"25 Berlin - Gubener Hutfabrik (Hat Factory), Actiengesellschaft (Public or Private Company) vorm. A. Cohn, Guben", 1913

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"25 Berlin - Gubener Hutfabrik (Hat Factory), Actiengesellschaft (Public or Private Company) vorm. A. Cohn, Guben", 1913 from the Gotisches Haus (Gothic House) Bad Homburg, Germany hat collection. 

(25)
Berlin Guben Hat Factory
Stock Corporation Before A. Cohn
Guben

 

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The
Berlin-Guben hat factory
Stock company
before. A. Cohn Guben
A commemorative publication
to celebrate its twenty-fifth anniversary
April 16, 1913
Dedicated to Director Hermann Lewin
GUBEN 1913

TABLE OF CONTENTS

GUBEN THE PEARL OF LOWER LUSATIA  5
THE MAN'S JEWELRY  8
THE OLD COMPANY A. COHN  10
THE ESTABLISHMENT COMPANY AND ITS DIRECTORS.  16
A WALK THROUGH THE BUSINESS  18
DETAILS FROM HAIR HAT MANUFACTURING  58
WELFARE INSTITUTIONS  64
SALES AND DIVIDENDS  66
FINAL WORD  67

Berlin Gubener Haarhutfabrik G.m.b.H 1913
Berthold Lissner Department 1913
A. Cohn headquarters in 1913
Berlin Gubener Hutfabrik 
Stock corporation before A. Cohn, Guben.
Union Fez-Fabrik G.m.b.H 1913

Guben as a factory town
Guben the pearl of Lower Lusatia
Guban in the tree blossom

THE PEARL OF NETHER LAUSITZ
In the valley of the Neisse, in the west of the Silesian hills on which the famous wine grows, which is said somewhat differently than the apple in paradise, that it is beautiful to look at, but less easy to enjoy, lies Guben, the pearl of the Lower Lusatia.
Anyone who has only ever touched Guben while passing through and is ultimately happy to have escaped the boring landscape that the Silesian-Marken plain spreads out in front of them on both sides of the railway embankment will do so once they pay the town a visit , not a little surprised by the graceful belt with which the banks of the Neisse wind around the city. Forests and mountains surround the course of the river through the city. But that's just her everyday jewelry. She puts on her festive decorations when spring comes and the many fruit trees that cover the mountains and valleys are dressed as if in a shimmering white bridal gown. At this time Guben is the destination of many thousands of nature-loving people who come to visit the spring in its lovely residence and there is probably no place in the dear German fatherland where the fruit blossoms offer a more magnificent view than from the hills of Guben, in the otherwise so modest Lusatia. There is a dark legend from ancient times that wine once grew on the Guben mountains. Well, an old and only acceptable saying says that one should not speak ill of the dead. So let us ignore this point in Guben's past, which is probably one of the darkest, with forgiving silence. Even today, wine is still made in Guben, but only the innocent but therefore very healthy apple wine, whose special brand "non-alcoholic" makes up for the dark past and proclaims the fame of Guben in Germany's districts with the saying:
Give to your girls, your boys
Only Poetko's apple juice from Guben."
As you can see from this, apples are primarily cultivated in Guben, but all other types of fruit and vegetables are also grown on a large scale. As a result, Guben has even earned the title of "storage room for Berlin", which is certainly not to be underestimated, as this title is a worthwhile one

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Practical sense and active industry have always been the virtues of Guben's citizens, and the more technology advanced in Germany, the more Guben became more important as an industrial city on the world market. Particularly noteworthy among the many branches of this industry are the long-established wool weaving, the manufacture of machines, malt, yeast, picture frames, hosiery, hair blankets, cardboard, barrels, basket weaving, hair yarn spinning, iron foundries, grain and sawmills, book printing (Königs Ker book) etc. One of the youngest branches of these industries is the hat manufacturing course - "You youngest, not the least!" Father Lear speaks tenderly to his daughter Cordelia. But it is far from being the least of the Guben industrial sectors. Hat manufacturing now takes first place among them in importance. And that's not all. In the production of hats, that is, wool and hair hats, Guben claims the leading place among all German cities, indeed on the entire continent - and perhaps it is not too much said, in the entire world. Approximately 10 million hats are made in Guben every year. Hats for all kinds of heads - big and small, stubborn and stupid, smart and stupid, fire-headed and water-headed, Titus-headed and bald-headed! Just as every pot finds its lid elsewhere, so in Guben every head finds its lid. That's why there is no city in the German fatherland, or oh my, in the whole world, where you, dear reader, will feel better protected than in the familiar city of Guben. "God protect you!" - certainly a nice greeting. But if I, dear reader, have to wish your head a worthy protection, I can't think of a more succinct saying than: "Bless you Guben!"

"MEN'S JEWELRY"
A CULTURAL HISTORICAL INSERTION

There is certainly nothing more serious than a hat - the covering for that part of a person that is called the noblest part of him.

If the hat were not a worthy object, how would the poet Gellert have been able to write his famous poem "The Story of the Hat", in which he rightly describes the hat as "men's jewelry"? However, as much as the poem is to be praised from a purely poetic point of view, it should not be examined under the historical microscope, because then some things are not true. The fact that the first person to invent the hat, "and with a clever hand", wore it, as the poem says, folded up with the brim hanging freely, seems correct. In any case, it has been proven that the custom of covering the head was already known in ancient times. Of course, it was usually only the common man who wore a head covering - for the simple reason that he spent more time outdoors than the noble people, as he also usually did his craft on the street . Among the Greeks, this covering consisted of a hemispherical cap made of fur or cowhide, which was fastened under the chin with a strap, or the so-called pilos, a half-egg-shaped or conically pointed hat with a narrow brim, which was primarily worn by boatmen and craftsmen which developed the famous Phrygian cap with the tip folded forward; this cap is still in use today by beach dwellers and boatmen on the Adriatic Sea. The Greek ephebes, the young men who were trained for military service, also wore a specially shaped flat hat to protect them from the weather. Summer hats made of straw or rushes were also worn by women. The noble Greek, however, only wore a hat when traveling, in wars and when hunting. This hat was called Pelasos, had a wide brim and was hung on a string over the shoulder when not in use.

