Abstract

German professors at Polytechnic Institutes (Technische Hochschulen) were successfully consulting refrigeration industry after 1870. Besides of the tremendous output of graduates and of the results of scientific research itself, the expertise was a third important function of Polytechnic Institutes for the industrial development in Germany. The article analyzes the functions of consulting for industry by presenting five types of expertise: Expertise in behalf of the government, expertise for patent‐cases, expertise as machine‐description and test, expertise for the acceptance of machines, and expertise for investment‐credits. Carl von Linde, Moritz Schröter, Hans Lorenz Theodor Ganzenmüller and Rudolf Plank are examined as case studies. The article argues that German Professors could fulfill this highly demanded function because they were accepted both as competent and neutral.