SØREN HJORTH

INVENTOR OF THE
DYNAMO-ELECTRIC PRINCIPLE

BY

SIGURD SMITH
C. E., M. I. F.

PUBLISHED BY »ELEKTROTEKNISK FORENING« AT THE
EXPENSE OF THE CARLSBERG FOUNDATION

KØBENHAVN
Printed by J. Jorgensen & Co. (M. A. Hannover)
1912

Handsworth, Birmingham,
Feb. 6th, 1851.

... After this wonderful force
has been discovered by Your Excellency,
it has been my pride and interest that
also the utilization thereof should be
originated by a Dane....

(Fragment of a letter from Hjorth
to H. C. Ørsted.)

Since the Life and Works of Søren Hjorth, the Danewas published in the Danish technical journal the »Elektroteknikeren«,in 1907, a statement concerning Hjorth’srights of priority to the invention of the dynamo-electricprinciple has been sent to the leading foreign technicalperiodicals, viz. »Elektrotechnische Zeitschrift«, »L’éclairageélectrique«, and »Electrical Engineering«. As this statementstill stands uncontradicted, it seems reasonable toconsider Hjorth’s priority rights to this principle to begenerally acknowledged, even in the great centres of civilization.Therefore I highly appreciated the courtesy ofMr. Hjorth’s heirs, after the death of his step-daughter,Miss D. Ancker, in the autumn of 1908, in offering mean opportunity to peruse the large collection of letters,rough-copies, drawings, and sketch-books left by Hjorth,which threw new light on his interesting life and work.Where it was previously necessary to resort to guessworkalone, we are now able to base our statements onestablished facts and to follow Hjorth’s train of ideasalmost from his first, to his last invention, and to seewhere he has right and where he failed.

In the following pages, an account will be given ofthe results of these recent researches in connection withwhat was previously known about Hjorth.

Charlottenlund 1911.

Sigurd Smith.