tip, e.g. B. at public shows, festivals and holy acts. The Romans also usually wore hats on special occasions, both round ones and as a symbol of freedom, and therefore when they were released, the slaves also received a hood attached to the coat as a symbol of headgear. The Romans of their new class received a hat from their master - similar to how apprentices, when they were called clerks, received a cotton vest from their principal. As such a symbol, the hat was placed between two daggers after Caesar's murder of Brutus and Cassius
the coins placed.
Made loden hats, appeared around the year 1000, after the Phrygian era under Emperor Charlemagne. The first hats appeared in Germany, including those made of coarse wool for the first time
Hat had been fashion. The straw hat also appeared back then, namely among the Saxons, where straw hat manufacturing is still flourishing today.
Meanwhile the hat took the shape of a rounded cone and people began to dye and decorate it in various ways, including with fur and peacock feathers. Until the middle of the fourteenth century, everyone in Germany seems to have been their own milliner, because it was only around this time that a German milliner was mentioned, namely in Nuremberg, which was the first German industrial city at that time.
A dangerous enemy arose to the hat at the beginning of the 16th century in the fashion of the beret, which almost completely replaced the hat for half a century until it came back into honor around 1550. initially in Holland, Germany and Switzerland as a high, stiff, pointed at the top, so-called. Spanish hat, as it is still worn in a slightly modified form by rural people in Switzerland and Tyrol.

This was soon followed by the Dutch hat, which is still well known today under the name "Rubenshut", and the wide-brimmed Swedish floppy hat. At the same time, the shape of the cylinder also became common.
It was only under King Henry the Fourth of France, who wished each of his farmers a chicken in the pot on Sunday, that hats on which a brim was turned up became known, which is what the poet of the hat, Gellert, imagined when he sat in the clouds from his blissful clouds today's festive season looks down on the Hutstadt in a friendly manner, so please let it be said. Because this made the hat very dressy, in the 18th century, under the reign of the Sun King, a second and third brim was folded over and the famous tricorn hat was created, which remained fashionable for a whole century and was used as an accessory to certain uniforms, court and and official costumes, including among shooting guilds and undertakers, have been preserved to this day. The tricorn hat was only swept away by the French Revolution, where it was considered an attribute of aristocratic rule. In the most literal sense, like the entire aristocracy, the tip was broken off, and the tricorn hat, after it had been decorated into a chapeau-bas shortly before its end, was transformed into a bicorn hat with an enormously large brim, which - ever The larger the brim, the more beautiful the favorite hat of the French dappers of the time became and after them it took on the political nickname "Incroyable". Once again reduced in size, it became the "Napoleon's hat". It was the hat under which its famous wearer united all the empires of Europe searched.

It is impossible to list all the other changes that men's jewelry has had to endure over the last hundred years. Enough that the design of his forms often revealed an imagination and inventiveness that would put even Edison to shame. One is struck by amazement and horror when one just thinks of the countless cylindrical shapes that were “fashionable” during this period. There is no hat shape that has been so ridiculed by the people as the top hat. Which has names not given to him! Fear tube, ink stopper, civilian helmet, pomade cap are the mildest. Yes, there is even, at least in the imperial capital, which is progressing in all good things, a certain night of the year, namely New Year's Eve, when the top hat is considered outlawed.
Far beyond the mere purpose of providing a covering for the head, the hat often also has another task to fulfill, namely to express the rank and dignity of its wearer - although sometimes the opposite. At the top is the purple prince's hat, trimmed with ermine and arched with metal clasps that carry the imperial orb at the crossing point, as well as the electoral hat, which was the same as the prince's hat, except that the metal clasps were missing.
On the other hand, the hat also served to show the dishonor of its owner; In earlier times, bankrupts in France were pilloried with green hats and those in Germany with yellow hats. Among the many kindnesses and awards that the authorities bestowed on Jews in the Middle Ages was, from the 12th century, the time of the Crusades, the requirement that they wear a special hat. It had a pointed shape, was curved like a horn and was orange-yellow in color with a white border or white with a yellow border. It was a privilege of the Spanish grandees to be able to keep their hat on their heads in the presence of the king, and the governor Geßler even demanded the same reverence for his hat, which he had stuck on a pole, as for his person, Dass Tell didn't take the hat off, the cause became the Swiss Republic - probably the most important event that a hat has ever produced.
But the hat also acquired political significance later on. Light gray felt hats with a wide band became commonplace during the reactionary period as a sign of democratic sentiment,
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Page 10, 11 "Old Company Cohn" Missing

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A. COHN PARENT COMPANY 1913
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DEPARTMENT BERTHOLD LISSNER 1913

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UNION FEZ-FABRIK G. M. B. H. 1913
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BERLIN GUBENER HAARHUTFABRIK G. M. B. H. 1913

The business then grew more and more, and when in 1888 the owners decided to convert the company into a stock corporation, the factory was already on an annual turnover, but a brisk and profitable export business had taken it far beyond the domestic borders of approx . M. 600,000 reached. The A. Cohn company had not only brought out a sound in Germany, and so it was also given to the new company, the Berlin Gubener Hutfabrik Stock corporation before A. Cohn incorporated as a shining landmark

THE ESTABLISHMENT COMPANY AND ITS DIRECTORS

The factory in Guben was operated under the A. Cohn company until April 16, 1888, on which day it was transferred to the stock corporation Berlin-Gubener Hut fabrik, formerly "A. Cohn", with capital of one million marks, with retroactive effect until January 1st. The management remained in the hands of the previous owners, Messrs. A. Cohn in Berlin and Hermann Lewin in Guben. Nine years later the share capital was increased by . million to M. 1250,000. In May 1905 a bond of M. 600,000 was issued .- which was intended for enlargement and also had the purpose of setting up a hair hat production. On May 7, 1906, the company's founder, Mr. A. Cohn, was taken away by death, the Berlin Bureau was withdrawn and the entire management Gifts relocated. January 1, 1907 marked a new milestone in the development of the company; on this day, Berthold Lißner's hat factory, which had existed since November 1889, was attached to the company, with the share capital simultaneously increasing to 3 million marks . In a relatively short time and from small beginnings, this factory had already developed into one of the largest and most successful companies in the industry, and it was only the merger of the two factories that created the basis, as can be seen from the dividend curve, which is now continually rising , on which the work was able to rise to its current importance.

