Soemtron visit Sömmerda, September 2009

September 2009
We drove out to Germany to pay a visit to the Historisch–technische Museum in Sömmerda - website.  Frau Speiser (museum curator) kindly gave us a guided tour of the museum, and also the non–public archive building a short distance away.  Mainly covering local history and peoples (especially Nicolaus von Dreyse) as you might expect, this excellent museum also has a fledgling technical section with exhibits from more recent times when the various Soemtron brands and the V.E.B. Büromaschinenwerk Sömmerda cooperative were in full production.  Supported by the local community and government this museum is well worth a visit, cannot be praised highly enough, and deserves all the support they can get.

We met with a group of past employees from the Soemtron factory (photos below) to discussed the Soemtron range of machines and told them how we became involved, showing them this website.  A short while later during a private tour of the archive (its not open every day), and quite out of the blue, we received an offer of a Soemtron ETR224!.  Having thought that with the very small production run of ETR224's (<526), the museum's machine was the only one left, how wrong we were! there were two more in a private collection!

The unexpected and gracious offer of this ETR224 completes our collection of Soemtron machines – ETR220 – 222 – 224, and as far as we know is the only complete collection[1] outside that of the museum in Sömmerda.  Many, many thanks must go to the gentleman who offered us the ETR224 from his own collection, and to the many interested people at the Museum.  This just confirms our thoughts on the visit of the friendly, eager, courteous and helpful reception we received from the people of Sömmerda.

Soemtron 434
Soemtron 434
Soemtron 434
Soemtron 434
Museum group, click for names
Museum group
Museum building
Museum building
Museum building
Museum building
Industrial area model
Industrial area model
Industrial area model
Industrial area model
Industrial area model
Industrial area model
Industrial area model
Industrial area model
Industrial area model
Industrial area model
Soemtron ETR224
Soemtron ETR224
Soemtron ETR224
Soemtron ETR224
Soemtron ETR224
Soemtron ETR224
Soemtron ETR224
Soemtron ETR224
Soemtron ETR224
Soemtron ETR224
Soemtron ETR224
Soemtron ETR224
Soemtron ETR224
Soemtron ETR224
224 printer
224 printer
224 printer
224 printer
224 printer
224 printer
224 printer
224 printer
224 printer
224 printer
224 printer
224 printer
Soemtron ETR224 rear
224 rear
Soemtron ETR224 rear
224 rear
224 printer mechanism
224 printer
Reassembly of ETR224
224 reassembly
Reassembly of ETR224
224 reassembly
Reassembly of ETR224
224 reassembly
Reassembly of ETR224
224 reassembly

These thirty one images © 2009 www.soemtron.org
Click any photo for a larger image

Museum group, click for names
Museum group
Museum group, click for names
Museum group
Bernard Green
Bernard Green
Bernard Green

These four images © 2009 Historisch–technische Museum, Sömmerda
Click any photo for a larger image

Bernard's photos of our visit Bernard's photos of our visit Bernard's photos of our visit Bernard's photos of our visit
Museum group, click for names Bernard's photos of our visit Bernard's photos of our visit Bernard's photos of our visit
Bernard's photos of our visit Bernard's photos of our visit Bernard's photos of our visit Bernard's photos of our visit
Bernard's photos of our visit Bernard's photos of our visit Bernard's photos of our visit Bernard's photos of our visit
Bernard's photos of our visit Bernard's photos of our visit Bernard's photos of our visit Bernard's photos of our visit
Bernard's photos of our visit
These twenty one images © 2009 Bernard Green
Click any photo for a larger image

  1. Possibly not a complete collection, as it now seems there was a fourth machine, a Soemtron ETR221.  This would appear to be a very rare printing version of the ETR220, housed in two units with a desktop keyboard and printer connected through an umbilical cable to the main electronics unit.  As a possible precursor to the ETR224 this unit is thought to have suffered from propagation delay and timing problems caused by the umbilical cable between the printer and the electronics unit and so never made it into production.  Apparently only ten prototypes were made.[back] [top]

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