Pressure Lamps International; AES (Sweden)

Eskilstuna, a town of about 89 000 inhabitants, is situated close to Lake Mälaren about 100 kilometres west of Stockholm in Sweden. The town has an interesting history. Eskilstuna was well-known as a flourishing industrial town as early as the 17th century. King Karl X Gustav founded the Rademacher Forges in 1650 when he asked Reinhold Rademacher, a master smith, to manage the forges. AES is one company that developed from this industrial metalworking background.

Carl Gustav Patrik de Laval (1845-1913) was an engineer from a French family that had settled in Sweden. De Laval was a prolific inventor who had ideas in almost every field of engineering, but he is best known for his work in milk production and the separation of cream from milk. Gustav de Laval’s most important invention was the first continuous milk separator, in 1878. Just before, in 1877, de Laval entered into an agreement with Oscar Lamm, proprietor of a small engineering company, and in 1883, following considerable success, the firm became "incorporated" (a limited company) and took the name Aktiebolaget Eskilstuna Separator, with Lamm acting as Board Chairman and Managing Director. Within 10 years they employed over 100 engineers developing more of de Laval's ideas.

Gustav de Laval

The names E.G.Jordan and C.A.Wester are mentioned in 1900, and Hugo Lindeberg became one of the directors in 1902. The name Hugo Lindeberg is also associated with Aktiebolaget Punker, a manufacturer known for pressure stoves.

In 1903, AES were working from the address 11 vid Gräns-och Noachg, Eskilstuna, Sweden. The company also made a range of incandescent lamps and lights from 250 to 6000 cp light output. They produced both system lighting and free standing lamps marketed under the brand name Rex Lampan. Patents from 1909 suggest Carl Andersson was a leading design engineer with AES.

Information is rather scarce, but we do know that the range included at least 5 models in 1911, at a time when lighting developments were progressing at a very rapid rate. The picture below shows a donut style lantern typical of the period

The last historic reference I can find to AES is dated 1921, but at some time after this the company name changed, I believe in 1963. The history of the eventual parent group Alfa Laval AB is rather complex, and the name changed to Tetra Laval after it was bought by Tetra Pak in 1990, but then was re-established on the stock exchange in 2002.

If you can read old Estonian - here is some more information: I've worked my way through this, but if anyone wants to have a go - please do, and let me know if I got it wrong !!

Gustaf de Laval (1845–1913) alustas 1872. aastal pärast töötamist erinevates ametites ning õpinguid Rootsis ja Saksamaal tööd koorelahutaja kallal, millest sai üks tema tulevastest tähtsamatest leiutistest. Esimene mudel patenteeriti 1878 ning 1883 loodi seadme tootmiseks ja ekspordiks ettevõte AB Separator (tänapäeval Tetra Laval). Ta konstrueeris ka lüpsimasina, kuid tema teiseks suureks avastuseks oli 1892. aastal valminud üheastmeline aktiivauruturbiin.

Aktiebolaget Eskilstuna Separator (1911) Catalogue pages for Rex Lampen. Courtesy of Bo Ryman, and an original copy in the Stockholm Technical Museum.

The Hutchinson Dictionary of Scientific Biography, (1994) Helicon Publishing Ltd., Oxford.