On July 1, 1907, the keystone was added to the building by merging the hair hat factory, which had previously been operated separately from both establishments, and merging it into one company under the company Berlin-Gabener Haarhutfabrik G. m. b. H". Also worth mentioning is the purchase of the former Wülfing hat factory on Damm in Guben in 1908. While wool tump and plume production was carried out here in the first years of 1909 and 1910, the factory was in the 1980s "Silenced in 1911 and 1912 because the items manufactured there had gone out of fashion. The Union Fez-Fabrik G. m. b. H. was founded in February 1913 with the participation of the stock corporation." However, the factory is given a new purpose. The significance of the company, which emerged from such small beginnings, has today is evident from the fact that it employs around 4,000 workers and employees, that its products are sold in all areas of the inhabited world and that the last year, the year 1912, was The company achieved a turnover of around 15 million marks, which is also the highest figure it has achieved to date. The Berla Gabener Hatfabrik thus presents itself as the most comprehensive and important company in the Wollbut industry, which is unequaled even in England and America, and which the city of Gaben can look upon with justifiable pride - as a triumph for the German industry through which it has once again proven, that not only for the German walls, but also for them as a work
German industry the famous saying applies: The Germans to the front!
As much as the general upswing in German industry, which is unprecedented in the annals of history, may have contributed to the prosperity of our factory, the example of so many other factories in the same industry that have since emerged and closed again due to poor business shows We have failed to conclude that it cannot be due to such general reasons alone that Unnamen comes to such a conclusion, but that there must also be other reasons at play, and that is obviously the case with Unarten. The word "from" also applies here the earnings that result from the click chained.

would have been subject to, to whom the prosperity is primarily due. When we think of these men as to what would have become of the stock corporation if they did not now manage Mi, we should first and foremost speak of Mr. Apelius Cohn, the founder of the company. A feeling of deep sadness creeps into the middle of the festival when we consider that the unforgettable man was not blessed by Providence
to experience today with us, to be able to put the crown on the work of his life today. A stroke from which he never recovered knocked him down, and on May 6, 1906, after almost five decades of restless work presiding over his creation, he died after severe suffering in the Grunewald sanatorium near Berlin. With tireless hard work, exemplary honesty, tenacious energy, unshakable perseverance, a keen eye that goes far beyond his initial goals, this man was combined with a integrity of character, a simplicity and modesty in his personal demeanor, and a hard-working compassion for his fellow human beings He probably left the warmest memory in everyone who was allowed to get close to him, whether in a business or human sense.
In the pain that fills his many friends again today for the loss of this man, in the deep gratitude that the management and everyone who is part of today has to his creation, his memory, but for the former there is also the comforting and proud consciousness that she has made her best efforts and undeterred to continue on the path that this man showed her, always with that goal in mind keep what he outlined for her, and that if he is allowed to take a look at his work today from the realm of shadows into which he has entered, he will probably be satisfied with its status.

Honor this man's memory!
And now to the living!

Our attention first turns to the man whom the dear divorcee, as already mentioned, himself considered the most worthy to continue his work - Her Hermann Lewin. The achievements of Mr. Hermann Lewin are written in golden letters not only in the chronicle of our stock corporation, but also in that of the entire German hat industry. It was Mr. Hermann Lewin who brought into being the conventions that were so beneficial for this industry, namely the Special Purpose Association of Germans Wool Hat Manufacturers E. V." and the Association of German Women's Wool Stump Manufacturers E. V.". The task of the two associations, which Mr. Lewin has also chaired since they were founded, is to set the delivery conditions and the minimum prices and thus to create a uniform price basis for the benefit of the entire industry, at least for domestic business, and to put a stop to competitive competition . The two other German associations that set delivery conditions for the industry should also be mentioned here on this occasion - these are the Central Association of Hat Manufacturers of Germany E. V." and the Association of Women's Wool Hat Industrialists E. V. Originally intended for the profession of banker, Hem Lewin knew how to familiarize himself with his new subject with exceptional success and, through his intelligence and tireless energy, as well as his excellent practical experience, always put a unique stamp on the company's products, making them fit the respective market needs and tasteful and to allow the demands of fashion to stand out advantageously against all other products in the industry. Today he is undisputedly considered one of the first materials experts in the entire industry, has an eye for taking advantage of economic fluctuations and a truly amazing eye for all the inner processes of manufacturing In addition to his time-consuming work as head of the large company and despite his endless travels at home and abroad to buy and sell, he also found time to dedicate himself to the interests of the city and to dedicate himself to the well-being of the community and his Miebinger all the city , recently served as a city councilor, for which he was recently awarded the Order of the Red Eagle by the state. He is a very friendly boss to the employees and workers of the company and, although a strict employer, is always a benevolent employer who is open to all fair concerns.
The other gentlemen whose active work and participation our company owes to its success include: Hem Berthold Lissner, who joined the board after his company was incorporated into the stock corporation and remained the manager of his former company.
Mr. Lissner came to Guben 24 years ago after giving up his shareholding in a Berlin corrugated hat factory, and founded a new factory of the same type here from a small beginning. Through restless zeal and despite the hardships of different circumstances, his company soon achieved upward development and to develop it into a powerful competitor to the stock corporation in a disgraceful manner. Over the course of about 20 years, it ultimately achieved a turnover that even exceeded that of the stock corporation, and employed a number of workers that was not behind that of the stock corporation.

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Around this time, his company was purchased by the stock corporation and his company was incorporated into the stock corporation as "Abrellung Berthold Lissner". While in the latter, in addition to the meritorious management, the larger capital involved also formed a factor in its successful development, Lissner's successes 's company was valued all the more because its owner only had limited resources at his disposal. Best known as a tirelessly hard-working and intelligent businessman and manufacturer, Mr. Lissner also enjoys general respect and recognition as a person, both among his employees and workers, as well as his fellow citizens in the broader sense. In addition to his tireless business activities, he also found the time to devote himself with the liveliest interest to community affairs
to devote to opportunities.
Mr. Adolf Delhaes, member of the board since the passing of Mr. Apelius Cohn, Mr. Delhaes comes from the Rhineland, namely from that corner on the Dutch-Belgian border, which has been the training center for many capable practitioners and industrialists in the textile industry . Initially working as Mr. Lewin's assistant, he gradually took over the management and supervision of production, which is still his specialty.
Mr. Alexander Lewin, a nephew of Mr. Hermann Lewin from Austria. The company's authorized representative from 1907 to 1912, this year he joined the board as a deputy member. He is mainly concerned with the management of the men's hat department and with the very extensive work in the export business.
The company's governing bodies also include the Supervisory Board, consisting of the chairman, Commercial Councilor Paul Millington Hermann, Director of Deutsche Bank, and 8 members of the Supervisory Board.
Also to be mentioned are:
Mr. Hermann Buchholz, an authorized signatory in the Berlin office until the death of Mr. Apelius Cohn, with whom he then moved to Guben in the same position.

