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The VERY FIRST HOLDING COMPANYof Alfred Nobel | ||||||||
Alfred Nobel started his very first company 1864 in the Winter-Bay, a place nearby Stockholm, Sweden, which became the ground of his global multinaional companies.Here he continued the real process of defeating the unreliable nitro-glycerine.NOTE when the mouse-pointer changed into a HAND, click at the photo to have it enlarged.
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| When Alfred's father was living in Finland and Russia, between the year 1837 and 1842 Alfred's mother had a hard time, providing for the family on her own. She started a small milk shop and a greengrocer shop in Stockholm. The children sold Lucifer matches in the streets, helping their mother. |
Alfred began school in Stockholm and he got the highest marks in all subjects at the age of only nine years. The family moved to Russia in 1842 to join the father. In the meantime, he had become a wealthy man in St. Petersburg. Alfred and his brothers were now given the first class education by private teachers. At the age of 17 Alfred was fluent in five languages and had been studying science and literature. |
HELENEBORG
| Here you can see the father Immanuel and the mother Andrietta Nobel. The father was an engineer and had been building bridges in Stockholm before he went to Russia. The mother Andrietta was born into a wealthy family and her maiden name was Ahlsell.They had eight sons which only three reached adulthood but that wasn't unusual at that time.
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They returned to Sweden in 1859 and settled down 1861 at a place called Heleneborg in the South of Stockholm. They had a good view of the opposite island Långholmen (The Long Island) where a big prison was located. The portrait of the mother is an oil painting by Anders Zorn.
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| In the left picture you can see Heleneborg before the explosion. There were houses on both sides of the dwelling house. The photo on the right is from 2002, and as you can see only the dwelling house remains, in front of all the apartment buildings. |
| On the 3 of September 1864, a terrible explosion took place and six people died, among them the youngest brother of Alfred, Emil, only 20 years old. The accident was caused by imprudence by Emil himself. The father was severely affected and he never recovered. The explosion became a locution for a few decades when people said before or after "The Bang of Nobel".
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Alfred Nobel would not give up. He decided to continue the risky development of the dangerous and unsafe nitroglycerin on a barge, waiting to start manufacturing in a place apart from, but nearby Stockholm. It was a little bit tricky with the barge because as soon as people nearby found out what was going on on board, he was forced to move the barge several times. The oil painting above was painted by K.G. Wetterstrand. |
The story of The Vinter-Bay before the arrivel by Alfred Nobel
| After a while Alfred found the place for his company, the Winter-Bay nearby Stockholm. He found two partners who were interested in investigation in his company "Nitroglycerine Ltd Stockholm". In the year of 1865 the purchasing contract of the Winter Bay was signed. In the application of the deal they had pointed out the practically of building a factory just in that place. The Winter Bay was well chosen, surrounded by high hills and mountains as protection in case of accidents and with the pontetial of building quays down at the water. The soon as the company received official permission to move the business from the neighbouring landowners he moved all the business from the barge. |
He worked hard to make the production work out and rebuilt the stable for the equipment, the greenhouse was used as a laboratory and the manufacturing started under very primitive conditions actually partly taken place outdoors, partly in simply sheds. In the very beginning Alfred Nobel was not only the company's president but also its engineer, travelling salesperson, advertising manager and correspondence clerk. He stayed until everything was in purpose. Then he delivered the managing and leadership from running work to his partners and his brother Robert. He never left the hold of contact to his first company. The latest letter from him is dated 1892, only 4 years before his decease.
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| The map above from the year 1748-1749 you can see Vintviken. There was an inn called "Kapphette" vith a garden. The name have been interpreted to originate from the time when horse-rider competed with each other on the frozen | Bay of snow and cold to be the one who first arrived at the goal Kapphette and have a warming glass of dram. The houses we can see on the map were drawn by the mapmaker. |
To the left you can see the entrance to the old Winter-way in year 2002. To the right you can see a bit of the same old Winter-way in a photo from the beginning of the 1900th centure. Click at the photo and you will bee showed a real beautiful winter-way a hundreds of a years ago, in full screen
| Above you can see transports of dynamite from Vinterviken (Winter-Bay) in the 1800-centure. In old times there were horse-boxes for transportation of the nitro-glycerine and dynamite to the customs. At the end of the wagon they had to have a red flag warning other about dangerous cargoes. |
The text is written by Berith Dahlin
The home-site is private and have none connection width any company.