Dyckerhoff, Alfred Rudolf Eugen

Engineer

Born: 08.02.1872 in Biebrich

died: 22.06.1965 Wiesbaden

Dyckerhoff began studying mechanical engineering in Strasbourg in 1892, which he later continued at the Technical University of Dresden, graduating in 1900. After graduating, he worked for two years as a plant engineer at the Donnersmarckhütte in Upper Silesia. After a two-year trip around the world on behalf of the Dyckerhoff family (customer contacts) through the USA and East Asia, he joined the Portland cement factory Dyckerhoff & Söhne in 1903.

As a mechanical engineer, Dyckerhoff and his brother August Gustav Dyckerhoff introduced a new production technology for cement manufacture by converting the ring kiln operation that had been practiced since the company was founded to modern rotary kilns. He also introduced electricity on a large scale at the Amöneburg plant, which had a power station (1909) with two turbines to generate its own electricity. During the same period, a cable car was built to deliver raw materials from the quarry to the plant. Dyckerhoff was mainly responsible for developing the Amöneburg plant into an advanced industrial facility.

During the First World War, Dyckerhoff maintained operations in Amoeneburg as it was unfit for war. He was in close contact with the Reichsstelle für Zement in Berlin, which handled all cement deliveries required by the military. Dyckerhoff was an honorary senator of the TH Dresden.