Messrs. Paul Bachmann, Friedrich Ehrlich and Karl Schmidt, collective authorized representatives of the Berthold Lissner department.
Messrs. Paul Provot and Conrad Gibelius, managing directors of Berlin-Gubener Haarhutfabrik G.m.b.H., to whom the board members of the stock corporation are attached as supervisory board members. Mr. Louis Provot, head of technical operations at the hair hat factory.

A WALK THROUGH THE BUSINESS

The following descriptions are not intended to provide an exhaustive description of hat production, but are only intended to give the reader a rough idea of how a hat is made; They are written for the layperson and are therefore as brief as possible and often quickly go over complicated processes in production. Before we turn to the actual production, let's take a look at the power stations, where the energizing element for all rotating shafts and machine parts - operating power - is generated and passed on.
the
Systems lie next to each other and are operated by muscular figures. Individual boilers First we step into the boiler house, where a long row of various steam boilers are being fed with fresh coal. The firing doors are open and allow a view of the sea of flames that billows below the boilers. The boilers are not exposed, they only show us their front and are otherwise surrounded by masonry, partly to protect them from cooling down, partly to force the fire gases to coat the boiler walls in many ways through artfully arranged drafts and to constantly supply them with new heat . Hard coal or lignite is constantly mixed with briquettes.

the fuel
the sea of flames

supplied to evaporate the water in the boilers. Water level glasses, which are clearly visible at the front of each boiler, show the level of the water. Other devices signal the danger if the water level is too high
in the boiler. or should have come too low.
A. Cohn alone burned fuel for around M. 112,000 per year and the stock company in It may be of interest to know that the Berlin-Guben hat factory is in the department
their entire operations for approx. M. 272,000 per year.
The layman stands in amazement and hesitation in front of the monsters of boilers and admires this human invention, through which the hostile elements, fire and water, are forced to generate the steam necessary for operation.
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BOILER HOUSE

 

 

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OPERATING MACHINES

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The boilers are connected to an extensive pipe system, which, after opening valves, leads the steam to the steam engines or other extraction points in the factory.
From the boiler house we enter the engine room through a connecting door, a bright, friendly and scrupulously clean room. The main part of this room is occupied by a large, triple expansion steam engine, built by A.G. Görlitzer Maschinenbauanstalt, with an output of 500 horse power. The steam flowing from the boilers to this machine through a pipeline is forced to pass through the three cylinders of this machine and, by its expansion force, gives the piston in these cylinders a reciprocating movement. Through the use of a movable rod and a crank, this pushing movement is converted into a rotating one.
A powerful flywheel, by means of many rope ropes, transmits the power partly directly to one wing of the factory, and partly to a counter gear, which in turn sets two large dynamo machines in motion, which generate the electrical current; This is directed to the factory's more distant buildings and converted there into moving power by electric motors. In this room we also see a turbo dynamo that generates one hundred kilowatts of electrical energy and can therefore transmit 130 horses of moving power. In this steam turbine, the old principle of the water turbine has been brought into play again, in that not, as in the steam engine, the steam enters the cylinder and is used alternately in front of and behind the piston, i.e. a pushing movement is created, but in that the steam In this system, many small blades located on the circumference of a disk are fed and this disk is set in rotating motion with its axis.

This turbine is directly coupled to a dynamo machine and thus generates electrical power in a very simple way. In an adjacent room we find another modern power generating machine, a diesel engine; This is a gas engine that is set in motion by the expansion force of superheated tar oil gases. This gas engine, which has around 150 horse power, is not behind the best steam engines with its performance and economical work and is well suited to wherever space is limited and steam power is not needed.

The layman stands in amazement before these thousands of moving particles of the steam engine and the other operating machines, which generate an enormous amount of motor power, which is transferred to the working machines in an ingenious way in the individual factory rooms. He silently admires the ingenuity of the human mind that conceived this triumph of technology. -

We turn to the actual production, first of all to the wool hat factory, which forms the main manufacturing branch of the stock corporation, and enter the storage rooms where the raw material, wool and its by-products are stored in huge bales. The wool, the hair of the sheep, is extremely varied depending on the blood of the animals, both in terms of fineness and length, as well as in the strength and curl of the fiber. Wool sheep are found in almost every country in the world, but the main wool production areas for wool hat production are Australia, South America, South Africa, Austria-Hungary and Germany. The wool produced in other countries around the world is less suitable for making suitable felt for hats. The wool from Angora goats, Alpacca sheep and camels is still used in smaller quantities in hat production, but only to produce shiny hats or as an effect additive.

However, the way the wool grows on the sheep, it is not suitable for processing. The raw wool is contaminated with the animal's greasy sweat and is covered with dirt and dust. These contaminants are partly removed before the wool is cut from the animals themselves, either by washing the animals in the river or pond, or by hand or spray washing with soapy liquids. In most cases, however, the wool is only sheared after shearing, i.e. H. after cutting the wool from the sheep, washed in machines specially built for this purpose. In these machines - called Leviathan, which transport the raw wool mechanically through all parts without human assistance - the material, which is heavily contaminated with wool sweat, is treated with alkaline liquids that dissolve the wool sweat from the fiber. Strong squeezing rollers, which work under enormous pressure, press the dissolved sweat off the fiber several times until finally any small fat particles still adhering are completely removed using one or more water baths. Some wools contain up to 30, 40, 50, 60, even up to 70 and 80 percent impurities and, after washing and drying, only produce a correspondingly small amount of pure material. Before and after washing, the wool is sorted precisely for quality and usually checked again for contamination by pieces of pitch.

