Schmidt began his professional career as a machine fitter. He studied at the technical high school in
Dresden under
Gustav Zeuner.
Superheated steam In 1883 he took a post as a
civil engineer in
Kassel, where he developed superheated steam technology to the point where it could be practically used. In 1908 he transferred his home and the base of his firm to
Benneckenstein in the
Harz. He was not the first person to work with superheated steam, but his predecessors had only used steam temperatures up to ; Schmidt was the first to risk increasing this to .
Schmidt Superheated Steam Company For further trials with superheated steam on the
Ilsenburg –
Wernigerode railway, there was a trials organisation near Wernigerode station. It was here that Schmidt founded the Schmidt Superheated Steam Company (
Schmidtsche Heissdampfgesellschaft). By using superheated
steam the
thermal efficiency of a steam engine could be raised by as much as 50%. This technology had a substantial influence on the development of the
steam locomotive and
steamship, as well as all other applications where steam engines were used. Schmidt also invented other items, such as the
superheater (around 1890) and the
piston valve, which he developed together with
Robert Garbe of the
Prussian state railways.
ALSTOM Power Energy Recovery Even today, his successor company - ''Schmidt'schen Heissdampf GmbH'', survives under the name of ALSTOM Power Energy Recovery GmbH, in Kassel-Bettenhausen. It develops and builds apparatus for the processes involving the transfer of heat in the
petrochemical,
chemical and
metallurgical industries, e.g.
cracked gas coolers for the manufacture of
ethylene, gas coolers for the manufacture of
methanol,
ammonia and
hydrogen and a multitude of equipment for special purposes. The company continues to be highly innovative and a market leader in its field. ==Religious views==