THE PIONEER LIFE OF HENRI TUDOR

Currently, a project for a Henri Tudor musem is in preparati Henri Owen Tudor (1859-1928)

What follows is a quick summary of his life, and his achievements :

• 1859: birth at ROSPORT (Luxembourg) of Henri Owen TUDOR on September 30th, son of John Thomas Tudor and Marie Loser.

  
  Luxembourg and the birth place of Henri Owen TUDOR, ROSPORT.

  ... in the same year, the French physicist GASTON PLANTE invents the lead electrical accumulator plate, which never actually leaves the state of instrumental prototype because of an elaboration of plates too long and expensive.

• 1868: Henri TUDOR pursues his studies at the Chimay High school (Belgium) where he gets his final examination in 1878.

• 1872: ZENOBE GRAMME, Belgian electrician develops the first industrial dynamo.

• 1878: THOMAS EDISON, American physicist, invents the incandescent lamp. He corresponds with Henri TUDOR and advises the use of accumulators as battery buffer capable of storing energy during slack hours and distributing it during peak hours.

• 1879: Henri TUDOR enters the University of Brussels (Ecole Polytechnique) from which he graduates in 1883 as engineer in "Genie Civil" (civil engineering).

  During his studies, he already shows great interest in electrical engineering, and in particular in the developing scientific fields of electrical lighting and electrical engine power. After his graduation, he follows conferences given by PLANTE and FAURE in Paris on electrical accumulators.

• 1881: Still student, Henri TUDOR continuing the preparatory work of PLANTE and FAURE, improves the experimental accumulator they had designed into an industrial version which will work 16 years without interruption getting energy from a dynamo of his own design linked to the wheel of the watermill of ROSPORT.

  
  First accumulator plates conceived in 1881 by Henri TUDOR.

  Four years after the production of the first viable incandescent lamp, 3 years before the Rothschild's castle in Ferrieres and 7 before the royal castle of Windsor, the TUDOR family benefits of a complete electrical lighting installation, which gives constant light round the clock. The old castle of ROSPORT was most certainly one of the first private houses in Europe, if not the first, to have a complete hydro-electrical power station working continuously.

• 1884: Henri TUDOR develops the ENERGY CAR, a mobile accumulator-motor group for multiple use : engine power and light for isolated farms, circus, itinerant movie installations, military camps ...

• 1886: Henri TUDOR, after having taken out a patent for his electrical accumulator, builds up with his brother Hubert, an electrical light power station in ECHTERNACH (Luxembourg) which's power is used both for private illumination (in total, 120 lamps are installed in homes) and for the illumination of the village.

  To produce the equipment necessary for this contract, the TUDOR brothers open with their cousin Nikolas SCHALKENBACH a small factory in ROSPORT.

  
  Group of workers of the ROSPORT factory with the different models of the TUDOR battery at their feet.

  This marks the beginning of the industrial production of the TUDOR ACCUMULATOR. The first contract of ECHTERNACH brings many others. But success becomes quickly overwhelming for the small ROSPORT factory which has too many drawbacks : too high custom dues for the importation of lead and the exportation of the finished products, bad geographical situation, difficulties in shipping the finished batteries... Henri TUDOR therefore creates companies for the development of electrical public illumination first in Belgium and France, then in other european countries of which Germany and England.

• 1890: More than 1200 TUDOR storage batteries can be found around the world, in Argentina, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Egypt, Germany, Finland, France, Holland, Hungary, Italy, Poland, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland.

• 1928: Mai 31st, death oh Henri Owen TUDOR.
  The number of employees who work on TUDOR products reaches 25000.

Henri TUDOR , in spite of his big success and his extraordinary achievements, stayed a calm and modest man. Until his death, although physically diminished by the lead contamination, he stayed very active, always ready to solve a new technical problem, his mind lucid as ever.