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WOOL STORAGE
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Wool production in the overseas countries has reached an enormous scale: according to the statistics for the 1911/12 season, Australia including New Zealand had around 117 million sheep and a production of 2,524,000 bales of wool weighing 150 kg each, South America including Uraguay with approx. 102 million sheep and 497,600 bales of wool weighing 400 kg each. South Africa with around 29 million sheep and 376,000 bales of wool weighing 150 kg each, while German
The country only goes on sale with around 7.7 million sheep, each of which produces around 4 to 5 kg of wool.
Looking at these statistics, fearful minds among German wool consumers see the moment approaching in the not too distant future when the German manufacturer will be cut off from the wool material necessary for production by politics in the wool-producing countries, and that is what they are Attempts to establish wool breeding in our German colonies, in German South West Africa,
WOOL WASHING MACHINE
to set up. Material produced there has already been brought onto the market, but the quantity is not yet in the balance and the quality is still a sample
READ THE
WASHED WOOL
should exist. Let's hope the best. Some readers may be interested to know that Europe, including European Russia, has approximately 182 million four-legged sheep and the entire world has approximately 615 million. Below are some pictures from wool production
Australia:
1. a Merino ram, called President, auctioned for M. 34,000.-, The original type for the fine-haired breeding sheep was the Spanish Merino sheep, the transfer of which to various countries and parts of the world has become an animal of cultural and historical importance, 2. grazing flock of sheep in a British-Australian colony,
3. the shearing of the sheep and the shearing hall,
4. Sales exhibition.
5. Auction Hall,
6. Transporting the bales of wool for shipping

The selection of wool materials that are suitable for the various purposes of hat production. is the responsibility of the specialist and is based on years of experience. It is fair to say that most wool hats are not made from a single type of wool. Rather, experience has taught that.

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A MERINO BUCK. CALLED PRESIDENT". AUCTIONED FOR MK. 34,000
GRAZING Flock of Sheep IN A BRITISH AUSTRALIAN COLONY
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SHEARING THE SHEEP AND THE SHEARING HALL
SALES EXHIBITION
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AUCTION HALL
TRANSPORTING THE BALE OF WOOL FOR SHIPPING
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MIXED GRINDER
Long and short wool can be advantageously mixed and waste wool material, which is created from the preliminary product of the worsted yarn during the production of the combed yarn, can also be used to fill the felt pores. These different types of wool are evenly mixed together on a machine suitable for this purpose, the "Wolf". As snow flurries are thrown out, the material should not be worked violently, but should only be loosened and mixed well.

The wool blends prepared in this way are now placed on the carding machines in the carding room. These machines feature a complicated system of rotating rollers, the surfaces of which are decorated with fine-toothed wire tips called scrapers. These rollers, which rotate in different directions and at different speeds, are intended to loosen the piles of wool that are still connected and place the individual fibers neatly next to each other, bring them into a neat association and at the same time throw out any mechanical impurities that may still be present in the material. After passing through the card, the wool fibers lying next to each other and mixed up are led out as a thin pile, a veil-like structure, and wound up on a thick, round, slowly rotating wooden roller, on a drum, up to a certain number of layers and then removed. In order to achieve the most complete processing of the wool fibers, the wool material is passed through such cards twice in succession, the second of which is equipped with slightly finer wire teeth than the first. After this second turning inside out, the wool fur has reached the necessary fineness to be processed into the original structure of the hat.
Up to this point, the processing of wool has taken place in exactly the same way as in cloth production. From now on, hat and cloth production diverge. It is now a matter of shaping the wool fur into a specific shape, which forms the first basis for the later hat, the so-called "compartment". This is done on the cone card with a winding device.

The machine gets its name from a wooden double cone, which makes rotating and oscillating movements on an ingeniously designed apparatus at the rear part of the machine, which is otherwise built like the pre-card, but is much narrower. Here, too, the worker uses her hands to guide the veil of wool, which emerges from the clutter as a thin web similar to a cobweb, onto a moving double cone and cuts it. After the previously precisely determined weight has been accumulated, cut the structure in the middle with scissors and maintain it

CONE CARD WITH WINDING APPARATUS
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KREMPEL ROOM WITH CONE WRAP

This makes 2 sugarloaf-like funnels made of wool fur, each a future hat! This manipulation is called "winding" and the worker is called "cone winder". It takes a lot of skill to wind the thin wool pile emerging from the card onto the cone evenly, without tears or wrinkles, and to use the existing facilities correctly to allow the thicker edges to roll up.

FELT MACHINE

An experienced winder produces 14-20 dozen hat compartments on her machine in 10 hours of work time, depending on the weight of the goods, which is light for thin hats and heavy for thick hats.
The number of cone carders and winding machines working in a hat factory is an approximate measure of the factory's production volumes. The stock corporation currently has 93 cone carders in its wool hat factories, not counting the machines for making the hair hats, which we will come back to later.
Up to this stage of production, the life force that lies dormant in the wool fiber has behaved passively; in the following stages it comes to lively activity. In the spinning mill, the wool sheds form a padded structure of loose wool fibers lying on top of and next to each other, which otherwise have no connection between themselves. Through the felting process that follows, the wool fibers are linked and connected to one another. The structure of the subject now has more consistency. To make it easier to understand the process of felting

pointed out that the individual wool fibers are covered with fine scales that can only be seen under the microscope and which form in moist heat, e.g. B. in steam, open and put up. If pressure and friction are exerted on wool fibers treated in this way, they connect to one another through the open scales, they link one another, crawl over and through each other and develop a mysterious power to unite with one another, i.e. expertly designed. presses to become matted. If this process is continued continuously through greater heat, through increased moisture, through stronger pressure and more violent friction, the wool fibers become more and more firmly felted together. They roll together and ultimately form a structure that is inseparable from one another in the individual fibers. The experts and even the scholars do not agree with each other as to whether this mysterious process of felting and fulling is caused only by the clawing of the wool scales or by another characteristic of the wool hair.

