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Lonza had already started to receive requests to support the electrical lighting of local municipalities. In the early years of the Twentieth Century, it became clear that the pendulum was swinging decisively in favour of electric lighting. However, this was by far carbide’s largest use and its days were numbered. They were brighter, less dangerous and burned more cleanly. With acetylene’s high burning temperature, these lamps were a significant improvement over oil. The carbide industry’s bubble of success began to burst in 1902, although the use of calcium carbide in acetylene gas lamps had helped to soften the blow. As the old order began to shift, modern social issues were coming into focus with women gaining the vote in Finland and universal suffrage becoming an increasingly hot topic in many other countries.Īt this time, in southern Switzerland, Lonza’s carbide facilities were beginning to face challenges.
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Within the first four years, air conditioning and the world’s first fully synthetic plastic (Bakelite) had been invented, the first radio programme had been broadcast and the first Model T rolled off Henry Ford’s production line. The beginning of the Twentieth Century was a time of great optimism in Europe with advances in technology and science gathering momentum. Built to harness the hydroelectric power of the river, Lonza’s first site experienced turbulent beginnings. Lonza’s first hydroelectric plant in Gampel. However, hydropower, where the force of water is used to turn generators, has always been one of the simplest ways of producing electricity. It may seem surprising that much early electric power came from a renewable source. To support this agreement, contracts were signed with local municipalities for the use of the river, both to generate hydroelectricity and for industrial transport. It was agreed that the generators would be located on the Lonza river near Gampel. In return the Swiss financiers agreed to invest in hydroelectricity generators to power the electric furnaces. Schuckert Company offered the electric furnace process for making calcium carbide, which was used for its clean, clear and bright light in gas lamps. Schuckert & Co met with Swiss financiers, including the Basel banker Alfons Ehinger (Lonza’s first ever President). In the mid-1890s, representatives of the Nuremburg-based company S. Industrial electricity quickly became big business, with equipment manufacturers promoting furnaces and associated technologies.Īll this forms the background to the foundation of Lonza. At the Paris World Exhibition in 1889, “silver from alumina” was recorded as being a popular attraction. Around the same time, aluminium was first produced by electrolysis at 1000oC. In the 1880s, early industrial plants were built, using electricity to break down saline solutions into chlorine and caustic soda.
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Whereas the First Industrial Revolution had involved the mechanisation of processes such as weaving and smelting iron, the second was more about applied science and technologies such as electricity. The latter Nineteenth Century was a time of enormous technological change, with the Second Industrial Revolution well under way. However, in one valley, change was coming fast. In the mountainous Swiss valleys, life continued much as it had for centuries before, dominated by the seasons, agriculture and the great glaciers. In this twilight of the old empires, Switzerland had moved closer to modernity with an established stable and settled republican state, having adopted its federal constitution in 1848. Britain held the largest territory in the world and Russia was ruled by the Tsars. Europe was dominated by the German and the Austro-Hungarian Empires. However, the map of the world looked quite different. Cars, wireless communications and even smoke detectors already existed in some form. The 1890s formed a prelude to the modern world we know today. Basel banker Alfons Ehinger was Lonza’s first president.
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