125 years of industrial furnace construction

High quality engineering

From craftsmanship to industrial engineering

The revolution of engineering

1896 − in this year the Ruhstrat brothers, together with the later Nobel Prize winner in chemistry, Professor Walther Nernst, built the very first resistance-heated high-temperature furnace for melting metals. Just two years later, Ruhstrat received orders for the industrial production of high-temperature furnaces for temperatures up to 3,000 °C.

Since then, we have been developing and manufacturing customized high-temperature industrial furnaces, which are used for the heat treatment of a wide range of materials and are of interest to various industries.

Year after year, we have further developed and optimized our product and service portfolio as well as our process technology. In doing so, our employees and customers work hand in hand to jointly find an individualized solution approach for our customer's production process and thus build a long-term and trusting business relationship.

Come with us on a time travel through the development of our furnace technology...

1888–1899

1889

"Door Contact"

1894

Development of the adjustable sliding resistor together with Prof. Walther Nernst

1896

Construction of the first resistance-heated high-temperature furnace with Prof. Walther Nernst

Source: J. Schramm, IX. Metallographische Prüfung. Tammannscher Kohlerohr-Kurzschlußofen, in: E. Siebel (Hrsg.), Die Prüfung der metallischen Werkstoffe, Berlin: Springer 1939, S. 616-617

1898

Start of construction of high-temperature furnaces for industrial purposes as "Elektromechanische Werkstätten Gebr. Ruhstrat"

1900–1909

1903

Improvement of the electric melting furnace according to Prof. Nernst

1910–1919

1910-1914

War production in the city of Göttingen

The Ruhstrat company had made electrical engineering its domain; the manufacture of resistors was its main focus. Within a few years, a "university industry" developed that was soon able to market its products worldwide. During the First World War, these companies had supplied the army with their products; as a result, they had grown into industrial enterprises with several hundred employees.

Source: Göttingen I | Frank Baranowski (rabaranowski.de)

1920–1929

1927

Offer of electric annealing and hardening furnaces via the "Vereinigung Göttinger Werke"

1930–1939

1937

Pull-through furnaces for continuous hardening and tempering of razor blade strips

1938–1945

A sad chapter in the company's history

During the Second World War, Ruhstrat, which had been a Wehrmacht company since 1938, produced blackout devices, emergency lighting, dropping weapons, accessories for the Luftwaffe and, towards the end of the war, explosive mines at its main plant in Lange Geismarstraße. In the so-called L. plant, at Goethe Allee 8a, equipment for the aviation industry was produced.

More information in the Göttingen City Archive

1940–1949

1949

Production and distribution of coffee roasters

Curiosities from the Ruhstrat Museum

1950–1959

1956

Chamber oven type MDR 2 No. 44 998 – our "sausage oven"

Aged, but still in use. Whether as a test oven in our Test Center or for quickly heating sausages for various occasions - you can rely on it!

1960–1969

1969

RUGO-Waste incinerators

In the late 1960s, Ruhstrat also manufactured gas- or oil-fired incinerators under license from Joseph Goder, Incinerators, Chicago/USA.

1970-1979

1973

Utility model "viewing window for enclosed casings, boilers and enclosed spaces"

On January 11, 1973, the German Patent Office published utility model 6609977 for Gebr. Ruhstrat KG. This protected a viewing window which is self-cleaning by rotation for "the continuous measurement and control of high temperatures by radiation pyrometers on heat-emitting objects, such as incandescent bodies or electric arcs." [1] The invention was intended to prevent "... Gases, mists or vapors to precipitate condensates on the viewing window, which will deteriorate the viewing conditions [...], ..." [1]

Source: [1] German Patent Office, German Utility Model 6609977, Ref: Viewing windows for enclosed casings, boilers and enclosed spaces, Munich, Jan. 11, 1973. (File DE000006609977U_all_pages.pdf, filed)

1980-1989

1987

High-temperature push-through sintering plant for continuous sintering of ceramic tubes under inert gas atmosphere

The furnace plant essentially consists of the push-through station, the presintering furnace (up to 1,100 °C), the sintering furnace (up to 2,600 °C), the cooling zone and the peripherals (control cabinet, media station, transformers). Several of these plants are still in operation today.

1990–1999

1999

Rotary kiln with integrated screw conveyor

Innovative rotary kiln technologies already in the last millennium.

2000–2009

2002

Patented method and apparatus for cooling strips, in particular saw strips

Until the early 2000s, bimetallic saw bands were hardened and tempered in a discontinuous process.

Learn more

2010-2019

2017

Foundation of the Test Center

Close cooperation with our customers has always been important to us, especially in the development of furnace systems and processes. Whenever possible, we have sought solutions to our customers' challenges.