Johann Georg Halske

Johann Georg Halske was a German master mechanic, born in Hamburg in 1814 and died in 1890. He started his own workshop in Berlin in 1844 with a partner, F. M. Böttcher, and in 1847 he founded the Siemens and Halske Telegraph Construction Company together with Werner von Siemens. He was especially involved in the design and construction of electrical equipment, including the press that wrapped wire in a seamless coat of gutta-percha, the pointer telegraph, the Morse telegraph and measuring instruments. In 1867 he withdrew from the firm because his views on company policy differed from those of the Siemens brothers, and he turned to public life as a Berlin city councillor and to founding the Museum of Decorative Art. He stayed a friend of Werner von Siemens until his death and continued to support the firm financially, including its pension fund.