![Schwartzkopff Louis Grave Detail](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/13/Schwartzkopff_Louis_Grave_Detail.jpg)
Louis Victor Robert Schwartzkopff (5 June 1825 - 7 March 1892) was a German
industrialist and founder of the
Berliner Maschinenbau
Berliner Maschinenbau AG was a German manufacturer of locomotives.
The factory was founded by Louis Victor Robert Schwartzkopff on 3 October 1852 as ''Eisengießerei und Maschinen-Fabrik von L. Schwartzkopff'' in Berlin.
History
The facto ...
(BMAG) mechanical engineering company, chiefly known as manufacturer of
steam locomotives.
Life
Louis Schwartzkopff was born in
Magdeburg
Magdeburg (; nds, label=Low Saxon, Meideborg ) is the capital and second-largest city of the German state Saxony-Anhalt. The city is situated at the Elbe river.
Otto I, the first Holy Roman Emperor and founder of the Archdiocese of Magdebu ...
, then capital of the
Prussian
Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an e ...
province of
Saxony
Saxony (german: Sachsen ; Upper Saxon: ''Saggsn''; hsb, Sakska), officially the Free State of Saxony (german: Freistaat Sachsen, links=no ; Upper Saxon: ''Freischdaad Saggsn''; hsb, Swobodny stat Sakska, links=no), is a landlocked state of ...
. Between 1831 and 1842 he attended the grammar school in Magdeburg as well as the trade school there, where he, together with
Carl Wilhelm Siemens
Sir Carl Wilhelm Siemens (4 April 1823 – 19 November 1883), anglicised to Charles William Siemens, was a German-British electrical engineer and businessman.
Biography
Siemens was born in the village of Lenthe, today part of Gehrden, near Ha ...
, studied mathematics under Carl’s brother,
Werner von Siemens
Ernst Werner Siemens (von Siemens from 1888; ; ; 13 December 1816 – 6 December 1892) was a German electrical engineer, inventor and industrialist. Siemens's name has been adopted as the SI unit of electrical conductance, the siemens. He foun ...
. From 1842 to 1845 Schwartzkopff attended the trade institute (''Gewerbeinstitut'') founded by
Wilhelm Beuth in
Berlin
Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...
. After that he did his practical training at the firm of Borsig, where he got to know
August Borsig personally. Schwartzkopff finished his training with a six-month post as an
engine driver
A train driver, engine driver, engineman or locomotive driver, commonly known as an engineer or railroad engineer in the United States and Canada, and also as a locomotive handler, locomotive operator, train operator, or motorman, is a pers ...
on the
Berlin-Hamburg Railway. Between 1847 and 1851 he was the chief mechanical engineer (''Maschinenmeister'') of the
Magdeburg-Wittenberge Railway.
With the support of his family he bought the site at Chausseestrasse 20, which was bordered to the south by Invalidenstrasse and to the east by the
Berlin-Stettin Railway. Under the terrain of the latter is the underground S-Bahn station called
Nordbahnhof.
On 3 October 1852 he founded, together with the then Berliner Gießereimeister
Nitsche Nitsche is a surname. Notable people with the surname include:
* Dominik Nitsche, German professional poker player
* Joachim Nitsche (1926–1996), German mathematician
* Erik Nitsche, American graphic designer
* Francisco Nitsche, Chilean footba ...
the Schwartzkopff and Nitsche Iron Foundry & Engineering Works (''Eisengießerei and Maschinenfabrik Schwartzkopff and Nitsche'') in Berlin, from which the
Berliner Maschinenbau AG vorm. L. Schwartzkopff emerged in 1870. Schwartzkopff wanted above all to expand the engineering works, whilst Nitsche preferred to concentrate on artistic castings. So Schwartzkopff bought Nitsche out in 1853 and from then on ran the firm as the only owner. Until 30 June 1888 he was the general manager of the company, but then pulled out of the firm entirely.
![Berlin GTafel Schwartzkopff](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/16/Berlin_GTafel_Schwartzkopff.jpg)
The company's production in support of the military and the railway industry resulted, in the 1860s, in Schwartzkopff being granted the title of ''Kommerzienrat'', a historical title conferred on distinguished industrialists or financiers.
[''Langenscheidt Muret-Sanders Großwörterbuch Englisch'', Teil II, Deutsch-Englisch, Langenscheidt, Berlin and Munich, 2004. .] In 1867, when the production of goods locomotives for the
Lower Silesian-Märkische Railway began, Schwartzkopff moved the general engineering side of the business to a newly acquired site in Ackerstrasse, whilst the core business expanded on the previous sites at Chausseestrasse 19 and 23. Schwartzkopff had also acquired the site at Scheringstrasse 13-28 in
Berlin-Gesundbrunnen
Gesundbrunnen (, literally "health springs"; colloquially ''Plumpe'', "pump") is a locality (''Ortsteil'') of Berlin in the borough (''Bezirk'') of Mitte. It was created as a separate entity by the 2001 administrative reform, formerly the easter ...
.
At the end of the 1880s Schwartzkopff was appointed to the Council of State for the Prussian Government (''Staatsrat der Preußischen Regierung''). On 7 March 1892 he died as the result of a
stroke. During his life Schwartzkopff always held his master, August Borsig, in high esteem.
Schwartzkopff was curator of the Lazarus Hospital. Schwartzkopffstrasse in
Berlin-Mitte
Mitte () (German for "middle" or "center") is a central locality () of Berlin in the eponymous district () of Mitte. Until 2001, it was itself an autonomous district.
Mitte proper comprises the historic center of Alt-Berlin centered on the ch ...
was named in his honour on 12 March 1889.
He was buried at the
Dorotheenstadt cemetery
The Dorotheenstadt Cemetery, officially the Cemetery of the Dorotheenstadt and Friedrichswerder Parishes, is a landmarked Protestant burial ground located in the Berlin district of Mitte which dates to the late 18th century. The entrance to the ...
in Berlin.
References
External links
www.schwartzkopff-wildau.de- A short biography with a photograph (German).
Sources
*
:de:Louis Victor Robert Schwartzkopff
{{DEFAULTSORT:Schwartzkopff, Louis Victor Robert
1825 births
1892 deaths
German railway pioneers
German railway entrepreneurs
Businesspeople from Magdeburg