Paul Schmidt (entrepreneur)

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Memorial plaque on the house, Hauptstrasse 44, in Berlin-Alt-Hohenschönhausen
Logo of the battery manufacturer Daimon on the label of a flat battery (1924)
Daimon telephone amplifier

Paul Schmidt (born  May 11, 1868 in Köthen (Anhalt) , †  August 4, 1948 in Berlin ) was a German inventor and entrepreneur.

He was the inventor of the dry battery and the flashlight in Germany. He paved the way for mass production of both products with his patents from 1896 (for the galvanic dry element with liquid supply) and 1906 (for the electric torch).

In 1896 he founded an independent testing institute for electrochemistry in Berlin, which was renamed Daimon Elektrotechnische Fabrik Schmidt & Co in 1901 . According to other sources, he opened the electrical engineering factory Schmidt & Co in 1901 at Chausseestrasse  82 in Berlin.

Also in 1901 he developed the so-called flat battery , a 4.5 V flashlight battery made up of three 1.5 V cells arranged next to one another. In 1902 he started producing incandescent lamps , and in 1903 he started the series production of dry elements (batteries) and battery housings in particular. In 1913, Schmidt had a new production facility built at Sellerstraße 13 in Weddinger. Batteries and flashlights were mass-produced and conquered the world markets under the brand name Daimon .

A handy flashlight model was registered as a trademark in 1937 under the name “Handy”: It was the first “Handy” in Germany.

From 1924/25 radio parts and radios were also manufactured. Further branches were established in Bodenbach an der Elbe in 1911 , in Rodenkirchen near Cologne in 1921 , in Danzig in 1923 , in Tetschen / Elbe in 1927 and in Arnstadt in 1936 (there later as Artas ). Daimon was taken over in 1983 by Duracell (formerly Mallory ) USA, which in turn became part of the Gillette group in 1996 . The Gillette Company has been part of Procter & Gamble since October 1, 2005 .

The company's product range also included the Daimon telephone amplifier operated by a 9-volt dry battery with an inductive receiver that reacts to magnetic stray fields. It was placed right next to the phone and made it possible to listen in on conversations. Such a listening function is already integrated in almost all modern telephones these days, so that a separate telephone amplifier is not necessary.

Paul Schmidt lived with his family from 1910 to 1929 as the owner of Hohenschönhausen Castle in Berlin-Hohenschönhausen . On July 13, 2016, the Daimon Museum was opened in the house and a memorial plaque for Paul Schmidt was unveiled.

literature

  • Bärbel Ruben, Thomas Friedrich: DAIMON. The bright joy. Festschrift on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the "Electrotechnical Factory Schmidt & Co.", ed. from the Friends of Hohenschönhausen Castle e. V., Berlin 2001.

Web links

Commons : Paul Schmidt  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Trademark sheet of the German Reich Patent Office, No. 4, of February 27, 1937: Class 4 (flashlights), No. 490740, E 25474 "Daimon Handy" Elektrotechnische Fabrik Schmidt & Co. GmbH, Berlin
  2. ↑ Excerpt from Patents and Talents , SWR 2009 (as YouTube video), Mr. Schmidt's flashlight , a film by Götz Goebel; from minute 28:13 to 28:30.
  3. ↑ Product information from Radiomuseum.org about the Daimon telephone amplifier.
personal data
SURNAME Schmidt, Paul
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German inventor and entrepreneur (DAIMON)
DATE OF BIRTH May 11, 1868
PLACE OF BIRTH Koethen (Anhalt)
DATE OF DEATH 4th August 1948
Place of death Berlin