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[Up] [Dromo's Den] Ernst Siemens Biography SIEMENS, Ernst Werner, Baron, physicist and inventor, born in Lenthe, near Hanover, Germany, Dec. 13, 1816; died in Berlin, Dec. 6, 1892, He studied at the Lübeck Gymnasium. Subsequently he took a course in the School of Artillery and studied engineering at Berlin, and in 1837 attained to the rank of lieutenant in the army. Though actively engaged for some time in military duties, he devoted himself with much zeal to the study of practical chemistry and physical sciences, and soon invented a process of electro-plating, the electric automatic recording telegraph, and the differential governor. In 1847 he discovered the use of gutta-percha in insulating subterranean conductors of marine cables, and adapted its use to submarine mines for the protection of the harbor at Kiel. In 1848 he supervised the construction of the first telegraph line in Germany, between Berlin and Frankfort-on-the-Main, and soon after laid a subterranean line between Cologne and Berlin. He left the government service in 1850 to devote himself entirely to scientific studies, and soon after established manufacturing houses for electrical apparatus in Berlin, with branch offices in St. Petersburg, Vienna, London, Tiflis, and Chicago. The central establishment at Berlin is noted as the most famous in the world for the application of electricity to industrial art. In 1879 he built and successfully operated an electric street railway in Berlin, which was the first line constructed in the world. Among his many inventions not named above are the dynamo-electric machine, the process of polarizing relays, the electric railway, the Siemens alcohol-meter, the pneumatic dispatch-tube system, the methods for testing underground and submarine cables, the Siemens armature, and numerous others. The honors bestowed upon him include the patent of nobility by Frederick III. of Germany, and degrees by several universities, among them the University of Heidelberg. He contributed to many scientific magazines, among them the "Polytechnic Journal" and "Annals of Physics and Chemistry." His writings have been published under the title of "Siemens' Collected Writings and Lectures." SIEMENS, Karl William, eminent inventor and philosopher, brother of Ernst W. Siemens, born in Lenthe, Germany, April 4, 1823; died in London, England. 1 Nov. 19, 1883. He studied at the Lübeck Gymnasium, and in Magdeburg and Göttingen. Subsequently he took a course in engineering and electricity in the workshops of Count Stolberg. After becoming interested in various inventions with his brother, he went to England in 1843 to introduce numerous electrical appliances to public use and manage the branch establishment in London. In 1859 he became a British subject, and made England his permanent home. His labors were mostly in two distinct fields, the application of electricity and the application of heat. He designed the steamship Faraday [used] for cable-laying, built electric railroads, and made numerous useful inventions. Among his most noted inventions are the regenerative furnace, the bathometer for measuring ocean depths, the hydraulic brake for preventing the recoil of artillery on warships, and various others for the more successful use of the electric light. The Royal Albert medal was conferred upon him in 1874, the Bessemer medal in 1875, and he was knighted in 1883. He published "The Conversion of Heat into Mechanical Effects;" "Increase of Electrical Resistance in Conductors with the Rise of Temperature," and "Regenerative Steam Engine." The Teachers' and Pupils' Cyclopædia, Vol. IV (Kansas City: Bufton Book Co., 1909) 1750-1751. |