| Notes |
Werner von Siemens laid the foundation for today’s Siemens AG in 1847 with his design for the pointer telegraph. The 30-year-old inventor hit upon an idea for substantially improving the electric telegraph developed by Charles Wheatstone and William Fothergill Cooke.
Together with precision mechanic Johann Georg Halske, he established the telegraph construction company “Telegraphen-Bauanstalt von Siemens & Halske” to manufacture his new device. The 10-man company began operation on October 12, 1847, in a building in a back courtyard in Berlin.
In 1848, the young company won a contract to build Europe’s first long-distance telegraph line. Extending largely underground from Berlin to Frankfurt, the roughly 670-kilometer link went into operation in February 1849. In March, the Frankfurt Parliament elected Friedrich Wilhelm IV German Emperor. Thanks to the new communications technology, the news from Frankfurt reached Berlin in just one hour. |