PUSHING MACHINE
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[habigman]

FELTING

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PUSH MACHINE
caused by natural forces.
The machine above illustrates the manipulation of how wool pockets are felted. The funnel-shaped compartment is placed between two plates that move against each other. A suitable piece of canvas is placed in the inner part of the wool funnel so that the top and bottom do not felt together due to the addition of hot water vapors and the friction of the wool funnel Both plates then cause the wool fibers to become felted, as explained above. The tip of the funnel is similarly felted by using the wool funnel
ter is placed on a sheet metal cone, the perforated tip of which carries steam through and over which an equally moving, matching head piece is guided back and forth.
When felted, the wool compartment is already more resistant, but still not enough to avoid damage during the robust-looking fulling process in the hammer mill. The careful manufacturer therefore gives the compartment a gentle pre-rolling beforehand, which means the felt is jostled. This happens in machines of various designs, which usually follow the principle that the felts, wrapped together in a certain number in a cloth, soaked in a warm liquid that promotes the felting and fulling process, are squeezed through a system of rollers and rollers. These again exert friction and pressure, more violently and energetically than when felting, and this initiates an even closer bonding of the fibers and an even more intimate felting and curling of the wool structure. The pre-rolling, which is often carried out by hand, also has the purpose of particularly working on individual, less dense areas of the felt and bringing uniformity into the entire structure.
Now the pre-milled wool sheds await the "hammer milling". This works on a large number of felts in a large, hollow wooden belly with constant tapping and hammering and forces them to constantly sit in hot milling broth in a merciless kneading process

HAMMER MILLS
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to twist and give the secret natural power of fulling inherent in its wool fibers to the last remnant; As a result, the previously loosely connected layers of wool become leather-like Felt welded together.

Having become a "stump", the subject leaves this place of extreme effort. It has now shrunk to up to % of its original size due to the multiple felting and fulling manipulations, but has lost its hollowness and can now, as a solid, robust felt, withstand all the strains that the to him in the following stages of production, with great tenacity defy, and this is of great importance. -

The fulling is the soul of the raw production of the wool hat!
We now take a look at the rooms in which the wool material is used
Adhering vegetal parts must be removed.

Grass, burdock or other plant parts get stuck in the wool flow when the sheep graze or lie down on the pasture, and these remain stuck in it even when the wool is treated. They are now made either from the wool itself or from the compartment. from the stump through carbonization, i.e. H. the charring of the plant parts is removed. For this purpose, the wool or the goods are soaked with diluted sulfuric acid and, after the excess water is carefully thrown off, exposed to intense heat of around 80 degrees Celsius. This causes the plant parts to become friable and can be easily separated from the wool fibers, which are less affected, by mechanical processes.
The format that the hat product has retained so far is the sugar-loaf-shaped, conical one. Now the pillar is to undergo the first manipulations that bring it into the shape of a hat, i.e. H. which clearly imprint the identifying features of the head and edge.

DRYING THE CARBONIZED WOOL
DISHWASHER
CARBONIZATION
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AUXILIARY MACHINES FOR THE MOLDING SHOP

Various machines are used for this purpose, which expand the stump in the head, which has previously been made supple in steam or hot water, stretch the edge flatter, force a wooden shape into the expanded part of the head, stretch the edge and finally hold it in its shape. In all of these manipulations, the machine usually only serves as an assistant to make the rather strenuous mold manipulation easier. The handicraft of a skilled shaper who shapes the felt in its composition, i.e. H. in its relationship between head and edge, expertly preserved, is still not fully functional by a machine
replaced.

The formed hat, after it has dried, is now subjected to a toilet; it is freed from the coarse hairs that have been pushed out to the surface by the comb. It is ground and polished, the fine hairs rolled inwards are brought out to the ceiling through roughening processes and, depending on requirements, are finished as a fine cloth-like line or as a raised velor cover.

The pumice mill turns the rough, shaggy fellow that Walke delivers. a finely trimmed, smooth hat. The name "pumice" arose from the fact that pumice stone was previously used for the manipulations described, but today other abrasive materials are mostly used
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are removed from their points of origin by large suction devices with extensive pipelines. The dust generated during this work and the flying hair particles
so that they don't come to the worker which can be harmful to health, must be taken to a collection point. usually separated into types so that they can later be used for a wide variety of purposes, of which we would only like to mention the production of velvet wallpaper.

The station to which the hat is now brought is the Rohdecatur. The term "Decatieren" has its origins from the French word "cati", i.e. H. Pressed gloss. In the original view, decating means nothing more than removing the pressed shine from the goods; a manipulation that was first used in cloth production.

MACHINE MOLDERS
MOLD MANIPULATIONS
THE BIMMING OF THE HATS
THE GRINDING OF THE HATS

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However, cloth manufacturing has retained this expression for a number of much more extensive treatments of the goods with steam. The inventive, striving spirit of the cloth industrialists soon discovered that these treatments achieved a matt shine, a soft, mottled feel, a fine, durable line on the goods; Above all, wear caused the wear to contract or even change in structure due to the effects of the weather. This treatment made the cloth shrink-free, i.e. H. For a long time, he was deprived of the opportunity to use this manipulation, which was widely used in cloth production, until a hat manufacturer from Guben, through continued experiments, was able to develop useful and, as it turned out after further elaboration of the original system, achieved some really important results. Today the wool hats are drawn into precisely fitting shapes, two pieces each, with the right, lined sides lying on top of each other, the outermost edges on

VACUUM CLEANER FACILITY

corresponding rings are tensioned, a steam process, i.e. H. exposed to the decating effect. For this purpose, the hats are placed on an iron frame, pushed into a large cauldron, which is hermetically sealed and hot, dry steam is admitted into the interior and pressure of one atmosphere is created. The goods are exposed to this steam pressure for a period of time (20-40 minutes). In order to protect them against any drops of water, the Ge. covered by coverings and after the boiler's steaming process has ended, the used steam is extracted through ventilation. before opening a fixed line, but above all the effort of the felt to fit into its old pillar.

The hat gains significantly in size due to the Decatur. The hair cover of the product is prevented from receding, i.e. H. The hat keeps its shape, and certainly on everyone
Weather influences, so it is absolutely load-bearing.

The Decatur is therefore extremely important for the wool hat. Character, it makes him consistent and solid. Just as the Walke means the soul of the Stumpen, so the Decatur shapes the hat.

