His misfortunes and sorrows are
so typical of the 'disappointed inventor' that we would fain learn more
about his life; but beyond a few facts in a little pamphlet (published
by himself, we believe), there is little to be gathered; a veil of
silence has fallen alike upon his triumphs, his errors and his miseries.
V. DR. WERNER SIEMENS.
THE leading electrician of Germany is Dr. Ernst Werner Siemens, eldest
brother of the same distinguished family of which our own Sir William
Siemens was a member. Ernst, like his brother William, was born at
Lenthe, near Hanover, on December 13, 1816. He was educated at the
College of Lubeck in Maine, and entered the Prussian Artillery service
as a volunteer. He pursued his scientific studies at the Artillery and
Engineers' School in Berlin, and in 1838 obtained an officer's
commission.
Physics and chemistry were his favourite studies; and his original
researches in electro-gilding resulted in a Prussian patent in 1841.
The following year he, in conjunction with his brother William, took out
another patent for a differential regulator. In 1844 he was appointed
to a post in the artillery workshops in Berlin, where he learned
telegraphy, and in 1845 patented a dial and printing telegraph, which is
still in use in Germany.
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