86 - Jean-Tobie ROMMINGER
In 1865 Peter CORF(R)ITZ MÖLLER [1], a citizen of Leipzig, designed a steam engine and assigned his patent rights to Johann Tobias ROMMINGER of Dresden. The latter filed patent applications for the invention in Germany, Belgium, France, United Kingdom, USA [2] … and Luxembourg.
The anglo-saxon legislations being strict on the requirement of naming the inventor in a patent application, the British patent and the US patent reveal the name of the true inventor, Peter CORF(R)ITZ MÖLLER. [3]
ROMMINGER was an industrialist in Dresden and was represented in Luxembourg by Charles MUNCHEN, avocat-avoué. The Luxembourg application for a brevet d’importation of 5 years was based on ROMMINGER’s Belgian patent, drafted in French.
The title given to the invention in Luxembourg was:
Générateur à vapeur à haute pression
The corresponding US patent explains:
This invention relates to a steam-generator composed of a series of cross-shaped blocks, of cast-iron or any other suitable material, which when fitted together form fire-flues, and which are perforated in a longitudinal direction, and alternately open at opposite ends in such a manner that while the heated gases and products of combustion pass through the fire-flues in one direction the water is forced through the holes or pipes in the blocks in the opposite direction, and by the time said water reaches the last pipe it has formed into steam, which can be used immediately as it issues from said pipe for the purpose of giving motion to a steam-piston, or for any other purpose for which steam may be employed.
P. L. KUBORN, employé de la société des chemins de fer Guillaume, and O. BELANGER, ingénieur civil, were given the task of assessing the merits of the invention.
In their report to the Chambre de commerce, dated 25 November 1865, they wrote:
Considérant que le système présenté par le sieur Romminger ne consiste pas dans le principe déjà connu, et souvent appliqué, de la vapeur surchauffée, mais bien dans la disposition spéciale d'un appareil destiné à produire cette vapeur,
considérant qu'une semblable disposition d’appareil, qui du reste leur semble devoir recevoir une application assez restreinte dans l'industrie, n'a jamais été appliquée dans le Grand-Duché,
considérant que, bien que l'appareil de M. Romminger ne paraisse pas réaliser une grande amélioration au pont point de vue de la production économique de la vapeur et de la consommation du combustible, puisque l'effet utile dépend uniquement de la température à laquelle l'air brûlé est abandonné, il aurait cependant l'avantage de prévenir les explosions qui résultent de l'altération des chaudières par l'action directe du feu, la rupture d'un ou plusieurs tubes ne pouvant pas produire de graves accidents à cause de la faible quantité d'eau qu'ils renferment,
concluent à ce qu'il soit fait droit à la demande du sieur Romminger.
The patent was granted on 5 January 1866.
The steam generator of the invention became known as the « Romminger’sche Kessel » and appears to have been widely used at the time.
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[1] see also No 102
[2] FR patent No 66,818; GB patent No 771/1865; US patent No 53,761
[3] Failing to name the true inventor could result in the patent being invalidated.
(20/02/2021)
