Ebener, Erasmus

SUBJECT AREA: Metallurgy

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b. 21 December 1511 Nuremberg, Germany

d. 24 November 1577 Helmstedt, Germany

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German mining entrepreneur who introduced a new method ofbrassmaking.

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A descendant of Nuremberg nobility, Ebener became recognized as a statesman in his native city and was employed also by foreign dignitaries. His appointment as Privy Councillor to the Dukes of Brunswick involved him in mining and metallurgical affairs at the great Rammelsberg mixed-ore mine at Goslar in the Harz mountains. About 1550, at Rammelsberg, Ebener is believed to have made brass by incorporating accretions of zinc formed in crevices of local lead-smelting furnaces. This small-scale production of impure zinc, formerly discarded as waste, could be used to replace calamine, the carbonate ore of zinc, which by tradition had been combined with copper in European brassmaking. Ercker, writing in 1574, mentions the accretions at Goslar obtained by removing furnace sections to make this material available for brass. The true nature of the zinc ore, calamine, and zinc metal compared with these accretions was determined only much later, but variation in quality with respect to impurities made the material most suitable for cast brassware rather than beaten goods. As quantities were small and much valued, distribution from Goslar was limited, not normally reaching Britain, where production of brasses continued to rely on calamine or expensive zinc imports from the East. Rammelsberg profited from the waste material accumulating over the years and its use at Bundheim brassworks east of Goslar. Ebener partnered Duke Henry the Younger of Brunswick in financing a new drainage adit at Rammelsberg, and was later granted several iron mines and smelting works. From 1556 he was granted rights to market calamine from the Lower Harz and copper sulphate from Rammelsberg. Ebener later had an important role at the court of Duke Julius, son of Henry, advising him on the founding of Helmstedt University.

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Bibliography

1572, "Sundry expositions on mines, metals and other useful things found in the Harz and especially at the Rammelsberg", reproduced and annotated by F.J.F.Meyer and J.F.L.Hausmann, 1805 Hercynian Archive.

Further Reading

Beckmann, 1846, History of Inventions, Vol. II, trans. William Johnston, London (the most concise account).

W.Bornhardt, 1989, "The History of Rammelsberg Mine", trans. T.A.Morrison, The Mining Journal (has additional brief references to Ebener in the context of Rammelsberg).

JD