I suspect what the world has attributed for most of the 19/20/21st century as “German Engineering” to a result of the nation’s access to aluminum. That’s it. Thanks for coming to my TED Talk.
Joking aside, my theory is based on a pretty simple series of events. Germany may not have invented the substance “alum”…. but they did invent and have access to the refinement in mass market of the substance from the late 1700s going into the 1800s. Aluminum, as it’s known today, started it’s dominance in industry by British scientist David Humphrey in 1812. It’s discovery as a “mysterious new metal substance” dates back to the 1500s…. but it was in 1825, that Danish physicist – Hans Christian Orsted – created a reaction using anhydrous aluminum chloride with a potassium amalgrum – that resulted in the first stable version of the metal – tin – that we have today. His discovery, while revolutionary, sparked the Dutch and German political powers to fund the research of the metal very aggressively.
The fundamental strengths of aluminum are pretty simple – it’s “almost” as strong as steel… but at 1/3 the weight. (actually with precise formula it can surpass steel in strength… more on that in a bit).
Ok, great, Germans did for Aluminum what Apple did for the smart phones. why’s that make Germans smart cause of aluminum?
Sure, Germany funded education and vocational schools for their students from the 1700s. Earlier than most nations. Ok that makes them smart and handy… but other countries followed around the same time (Russia and even USA)… and they all smart too. Japan actually didn’t start educating their peasants until the 1900s… yet they caught up insanely fast to global dominance. so just being first to be smart wasn’t because of aluminum nor related to it.
What else was going on in the 1800s and 1900s? the industrial revolution had ended in the early 1800s… but the entry into the 21st century was by many accounts the age of “reform”. Think of the 1800s-2000 as more like the “industrial revolution perfected”.
Namely – the rush by nations to build guns, engines, cars, trains, planes….. things that go bang and move.
Germany as a geographic location doesn’t have many natural resources. but they DID have the resources to make aluminum. Brain power, energy demands (coal production … aluminum requires a LOT of electricity to refine), and political clout enough enough to master the supply lines. Since they got the patents and first to market, in a large race to find the next “steel”…. and they couldn’t get steel… well they made alluminum. a LOT of it. more than any other nation.
Ok, so they had 1 of the 2 main metals used in industry on lock down. why’s that make their engineering special? Russians had steel and they also were very well educated in mathematics and science… yet their engines are NOT known for precise mechanics. Even americans, with some of the brightest minds, and many natural resources at their disposal …. are not famous like the Germans for precise mechanics.
Take a look at 2 of the key machines that dominated the 1900 growth. Guns and engines (train / plane/ cars). Germans, due to their reliance on aluminum and the stranglehold they had on the industry of this precious metal – unlike every other nation – almost exclusively used aluminum in every device that makes loud bangs and massive amounts of energy.
While aluminum “can” be as strong as steel – to make it so – you have 2 fundamental options -both requiring VERY precise calculations and mechanics – as just making it thick and strong like steel, is not an option :
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you can use very precise angles and cuts on it’s thinner layers to hold it’s rigidity and withstand the pressures of repeated kinetic pressures.
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you can use a complex series of springs and gears to control and dampen the impacts of the kinetic pressures.
Russians had steel. they basically banged the shit out of giant molten steel to get it to do what you need. Steel engines and structures – due to it’s abundance – can do their thing without precision. you can get away with a system of steel doing it’s thing with loose tolerances.
not aluminum. you can’t have the loose tolerances. Aluminum is like Ikea furniture. it is strong – when precisely put together and utilized. the more precise, the more accurate you are – the better your engine will last. you can’t whack aluminum and bang it into place, or drop kick it into starting up.
Looking at firearms of World Wars 1 and 2.
WW1 – Germans had the Mauser C96 “Broomhandle”; which evolved into the Luger , and Americans had the 1911. both were effective in their own right. the big difference, was that the German machines were very complex on the inside due to it’s heavy use of aluminum internal parts – resulting in it being very difficult for an average soldier to take apart and work on. the intricate internals used a series of springs that required finely timed interaction beyond anything the 1911 had, nor needed. the 1911 by comparison, used a lot more steel and physics in it’s mechanics to function the locked breach action… the end result, while not a simple gun – did make the 1911 much easier to operate on.
during WW2 – Germans had the genius idea of using aluminum in their submachine gun. The STG44 was a marvelous feat of engineering, making it the first “handheld” assault weapon. namely, because it used almost all aluminum receiver and lower, thin aluminum even – coupled with a very simple steel barrel action. It functioned on precise spring movements and aluminum finely tuned angles and cuts to cycle rounds and withstand the explosions it needed. It decimated and commanded the warfront – with a few German stormtroopers being able to take on a battalion of enemy opponents.
When the Russians (Kalashnikov) tried to copy the design – they found their steel dominant experience, couldn’t really replicate the precise metal stamping that was done with aluminum. so, they switched up their designs to use what steel does best – looser tolerances, with bigger bangs. so the AK47 was born (after WW2 in 1947, but the design and build of it occured from 1943-1947) the bangs are much bigger, to cycle the system and utilizing much looser tolerances. (more bang with heavier steel means less dependency on precise springs doing their springy things).
This then played into every mechanical device going into the 20th century. Cars, trains, planes, even machinery equipment – whenever a need for a precise and tiny movement was required under great pressure… there was aluminum… and German Engineering.