Hermann Paus , born in 1932, will be inducted into the International Mining Technology Hall of Fame in the Underground Production category at the gala awards dinner in Denver on February 20th, during SME Conference week. He actually studied agriculture engineering and founded the company Hermann Paus Maschinenfabrik in 1968. Since 1974, the company has been designing and producing machines for mining. The first products have acquired an excellent reputation, especially in the former Soviet Union. This was particularly the case for the transport vehicles Berga-Tank, Alltrans and especially for MinCa 26 of which some hundred units were delivered.
After these initial successes, new technologies for underground mining were developed in collaboration with German mines from the end of the 1970s. The backfilling technique with slinger belt was one of these new technologies allowing for the first time mechanised backfilling of mined out areas.
In the 1980s, Hermann Paus made a name for himself with the introduction of trackless transport techniques in German hard coal mining.
For the first time in Germany, flame-proofed vehicles equipped with rubber tyres were used for the transportation of roof supports. On the basis of this development, roof supports up to 50 t are still transported today.
Further developments were personnel transporters and graders for road maintenance.
The most important development was a dry exhaust gas cooling system for flame-proofed diesel engines which makes an almost maintenance free operation possible.
Right from the start, Paus used the relatively new technology of hydrostatic drive, avoiding the overheating of the mechanical brakes by using the internal force. Due to this effect it was possible to use rubber-tyred vehicles in flame-proofed areas.
In 1984, Paus developed the first electro-hydraulic 25 t dump truck which was operated by a 1,000 V pantograph.
During his active working life, Hermann Paus has made his name not only by the developments described here but above all by constantly designing new individual solutions for underground mining transportation tasks – a competence which still characterizes his company today.
Between 1996 and 2002, Hermann Paus was a board member of the German mining machinery association. In 2001, he was honoured with the order “Bergmansehre II Stufe” of the Mining Ministry of the Russian Federation due to his contributions to the Russian mining industry.
In honour of his 70th birthday in 2002, he became an honorary faculty member in the Belarus Mining Academy in Minsk.
Also in 2002, he handed over the reins to his two sons, Wolfgang and Franz-Josef, and since then, the business of Hermann Paus GmbH has been successfully continued by his two sons.
Today, Hermann Paus is over 80 years old.
