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October 12, 1847 – Founding of the “Siemens & Halske Telegraph Construction Company,” which later became Siemens AG
Letterhead of the Siemens & Halske Telegraph Construction Company, about 1853
In December 1846, Werner von Siemens wrote to his brother, William: “I have […] now practically decided to make a career of telegraphy”. The cornerstone of this career was the idea of building a pointer telegraph out of cigar boxes, tin plate, pieces of iron and a bit of insulated copper wire. The device was far superior to the apparatus in common use until then, because it no longer worked like a clock mechanism. Instead it automatically controlled synchronization between the transmitter and the receiver – an entirely new solution in electric communications. The thirty-year-old inventor entrusted the construction of the telegraph to a mechanic named Johann Georg Halske, whom he knew from the “Physics Society”, an association of ambitious young researchers. Halske produced experimental equipment for many well-known scientists of the day, as well as prototypes for inventions in the fields of precision mechanics, physics, optics and chemistry.
Werner von Siemens was able to convince the initially skeptical Halske of the potential of his engineering projects. Careful calculations of the anticipated order volume made Halske so enthusiastic about the young officer’s visionary ideas that he gave up his existing business in the fall of 1847 and accepted the risk of jointly launching a new company. Since the individual telegraphs were hand-crafted, there was no need to purchase large machinery – which meant that the amount of capital needed by the founders (neither of whom had much money) was equally small. Instead, Halske offered his practical experience in managing craftsmen and organizing a workshop, while Siemens contributed his patents. The startup capital of 6,842 talers – just over 20,000 marks – was provided by Werner’s cousin, Johann Georg Siemens, a magistrate and the father of the later cofounder of Deutsche Bank.
Werner von Siemens, Johann Georg Halske and Johann Georg Siemens signed a partnership agreement on October 1, 1847, the official founding date. Less than two weeks after the contract was signed, the “Siemens & Halske Telegraph Construction Company” began doing business in a building behind a courtyard in Berlin on October 12, 1847. This day has been celebrated as Founding Day since 1872. According to one story, the birth of Werner’s third and youngest son, Carl Friedrich von Siemens, is said to have left the child’s mother in such a weak condition that she felt too unwell to participate in the festivities on the company’s 25th anniversary. In consideration of her state of health, the festivities were postponed without further ado. Since that time, the company’s founding has been traditionally commemorated on October 12 instead of October 1.
In just a few years, the ten-man operation grew into an internationally operating electrical engineering firm. According to Werner von Siemens’ vision of an “enterprise of world standing comparable to that of the Fuggers,“ Siemens & Halske maintained an increasing number of branch offices in other European countries. The telegraph construction company earned international recognition by successfully carrying out large-scale projects that were technically complex and involved an enormous amount of business risk, such as the construction of the Indo-European telegraph line and the laying of the first direct transatlantic telegraph cable. At the time of Werner von Siemens’ death in 1892, his company was generating nearly 20 million marks in sales; Siemens employed 6,500 people worldwide, 1,725 of them outside Germany.
The company founder’s personal goal was to “build a career through telegraphy“ and – as he later remarked – “to gain recognition in the world as a man of science and as a technician.” Werner von Siemens remains one of the most important innovators in electrical engineering even today, and his pioneering spirit continues to shape Siemens’ vision and self-image.
Sabine Dittler
Further reading
Werner von Siemens, Lebenserinnerungen (Memoirs), published by Wilfried Feldenkirchen. Munich/Zurich 2008