for the works, over 400 iron ore
mines furnish the metal and large
iron ore deposits in Spain. near Bilbao
have been purchased in addition, and
a special fleet of steamers has been
built which bring over 100000 tons OF
this Spanish iron ore from Spain tC
the German coast and up the Rhine
Twenty furnaces at Duisburg and
Neuwied- are reducing
the ore for the Krupp works and are
owned or controlled by them.
The main street of Essen divides the
- Krupp works into two parts, connect
ed overhead with innumerable nam
moth steam pipes and bridges, and
parallel with it, running east and
west the tracks of the Rhenish Rail
p way pass the works in the north. while
in the south the railroad leading from
= Dusseldorf to Bremen, Hamburg anC
5 Berlin skirts the mill. Innumerablt
tracks connect these two main lines Of
railroad, surrounding in an ineXtrica,
BILE network the buildings and cross
Ing the street leading to Muelheim be-
low its level. Powerful locomotive!
bring train loads of raw material into
the yards and leave the works will
valuable products, finished and ready
for shipment to all parts of the globe
Miniature engines and cars move abou
between the buildings on the narrow
gauge tracks, bringing material o
smaller size from one building to an
other until il is finished and ready FOL
the market.
He "Matched" Bctween the Lines.
"The late John T, Raymond carried
4 his love of matching dollars so far tina
! he once actually made a bet while per
forming his roll in a theatre here il
t Washington" remarked Mr.. William
ST. John, the well-known New Yorker
Il happened to have seat in tn
e front row that night, and as soon a
S Raymond came on he spiod me an,
, nodded. That very afternoon he an,
= l had been matching, and he came GU
= second best. He hadn't been speaking