History

In 1897, the iron works „Aßlarer Hütte“ was bought to manufacture there iron and steel wires. In 1908, a wire drawing die factory was established in Herborn. The drawing plate had been superseded. Drawing dies were manufactured from the hardest material in the world, the diamonds. A new industry sector came to our region from which developed various branches. In 1909, the oil light went out and was replaced by electric light. The power source „mill wheel“ was still operating until 1910. Then, a pond was built and a water turbine installed which produced electric current to operate the machine by electric motors.

Fine wires from Merkenbach were appreciated not only in Germany and Europe but also in America, Japan, India and Africa. To meet the great need for metal wires for the paper industry and to have more influence on quality, the company, together with two companies from Southern Germany, set up their own metal factory in a former brickworks in Kinzenbach in the year 1920. Here, the various copper alloys were molten, cast, rolled, cut and processed into rods and subsequently drawn to very fine diameters in the fine wire facilities in Merkenbach. In 1923, the mechanical workshop became the „Maschinenfabrik Herborn“ (machine factory Herborn) where a wide range of machines for the entire wire industry was produced. In the same year, the company was converted into a corporation. In parallel with the foundation of the machine factory in Herborn, a metal foundry was set up on the Herborn brickworks site which delivered the machine frames for the machine factory. Berkenhoff & Drebes AG was a dynamic enterprise that brought worldwide technical progress to the development of wire manufacture and the resulting inventions were protected by numerous patents. While the workforce numbered three in the founding year, this figure, including all subsidiaries and sister companies, rose to 1350 by 1939, the year of the company’s 50th anniversary. Inflation and war set back the development of the Merkenbach factory, but there were always capable and courageous men who, through ingenuity, resourcefulness and hard work, helped to overcome the period of decline. The late 1940s saw an enormous expansion of the company. From 1952, modern manufacturing plants were built in several construction phases in Merkenbach. The great era of specialization began, both in the fine wire sector and in the products manufactured by the sister companies. The 1960s were the heyday of Berkenhoff & Drebes. From machine casting and metal melt, via the production of wire drawing dies and wire drawing machines through to the manufacture of fine wires, ropes and cables, virtually everything came from a single source. The aim of being independent of suppliers and gaining influence on quality was achieved. In 1964, the last director, Eduard Berkenhoff, from the 3rd generation of the Berkenhoff dynasty, died at the age of 69. By 1969, the era of the founding family came to an end. The family-owned company sold all their factories to the then Westfälische Union in Hamm and hence to the Thyssen Group.