The History of N. V. Philips’ Gloeilampenfabrieken. Vol. 1: The Origin of the Dutch Incandescent Lamp Industry by A. Heerding

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162 Book Reviews TECHNOLOGY AND CULTURE Other articles are of varying interest and quality, from Michel Ferrier ’s ironic piece on the unrecognized value of Kamerlingh Onnes’s work on superconductivity, to Michel Durr’s bibliography on Jules Verne’s works on electricity, to a pair of articles on electrical engi­ neering education. The most promising nontechnical piece in the volume is by Simone Kant, on representations of electricity images in the press, a discussion which suggests a promising trajectory toward a semiotics of technology. Robert L. Frost Dr. Frost is an assistant professor of history at State University of New York— Albany and author of Alternating Currents: Nationalized Power in France, 1946—1970 (Cornell University Press, forthcoming). He is currently working on productivist and consumerist technological language in interwar France. The History of N. V. Philips’ Gloeilampenfabrieken. Vol. 1: The Origin of the Dutch Incandescent Lamp Industry. By A. Heerding. Translated by Derek S. Jordan. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1986. Pp. xiv + 343; illustrations, tables, notes, appendixes, bibliography, in­ dex. $47.50; £30.00. Although its title suggests a company history, A. Heerding’s History of N. V. Philips’ Gloeilampenfabrieken contributes to an emerging elec­ trification research tradition by narrating the development of the electrical industry in the Netherlands. Originally published in Dutch in 1980, this is the first in a three-volume history of the Philips group, a major European manufacturer of electrical and electronic products. In this first volume, Heerding tells the story of how a successful to­ bacco and coffee merchant, Frederick Philips,joined with his engineer son, Gerard, to establish a small incandescent lamp factory in Eind­ hoven in 1890. To understand why this father-and-son partnership was a success, Heerding provides extensive background information, reviewing the business history of the Philips family, the evolution of the incandescent lamp in Europe, the creation of several small elec­ trical manufacturing firms in the Netherlands in the 1880s, and the political battle for the establishment of a central station utility in Am­ sterdam in 1889-90. Although the amount of detail is overwhelming at times, Heerding deftly pulls this material together in the final chap­ ter and epilogue and succeeds in placing the formation of the com­ pany in a rich technical and business context. Drawing on his background material, Heerding attributes the es­ tablishment and subsequent success of the Philips lamp works at Eind­ hoven to two major factors. First, Heerding argues that the firm was created in 1890 in response to the circumstances surrounding incan­ descent lamp patents in Europe. Although several electrical firms had begun manufacturing lamps in Britain in the 1880s, they were forced TECHNOLOGY AND CULTURE Book Reviews 163 to abandon production when British courts upheld Thomas Edison’s basic lamp patent. Rather than risk further litigation with the Edison interests, these companies chose to move their lamp operations to the Continent. Heerding suggests that the Netherlands was particularly appropriate for the transfer of the incandescent lamp industry be­ cause the Dutch government had suspended its patent law in 1869. Since a company did not have to secure and defend patents in order to manufacture lamps in Holland, the barriers of entry were effec­ tively eliminated for small firms who wished to enter this held. Because it is generally assumed that patents were an essential component of industrial growth in the 19th century, Heerding’s argument about patent obstacles in Britain and the lack of the same in Holland suggests that historians of technology may need to rethink the role of patents in the evolution of the electrical industry. A second factor crucial to the establishment of Philips was the unique combination of skill and experience that Frederick and Gerard Philips brought together. A wealthy tobacco merchant, Frederick contributed both capital and the contacts necessary for creating a distribution network for the lamps. He was responsible for selecting Eindhoven as the site for the new factory because he knew that the necessary labor was available there. Although not an engineer, Frederick was clearly familiar with the potential of technology for he was the first in Holland to employ cigar-making machines in his factories. Likewise, Gerard was well prepared to...