The New Student's Reference Work/Krupp, Alfred

Krupp (krŏŏp), Alfred, the head of the large iron and steel works at Essen, Prussia, was born at that place in 1812. His father had founded a small forge there in 1810, and at his death in 1848 Alfred took control, finding “more debts than fortune.” Krupp established the first Bessemer steelworks in Germany and the first forging hammer. The first steel gun manufactured at Essen was a three-pounder muzzleloader. To Krupp belongs the credit of introducing steel as a material in the construction of guns. In 1862 he exhibited a cast-steel block weighing 20 tons, which showed what the Essen works were capable of doing in the manufacture of heavy ordnance. He showed a similar block of 50 tons at Paris in 1867 and one of 52 tons at Vienna in 1873. At the Düsseldorf exhibition of 1880 he exhibited a steel gun of 100 tons. Krupp also acquired large mines and collieries, and his works have continued to increase in extent until they cover over 1,000 acres. The total number of men employed at the works and in the mines is about 20,000. Krupp died on July 14, 1887, and his funeral was attended by 60,000 people. His son Alfred succeeded him, and under him was manufactured, in 1888-90, the 135-ton gun for the fortifications at Cronstadt. He died on Nov. 22, 1902. See Alfred Krupp by Bädeker.