district in which I find myself’, but, unusually, he was also interested in describing large-scale industry. His Life in Railway Factory, published in 1915, provides a vivid record of a management regime

In his youth James Walker worked with some of the outstanding civil engineers of the Industrial Revolution. In his adult years worked on many important projects in Britain and in Germany, and his contributions

Carl Wilhelm Siemens invented many industrial processes and held some 113 patents. He was also a successful entrepreneur who spent most of his active life in his adopted country. He was born in Hanover

the cult of celebrity and powerful brand names are characteristics of some twenty-first century industries. The careers of Adolf Dassler and his brother Rudolf Dassler (1898-1974) exemplify these tendencies

Benigno Crespi was principally responsible for the building of Crespi d’Adda the most spectacular industrial community in Italy. The cotton mills at Crespi d’Adda, established by his father in 1878, were

Gutiérrez de Cabiedes was one of the business people responsible for the growth of the iron and steel industries in the Basque Country. He had diverse commercial interests in banking, mining and railways but

represented 4 per cent of Italian gross national product, and it employed 3.1 per cent of the nation’s industrial workforce.

glassworks. Cobalt blue was exported widely, especially to Britain’s porcelain, glass, paint and paper industries. Wegner bought the company on behalf of an investment group and was made Director-General and co-owner

the ‘spinning jenny’, which was the earliest of a succession of inventions that enabled the industrialization of cotton spinning. The name ‘jenny’ for his machine came from the words ‘engine’ and its shorter

his own goldsmith’s shop in Mannheim. In 1848 he saw opportunities in the development of the gas industry and established his own coal-gasworks to provide bottled gas. Shortly afterwards he won the contract

Technology – now known as ETH Zürich – to train people in the skills necessary for railway building and industrial development. The north-south link across the Alps through the 15-kilometre Gotthard tunnel was

Gottlieb Daimler was one of the outstanding pioneers of the motor industry. Born at Schorndorf, Wurtemburg, he studied at the Polytechnic in Stuttgart, before travelling to enlarge his understanding of

The brothers Norbert and August Metz were entrepreneurs and politicians who developed the iron industry in Luxembourg from around the middle of the nineteenth century. By the 1860s, the southern part of [...] Norbert.he brothers Norbert and August Metz were entrepreneurs and politicians who developed the iron industry in Luxembourg from around the middle of the nineteenth century. By the 1860s, the southern part

consulted on the construction of water towers and dams to create new reservoirs for the growing needs of industry and population in Germany and Austria-Hungary. He developed many water-supply schemes after surveying

powerful family business at Maastricht producing ceramics and glassware. He diversified into other industries and led the industrialisation of the city. His family for several generations before him were merchants

began a scheme to drain the marshes around the rivers Elbe and Hammerbrook and make land for a new industrial suburb. When the great fire of Hamburg destroyed a third of the city in 1842, Lindley joined the

In 1878 he began making portable steam engines that could be moved on wheels around farms and industrial locations to provide power wherever it was needed. In the 1880s he pioneered safety devices for

developments in other European countries and further afield. Supposedly his mind was set on a career in industry by a visit at the age of 13 to a steam-powered textile mill in Enschede. Soon afterwards, in 1835

when he showed one for automating pattern weaving in 1801 at the Exposition des produits de l'industrie française in Paris he was invited to join the Conservatoire des Arts et Metiers . There he improved

Steam power was one of the critical innovations of the industrial revolution, allowing mechanical power to be concentrated wherever it was needed. The evolution of the technology relied on many inventors