AdolfBleichert & Co, Wire Ropeways

Advert from Page's Magazine Nov 1904.

In 1872, Adolf Bleichert designed his first aerial wire ropeway for a paraffin manufacturer in Saxony. The innovative system differed from standard systems of the day by incorporating a separate hauling rope. This hauling rope was lighter than the carrying rope and attached to individual cargo carriers. This allowed the carrying rope to be fixed and established the Bleichert system: the bi-cable wire ropeways we know today. By 1874, Bleichert's first wire ropeway - at 2,242ft long - was hauling 13t per hour.

Eduard Brandt, a friend and owner of the Bitterfield brickworks, allowed Adolf Bleichert to build a facility to test a new aerial wire ropeway design that encompassed lessons learned from the earlier paraffin conveyance system. This new "Teutschenthaler aerial wire ropeway" was built and tested in May 1874. With help from fellow engineer, Theodor Otto, Bleichert tuned the system until having "disputes" with the foundry. Leaving the facility, Bleichert collaborated with Otto to create a separate “concern for the construction of aerial ropeways."

On July 1 1874 in Schkeuditz, the firm, Bleichert & Otto Civil Engineers, was founded. Engineering and practical expertise was billed as the firm's initial strength with sub-components bought from other manufacturers. During the summer of 1876 Bleichert parted ways with Otto. However, he continued on his own to pursue ideas for innovations and inventions and established the new firm, Adolf Bleichert & Co. In 1877, Bleichert rented a small factory in Leipzig-Neuschönfeld, gathering 20 workers for the shop and another six for the technical office. Here he began the design, manufacture and sale of wire ropeway system components.

With new facilities and advanced manufacturing equipment, the company had registered over 50 domestic and foreign patents by the end of the 19th century. At the beginning of the twentieth century, Adolf Bleichert & Co. was world-renowned and held all the world wire ropeway records: highest and longest in Argentina (20.6 miles to the altitude of 13,940ft), longest-over-water in New Caledonia (0.6 miles), highest capacity in France (500t per hour), steepest in Tanzania (86% grade), most northern in Norway (79 degrees latitude), and most southern in Chile (41 degrees latitude).

Adolf Bleichert died from tuberculosis at the age of 56 on July 29 1901. His will provided for the continuation of the company as an open partnership and family enterprise. The Commercial Registry of October 12 1901 officially listed the widow Victoria Emilie Bleichert and all six children as, “co-owners of a factory of wire ropeways.”

Through its offices in Brussels, Leipzig, London, and Paris, Adolf Bleichert & Co. provided an extensive catalogue of conveyance and hoisting systems that saw wide-spread use in a spectrum of industries.

Founded in 1876, Adolf Bleichert & Co. succumbed to the Great Depression, filing for bankruptcy one year after the 1931 collapse of the German banking system. Though family control was lost, the company and its core competencies continued on, surviving the Second World War and then Soviet control in a variety of forms.

Today, several modern companies carry the Bleichert name: Pohlig Heckel Bleichert (PHB) builds wire ropeways, while another, Bleichert Förderanlangen GmbH, manufactures conveyor systems, overhead gantry transfer units and inverted electrified monorail systems.