Josef Schneider
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Josef Schneider is the name of two German electrical engineers, father and son. This article is about both.
Contents |
[edit] Josef Schneider Senior
Josef Schneider Sr. (May 29, 1840 - March 14, 1927) was the first producer of electricity in German and founded the Elektrizitätswerk Horb. He was born in Bühlertann and died at the age of 87 in his hometown Horb am Neckar, Baden-Württemberg.
In 1890 Josef Schneider was granted a patent by royal warrant from the King of Württemberg to become the first German electricity producer. The next year, together with Ernst von Siemens, he made significant improvements to the dynamo. In 1892 Germany saw its first electric light with the help of a steam turbine developed by Josef Schneider Sr. The first electricity was sold to the Hohenzollern royal family. Two years later (1894), a fire destroyed the original generating plant, motivating construction of the first private hydro-electric power plant in Horb am Neckar (Black Forest). By 1912, he and Oscar von Miller were the first to connect eleven cities in the Stuttgart-Munich region to an electric grid using high-voltage lines. In 1922, he assisted in the development of the Voith-Francis Turbine.
[edit] Josef Schneider Junior
In 1960 Josef Schneider Jr. invented the 20,000 Volt carrier line with the help of the work done by Oscar von Miller and his father. In 1975, the family firm, Elektrizitätswerk Horb, was incorporated and granted an electricity monopoly for generation, transmission, and sale of electricity to southwestern Baden-Württemberg. It continued to be owned by the Schneider family. In 1980 Josef Schneider Jr. helped to develop the Ossberg-Streamturbine.
[edit] Schneider Power
The Elektrizitätswerk Horb am Neckar KG was sold to EnBW (formerly, Energie Versorgung Schwaben) in 1985. Since 1998 the 4th generation of the Schneider Family has owned Schneider Power Inc., Canadas largest Windpower producer, with over 130 wind turbines operating in Germany, USA, Canada und France.
In 2004, the Schneider family built the first North American offshore Windpark in the Gulf of Maine, Nova Scotia, Canada.