DECATING THE HATS
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38, 39 Missing Pages

WOMEN'S HAT HOOD WAREHOUSE

SOFT HAT HOOD WAREHOUSE

Huge fans that blow warm air into the room from one side so that the steam does not condense into water, and those that try to suck the steam out of the room on the opposite side with rapidly moving blades
in vain trying to keep the room completely free of fumes.

In the adjacent laboratory and in the dyeing chamber there are many barrels, pots and cans containing a variety of dyes. These are usually dark, colorless powders that only change to effectively bright colors through chemical action.
We still see a number of large, multi-leaf color cards with small pieces of felt stuck on them, which speak loudly about the versatility of this dyeing department; next to it lie many colorful wool samples and large sample books in which they are compiled; All of this inspires us with great respect
WHERE DO THE STAINS COME FROM?
STEIFHUT CLUMP BEARING
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[habigman]

the work that is being done here. From the dyeing plant, the cheroots, after they have been dried in large, steam-heated chambers and brushed to remove all impurities, travel to the cheroot store, from where they later go to the factory for the production of women's hats, or to the women's chevet store, from where they are immediately sent for dispatch, or for women's hats that are released on machines, into the Stumpenlager, separated according to their intended use: the men's hat Stumpenlager, which contains the qualities intended for men's hats.

The second part of hat production now begins!

Up to this point, the stumps have been marched through raw production in closed batches from the spinning mill with a card that contained all the necessary information. From the warehouses they move on, separated into individual commissions and divided into the final form. The stumps for stiff hats go to the stiff hat department, those for soft hats go to the soft hat department.

If we first follow the former, we see how the stumps are soaked with a solution of shellac and spirit, then dried and later exposed to a washing process, which is intended to remove the unnecessary stiffness from the surface, so that only the stiffness remains inside the felt remains. This washing process, called panning, is of extreme importance because if the shellac is not completely removed from the surface of the bowl, it will appear as mold-like stains when the hat is worn and even on the bed.

The stiffened stumps are now pulled up to exactly fit the head shape for which they are intended, "plated", the edge is stretched flat and the hat is then pressed after its surface has been finely cleaned and brushed into lines.

 

After the stiffened cheroot is placed in an iron mold heated by steam or gas, the upper part of the press is lowered and the elastic rubber body, which makes the shellac stiffener supple, is inserted into the hat. The press is then hermetically sealed and water pressure of 25-30 atm is generated through a pipeline by accumulators. let into the interior of the press. With this enormous pressure, the water fills the hat bag, expands it and forces the supple stump to fit smoothly against the walls of the iron mold.

WOMEN'S HAT STORE
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PLATING THE RIGID HATS
PRESSING THE STIFF HATS
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44. 45 Pages Missing

DECATIER APPARATUS FOR SOFT HATS

The journey of the soft hat through the factory from the pillar warehouse is similar; it is only slightly stiffened, and usually only at the edge, in order to give more support to this part, which is the most stressed when carrying and greeting. Instead of being plated, it is then drawn onto a mold that mainly determines the dimensions of the head and edge, then the surface is also cleaned and processed and finally it goes into a hydraulic press that works in a similar way to the stiff hat, but Press out the head and edge at the same time. The protruding edges are cut off and the soft hat is now ready for the garnish. When it comes to outfitting such a large number of hats, large spaces and many skilled hands must of course be available. There are also large, bright, comfortable rooms where girls and women sit at long tables and attach the pieces of equipment to their hats. There are thousands of hats lying on small racks, adding to the picturesque appearance of this interesting department.

The control over the payment of wages for these many individual hats is made possible by the fact that a certain coupon is issued with each hat, which indicates the wage rate for the work the payroll statement is submitted. Nowadays, the attachment of the equipment parts is often done with machines, such as stitching the bindings and sewing in the leather, but the majority of the work remains left to the skilled hand.

DIE PULLER
STIFFER OF SOFT HATS
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47

GARNISHING HALL
LINING
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49

Furnishings Warehouse
Stamping
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The warehouse in which the individual parts necessary for garnishing are sold forms a special department in itself, the varied work of which the layperson has no idea of. From here, various types of tapes are delivered. Special types of welding leather are intended for each commission. The linings made of silk fabrics, which usually have a stamp specified for each customer or the name of the detailing houses, have to be made in advance, and then the thousands of small accessories that are used to enhance the external appearance of the hat come.

The embossing shop, i.e. the station where leather and lining are stamped and named, is also a branched and complicated area. All possible types of printing fonts are used, colorful printing, printing made of silver, imitation gold, real gold, black printing and printing in different colors. The station has developed into a complete printing company and therefore also supplies the factory with the printed matter on paper that becomes necessary.
If we then take a look at the hall where the boxes needed to pack the hats are made, we have reached the end of the manufacturing process. The boxes are no longer glued together with glue, as they used to be, but are instead stapled together using machines. The stapling wire not only penetrates the cardboard and solidly connects the individual parts together, no, at the same time it also staples strong wooden strips inside the box to make it durable for the journey and to enable it to withstand the sometimes somewhat rough treatment on the part of the box to withstand the postal workers.

As we leave this room we hear the loud whistle of a steam whistle coming from the boiler house. It is the sign that the working machines must be moved out, because after a few minutes the gigantic operating machines, which with enormous power caused the movement of all the wheels, all the belts, all the fans and the smallest individual machines in the most distant rooms, will come to a standstill.
We now quickly walk through the packing and shipping rooms, where urgent commissions are taken out after factory operations have stopped, and then enter the shipping office and the factory accounting department. Here the documents accompanying the shipment are issued, the incoming orders are registered and transferred to the individual accounts, the divisions necessary for the production of the goods are made and the dispatched commissions are deducted from the corresponding accounts. The invoices are advertised and the relevant correspondence is maintained with customers. Of course, completing all of this work requires a larger workforce and well-organized control.
The cash register and management of the business books as well as the technical office are in separate rooms, which we also walk through and then finally reach the director's office, the actual brain of the entire organization.
From here, in the morning, after the correspondence and orders have been distributed to the individual departments, all dispositions are sent out, which are passed on by the department heads to the foremen and junior civil servants, so that they can then get back to the workers. This is where all the threads come together again in the evening after the company closes, maintaining the organization like an artificially spun web.

