'Viele Wenige machen ein Viel' - Eine Kleingeschichte der Wasserkraft im 19. und 20. Jahrhundert

“少数人赚很多钱”——19 世纪和 20 世纪水力发电简史

• 批准号: 389626439
• 负责人: Dr. Christian Zumbrägel
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: Fachgebiet Technikgeschichte
• 依托单位国家: 德国
• 项目类别: Publication Grants
• 财政年份: 2017
• 资助国家: 德国
• 起止时间: 2016-12-31 至 2018-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gepris.dfg.de/gepris/projekt/389626439?language=en
• 关键词: Viele; Wenige; machen; ein; Viel

Utilizing the energy of flowing water for milling purposes shaped the character of our preindustrial cultural landscape for centuries. Although much has been written about the early applications of waterpower, we know comparatively little about the continued usage of smalscale plants in the 19th and 20th centuries. Historians of later times have, moreover, tended to focus their attention on the predominant fossil-based energy regime or the large-scale harnessing of flowing waters for the production of waste amounts of electricity—known as "white coal". Less impressive and perhaps backward, the long-proven energy production of "old Technologies", like small-scale grain and hammer mills driven by waterwheels has been widely neglected. My research aims at recovering the technological transformation of small hydraulic power engines during the time of turbinization and electrification by comparing different waterscapes on a local level. It seeks to determine, whether and to what extent, owners of existing small mechanical mills modified their own operations when faced with innovative opportunities in energy distribution. Historians discussing such modifications have mostly highlighted radical shifts, e.g. from old and inefficient wooden waterwheels to efficient coal-powered steam engines or rationally designed water turbines. This dissertation revises mainstream narratives of hydropower history by taking the appropriation of small-scale engines in their daily life as its point of departure. By contrast, I argue that "old Technologies" made a significant contribution to the energy supply until well into the 20th century by turning electricity generators as well as delivering direct mechanical power to their own operations, particularly in rural territories of the German "energy landscapes", which lacked accessibility to civilization and infrastructure. The shift from traditional hydraulic prime-movers to "modern" turbine-technology was not a clear-cut, linear transition but rather a gradual process with many by-paths and "reverse salients", generating a number of hybrids. Referring to a cultural history of technology I trace the persistence and widespread adoption of "old Technologies" in the age of scientific turbine-research and -innovations. This fusion of science, environmental and technological history introduces a more user-focused perspective inside technology studies and reveals how attention to users and the practical aspects of appropriating technolog can illuminate the history of hydropower in the 19th and 20th century.

几个世纪以来，利用流水的能量进行碾磨塑造了我们前工业化文化景观的特征。尽管关于水力发电的早期应用已经写了很多，但我们对19世纪和20世纪小型发电厂的持续使用知之甚少。此外，后来的历史学家倾向于把注意力集中在主要的化石能源制度或大规模利用流动的水来生产大量废弃的电力——被称为“白煤”。不那么令人印象深刻的，也许是落后的，长期被证明的“旧技术”的能源生产，如水车驱动的小型谷物和锤磨，被广泛忽视。我的研究旨在通过对当地不同水景的比较，还原小型液压动力发动机在涡轮化和电气化时期的技术改造。它旨在确定，当面临能源分配方面的创新机会时，现有小型机械厂的所有者是否以及在多大程度上修改了自己的操作。历史学家在讨论这类修改时，大多强调了根本性的转变，例如从旧的、低效的木制水车，到高效的煤动力蒸汽机或合理设计的水轮机。本文以小型发动机在日常生活中的使用为出发点，对水电历史的主流叙事进行了修正。相比之下，我认为，“旧技术”对能源供应做出了重大贡献，直到进入20世纪，它们通过改变发电机，并为自己的运行提供直接的机械动力，特别是在德国“能源景观”的农村地区，这些地区缺乏文明和基础设施。从传统的液压原动机到“现代”涡轮技术的转变并不是一个明确的线性过渡，而是一个渐进的过程，有许多岔路和“反向突出”，产生了许多混合动力。参考技术的文化史，我追溯了在科学涡轮机研究和创新时代对“旧技术”的坚持和广泛采用。这种科学、环境和技术史的融合，在技术研究中引入了一个更加以用户为中心的视角，并揭示了对用户的关注和利用技术的实际方面如何阐明19世纪和20世纪的水电历史。