Glenck, Karl Christian Friedrich

SUBJECT AREA: Mining and extraction technology

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b. 13 April 1779 Schwäbisch Hall, Germany

d. 21 November 1845 Gotha, Germany

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German salt-mining expert who introduced large-scale salt explorations.

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Having studied law at the University of Erlangen, he became Confidential Secretary to the Prince of Hohenlohe-Ingelfingen, in whose territory his father had been in charge of a saltworks. When this small country fell to Württemberg in 1806, Glenck continued his mineralogical and geological studies in order to develop methods of finding deposits of salt. He was the first to carry out systematic large-scale salt explorations in Germany, mostly in southern and central parts, and achieved remarkable results that far exceeded former non-systematic findings. He worked either on behalf of governments or companies or at his own risk, and in the early 1820s he settled in Gotha to live in the centre of the regions of greatest interest to him.

His career began in 1819 with the discovery of the deposits of Ludwigshall near Wimpfen, Neckar, and prospecting salt near Basel in 1836 was his greatest success: Schweizerhall, opened one year later, made Switzerland self-sufficient in salt production. For fifteen years he had invested large sums into this project, which became the fifth salt-works to come into existence due to his drilling. Glenck worked with stir rods and he developed several new technical devices, such as casing the bore holes with iron pipes instead of wood (1830), and using wooden instead of iron rods to reduce the weight (1834). A flexible connection between rod and drill was to be introduced later by Karl von Oeynhausen. One of Glenck's most important followers in the field of deep-drilling was K.G. Kind.

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Further Reading

W.Carlé, 1969, "Die Salinistenfamilie Glenck", Lebensbilder aus Schwaben und Franken 11: 118–49 (with substantial biographical information).

D.Hoffmann, 1959, 150 Jahre Tiefbobrungen in Deutschland, Vienna and Hamburg, (provides an evaluation of his technological developments).

WK