CARTON MAKING
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CARTON MAKING
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BELOW: DIRECTORATE ACCOUNT
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MAIN ACCOUNT AND CASH RECEIPT

ACCOUNTING OFFICE
PACKAGING ROOM
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WORKSHOP AND MOLD TURNERS

[habigman]

IDYL ON THE NEISSEUF

Outside the factory, the hammering and knocking of the machines, the hissing of the large fans, and the back and forth of people have already been replaced by silence and calm. The thousands of light bulbs in the lighting network have also gone out, only a single flame still shines here and there to provide light to the restless hands repairing a machine. However, up here in the offices there is still bright light and busy life, there is still business activity here. But soon the last letter will be signed, the last invoice will be enveloped and then things will calm down here too.
The moonlight reflects ghostly shadows through the factory windows over the Neisse Mountains and conjures up strange shapes from the thousands of hats stacked on top of each other in the factory halls.

DETAILS FROM HAIR HAT MANUFACTURING

The production of the hair hats is carried out in an establishment that is completely separate from the wool hat production. If we also pay a short visit to this department, we first enter the raw materials warehouse, where many types of hair are stacked, mostly neatly packed in paper packages. The packages are labeled on the outer covers with the name of the quality they contain. We find various types of hare hair, rabbit hair, beaver hair and rat hair.
The most important hairdressers are in Germany, France, England and Belgium. This is where skins from all over the world come together, are prepared, trimmed and sorted. In its original state, as it is cut from the hide, the hair is not suitable for making hats because it lacks the ability to be felted and fulled.
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Below are 4 pictures from one
German hair cutting shop.
THE SKINS ARE CUT OPEN AND CLEANED
STOCK OF HIDES PREPARED FOR STAINING
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LOOK INTO THE PICKLING /CARROTING SHOP
THE HAIR IS CUT FROM THE SKINS
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BLOW MACHINERY
FORMING MACHINES
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FULLING OF THE HAT STUMP
EXPEDITION ACCOUNT
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DIRECTORATE ACCOUNT

The hair is in the original state, as experienced by the manipulation of mordanting, before it acquires this property, but then to a higher degree than the wool. For this purpose, the hair on the skins is carefully coated down to the root with a solution of mercury and nitric acid using hand brushing or using machines made of cylindrical brushes. The skins are then dried in heating chambers specially designed for this purpose, then re-moistened and carefully smoothed to even out every fold in the skin. - The skins prepared in this way then pass through a machine in which the fur is cut into narrow strips between cylinders equipped with sharp knives without tearing the loosely connected fur. The fur particles fall down and the hair, cut down to the roots, comes out at the end of the machine and lies on a thin metal plate. From here it is removed by trained workers and broken down into individual parts of the fur, because the back has the finest hair, but the sides and belly have smaller types of hair, which show very significant differences in price. It achieves e.g. For example, the back of a rabbit costs five times as much as the hair from the belly. With the enormous bull market in hair that has been going on for a year now, which has brought about unprecedented prices, the back parts are getting bigger and the smaller sections that are separated are getting smaller and smaller. This huge price increase is partly due to the fashion for velor-like hats for men and women, but also to the very heavy use of animal fur as trimmings for dresses that has occurred in recent years.
Continuing further, we reach the blowing factory, where ten blowing machines, built according to the latest experience, free the hair of all impurities that are attached to it and at the same time remove any smaller, stronger parts of the hair. The blow molding machine serves a similar purpose in the production of hair hats as the roll does in the production of wool hats. Through a number of rapidly rotating, toothed rollers, the hair material, which is very easily carried by the air, is set into a whirling motion and flies back and forth in the large wire gauze box surrounding the machine, as if blown by a strong current of air . While the finest, thinnest hair particles float longer in the air space, the heavier impurities and coarser hair parts sink down more quickly and are carried away before the fine, light hair has collected again.
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Pages 64, 65 Missing

which ensures that the employees are provided with free meals and meals during their vacation time in the rest homes.
The company has taken on its own shoulders the burden placed on civil servants by the Reich Insurance Regulations.
There are still canteens in all companies run under the supervision of worker delegates, which provide the workers with good quality coffee, bouillon, seltzer water, lemonades and other non-alcoholic drinks for refreshment in return for small compensation.

The A. Cohn department has 44 workers and employees in its company who have been working for the company for more than 25 years. They received a large monetary gift on their anniversary and some of them were awarded the bronze medal of honor and three were awarded this silver medal. In addition, a large number of workers in both departments who have become unable to work are provided with permanent weekly support, which protects them from at least the most extreme hardships until the end of their lives. On the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the stock corporation, a sum of 100,000 marks was donated for charitable purposes, which is intended to benefit the stock company's workforce alone.

CANTEEN

We hope and wish that these institutions will do their part to further strengthen the good understanding that exists between the employer and the company's employees - to the benefit and blessing of both parties!

SALES AND DIVIDENDS
THE BERLIN GUBEN HUT FACTORY
PUBLIC LIMITED COMPANY prem. A. COHN.
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FINAL WORD

If today can be more for us than just a day of joy, a day of pride, a day of thanks, then it should also give us a lesson, namely the following:

Napoleon used to say of his soldiers that every one of them, even the smallest, carried a marshal's baton in his knapsack. The poor thirteen-year-old boy we read about in these pages also carried such a marshal's baton in the satchel with which he came to Berlin. - except that our friend did not serve an emperor, but a queen, the great, powerful queen of industry that now dominates the entire world. He planted a seed in the ground - and a tree grew from it, which today provides nourishment for 4,000 people and their families. The path that that poor boy took to reach such a wonderful goal - this path is also open to everyone else who has the necessary hard work, the necessary endurance and the necessary talent for it. Therefore, may the example of this man serve as a comfort and example to the young among us, and may fate have given them nothing else but a sound mind. Of course, in order for the inconspicuous seed to grow into a mighty tree, in addition to its planter and his tireless care, it also needed sunshine, the right one. In ordinary life it is called the grace of God or just luck. But like many people, happiness comes once in a lifetime and instead of holding on to it, he lets it slip out of his hands again.

But we now close this work with the wish with which we began it:

Our factory, this mighty tree that has sprouted from the sands of the Mark, continues to prosper happily! And happy prosperity to everyone, even to the last and least, over whom he spreads his protective shadow.
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