The Gross Lichterfelde Tramway was the world's first commercially successful electric tram and first public electric tramway used for permanent service. It was built by the Siemens & Halske company in Lichterfelde , a suburb of Berlin , and went in service on 16 May 1881.
23-565: Werner von Siemens had presented the first electric passenger train at the Berlin industrial exhibition two years before. In order to develop the concept, he received the official approval to run an electric tramway line on already existing tracks, which had been used for building the Prussian military academy ( Hauptkadettenanstalt ) at Lichterfelde West . The 2.4-kilometre-long (1.5 mi) line started at Berlin-Lichterfelde Ost station on
46-552: A Danish blockade of Kiel during the First Schleswig War . Upon returning home from war, he chose to work on perfecting technologies that had already been established and eventually became known worldwide for his advances in various technologies. In 1843 he sold the rights to his first invention to Elkington of Birmingham . Siemens invented a telegraph that used a needle to point to the right letter, instead of using Morse code . Based on this invention, he founded
69-408: A thoroughly material direction, makes them proud of their knowledge and power, and alienates ideal endeavours. The deeper we penetrate into the harmonious action of natural forces regulated by eternal unalterable laws, and yet so thickly veiled from our complete comprehension, the more we feel on the contrary moved to humble modesty, the smaller appears to us the extent of our knowledge, the more active
92-463: Is our endeavour to draw more from the inexhaustible fountain of knowledge, and understanding, and the higher rises our admiration of the endless wisdom which ordains and penetrates the whole creation. Werner von Siemens' portrait appeared on the 20 ℛ︁ℳ︁ banknote issued by the Reichsbank from 1929 until 1939. Printing ceased in 1939 but the note remained in circulation until
115-502: The Anhalt Railway line. Each car was originally equipped with a 180-volt DC 4 kW (5.4 hp) traction motor , the current being supplied via the running rails, in a manner similar to that used by most present-day model railways . Therefore, the 1,000 mm ( 3 ft 3 + 3 ⁄ 8 in ) metre gauge tracks were generally separated from roads, and trespassing was prohibited. At level crossings ,
138-603: The Bauakademie Berlin. However, since his family was highly indebted and thus could not afford to pay the tuition fees, he chose to join the Prussian Military Academy 's School of Artillery and Engineering, between the years 1835–1838, instead, where he received his officers training. Siemens was thought of as a good soldier, receiving various medals , and contributing to the invention of electrically-charged sea mines , which were used to combat
161-616: The Kingdom of Hanover in the German Confederation , the fourth child (of fourteen) of Christian Ferdinand Siemens (31 July 1787 – 16 January 1840) and wife Eleonore Deichmann (1792 – 8 July 1839). His father was a tenant farmer of the Siemens family , an old family of Goslar , documented since 1384. Carl Heinrich von Siemens and Carl Wilhelm Siemens were his brothers. After finishing school, Siemens intended to study at
184-459: The dynamo although others invented it earlier. On 14 December 1877 he received German patent No. 2355 for an electromechanical "dynamic" or moving-coil transducer, which was adapted by A. L. Thuras and E. C. Wente for the Bell System in the late 1920s for use as a loudspeaker . Wente's adaptation was issued U.S. patent 1,707,545 in 1929. In May 1881, Siemens & Halske inaugurated
207-571: The application of electricity to metals when, in 1840, John Wright , a Birmingham surgeon , discovered the valuable properties of a solution of cyanide of silver in potassium cyanide for electroplating purposes. The Elkingtons purchased and patented Wright's process (British Patent 8447 : Improvements in Coating, Covering, or Plating certain Metals), subsequently acquiring the rights of other processes and improvements. In 1843 Elkingtons acquired
230-429: The carrying on of common workshops by unions of workmen, who will receive a sound basis only through the general extension of knowledge and civilization, and through the possibility of obtaining cheaper capital. He also rejected the claim that science leads to materialism , stating instead: Equally unfounded is the complaint that the study of science and the technical application of the forces of nature gives to mankind
253-726: The company Telegraphen-Bauanstalt von Siemens & Halske on 1 October 1847, with the company opening a workshop on 12 October. The company was internationalised soon after its founding. One brother of Werner represented him in England ( Sir William Siemens ) and another in St. Petersburg , Russia ( Carl von Siemens ), each earning recognition. Following his industrial career, he was ennobled in 1888, becoming Werner von Siemens. He retired from his company in 1890 and died in 1892 in Berlin. The company, reorganized as Siemens & Halske AG , Siemens-Schuckertwerke and – since 1966 – Siemens AG
