Siemens & Halske Telegraph Construction Company
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| Industry | Electrical engineering |
|---|---|
| Fate | Merged with Siemens |
| Founded | 1847 |
| Founders |
Werner von Siemens Johann Georg Halske |
| Defunct | 1966 |
| Headquarters | Berlin, Germany |
Siemens & Halske AG (or Siemens-Halske) was a German electrical engineering company that later became part of Siemens.
It was founded on 12 October 1847 as Telegraphen-Bauanstalt von Siemens & Halske by Werner von Siemens and Johann Georg Halske. The company, located in Berlin-Kreuzberg, specialised in manufacturing electrical telegraphs according to Charles Wheatstone's patent of 1837. In 1848, the company constructed one of the first European telegraph lines from Berlin to Frankfurt am Main. Siemens & Halske quickly expanded with representatives in Great Britain (Carl Wilhelm Siemens) and Russia (Carl Heinrich von Siemens) as well as its own cable-manufacturing plants at Woolwich and Saint Petersburg. The company's rise was supported by Werner von Siemens' patent of the electrical generator (dynamo) in 1867.
In 1881, Siemens & Halske built the Gross-Lichterfelde Tramway, the world's first electric streetcar line, in the southwestern Lichterfelde suburb of Berlin, followed by the Mödling and Hinterbrühl Tram near Vienna, the first electrical interurban tram in Austria–Hungary. 1882 saw the opening of the experimental "Elektromote" track, an early trolleybus concept in the Berlin suburb of Halensee. The rising popularity of telegraphs and electrical tramways, as well as in generators and electric motors, ensured steady growth for Siemens & Halske.
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