Hanna Hammarström

Hanna Hammarström
Hanna Hammarström in 1898
Born	Joanna Hammarström 4 September 1829 Stockholm
Died	27 November 1914
Nationality	Swedish
Occupation	inventor and industrialist

Hanna Hammarström (Stockholm, 4 September 1829 – 27 November 1914), was a Swedish inventor and industrialist.

She was the first person in Sweden to produce telephone wires commercially. She manufactured the wires for the first Swedish telephone network. She also exported wire to Finland.

Early life

Johanna Hammarström was the daughter of the cotton and silk merchant Per Hammarström (d. 1868) and Christina Holmberg. She was always called Hanna. Her father wished for all his children to learn a profession, so she learned to manufacture various forms of ornaments.

Career

Though telephone wires were invented before her, the way to make them was unknown in Sweden, so the Swedish telephone network depended on foreign manufacturers. Hammarström managed to develop telephone wires by herself with the knowledge she learned by making ornaments out of metal strings.

Hammarström started her own factory, and in 1883 took over the task of providing telephone wires to the Swedish telephone company. She had a monopoly on the production through the 1880s and 1890s. She was a friend and professional contact of Lars Magnus Ericsson and Hilda Ericsson, founders of the Ericsson phone company.

In her factory in Stockholm, she employed only women, whom she trained and educated herself. She manufactured wires for several telephone factories. In 1886, she was awarded first prize for her invention at a machinery exhibition in Stockholm.

Hammarström continued to work in the factory until it closed in 1909. Hanna Hammarström wrote her will on 19 November 1914 and died on 27 November 1914 aged 85.

References

• Hellander, Adolf (29 April 1898). "Hanna Hammarström" (PDF). IDUN (in Swedish): 129–130.
• Svanberg, Lena. "The lady with the copper wire". The history of Ericsson. LM Ericsson. Retrieved 7 November 2012.

Further reading

• Miss SKBL name as parameter