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#1732765092532276-598: The first commercial electroplating process. Elkington was born in Birmingham , the son of a spectacle manufacturer. Apprenticed to his uncles' silver plating business in 1815, he became, on their death, sole proprietor of the business, but subsequently took his cousin, Henry Elkington, into partnership. The science of electrometallurgy was then in its infancy, but the Elkingtons were quick to recognize its possibilities. They had already taken out certain patents for
299-489: The issue of the Deutsche Mark on 21 June 1948. In 1923, German botanist Ignatz Urban published Siemensia , which is a monotypic genus of flowering plant from Cuba belonging to the family Rubiaceae and was named in honor of Werner von Siemens. Elkington of Birmingham George Richards Elkington (17 October 1801 – 22 September 1865) was a manufacturer from Birmingham , England. He patented
322-520: The large pieces the company had been producing. Electroplated wares became very successful in the Victorian market and by 1880 the company employed 1,000 people at the Newhall Street site and had a further six factories. The agreement between Elkington and Mason was dissolved on 31 December 1861, after which the company traded as Elkington and Co. There is a Blue Plaque commemorating him on
345-664: The old Elkington Silver Electroplating Works , Newhall Street, Birmingham. He married Mary Auster Balleney in 1825 and had seven surviving children, Frederick, George, James, Alfred, Howard, Hyla and one girl, Emma. Mary Auster died in 1858 and was buried in St. Mary's churchyard, Selly Oak, Birmingham and in 1860 he married secondly Margaret Morgan Jones. On his death in 1865 he left £350,000 and his business to be continued by four of his sons, Frederick, James, Alfred and Howard. Stained-glass windows were erected in St. Mary's Church, Selly Oak in memory of both wives and of him. George had made
368-456: The pointer telegraph, Siemens made sufficient contributions to the development of electrical engineering that he became known as the founding father of the discipline in Germany. He built the world's first electric passenger train in 1879, and the first electric elevator in 1880. His company produced the tubes with which Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen investigated x-rays. He claimed invention of
391-403: The rails were dead or switched on only briefly before the approach of the tramcar. Nevertheless, people and horses frequently received electric shocks. It is also believed that, in order to enjoy the sight of glowing metal, young people caused short circuits by putting wire mesh on the tracks, which shut down the operation. In 1891, the tramway was equipped with an overhead wire , and the line
414-562: The rights to Werner von Siemens 's first invention, an improvement to the gold and silver plating process. The Elkingtons opened a new electroplating works in Newhall Street , in the Jewellery Quarter , Birmingham in 1841, and the following year Josiah Mason , a pen manufacturer, joined the firm and encouraged the Elkingtons to diversify their output, adding more affordable electroplated jewellery and cutlery to
437-723: The world's first electric tram service, in the Berlin suburb of Groß-Lichterfelde . Siemens is also the father of the trolleybus , which he initially tried and tested on 29 April 1882, using his " Elektromote ". He was married twice: first in 1852 to Mathilde Drumann (died 1 July 1867), the daughter of the historian Wilhelm Drumann ; second in 1869 to his relative Antonie Siemens (1840–1900). His children from first marriage were Arnold von Siemens and Georg Wilhelm von Siemens , and his children from second marriage were Hertha von Siemens (1870 – 5 January 1939), married in 1899 to Carl Dietrich Harries , and Carl Friedrich von Siemens . Siemens
460-513: Was a German electrical engineer, inventor and industrialist . Siemens's name has been adopted as the SI unit of electrical conductance, the siemens . He founded the electrical and telecommunications conglomerate Siemens and invented the electric tram , trolley bus , electric locomotive and electric elevator . Ernst Werner Siemens was born in Lenthe, today part of Gehrden , near Hannover , in
483-417: Was an advocate of social democracy , and he hoped that industrial development would not be used in favour of capitalism , stating: A number of great factories in the hands of rich capitalists, in which "slaves of work" drag out their miserable existence, is not, therefore, the goal of the development of the age of natural science, but a return to individual labour, or where the nature of things demands it,
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#1732765092532506-469: Was extended to Berlin-Lichterfelde West station . There were several further extensions, but operation was discontinued in 1931. 52°25′40″N 13°19′32″E / 52.42778°N 13.32556°E / 52.42778; 13.32556 Werner von Siemens Ernst Werner Siemens ( von Siemens from 1888; English: / ˈ s iː m . ən z / SEEM -ənz ; German: [ˈziːməns, -mɛns] ; 13 December 1816 – 6 December 1892)
529-400: Was later led by his brother Carl, his sons Arnold , Wilhelm , and Carl Friedrich , his grandsons Hermann and Ernst and his great-grandson Peter von Siemens . Siemens AG is one of the largest electrotechnological firms in the world. The von Siemens family still owns 6% of the company shares (as of 2013) and holds a seat on the supervisory board, being the largest shareholder. Apart from
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