This video has no sound

  • Short Summary

    Good shots of workers at Wotan lamps factory.

  • Description

    Wotan lamps factory.

    Location of events unknown, possibly London.

    Exterior of factory with steam blowing out, pan across from tower to windows. MS girls on steps. MS horse-drawn carriage passing with 'Wotan' on side. MS other carriages, one has 'Siemens' on front, there is a poster on the wall which reads 'Tantalum is strength'. Carriages advertising Wotan set off. MS workers leaving the factory, assortment of men and women.

    CU girl doing her job, cutting off strips from a long stick. CU machine turning. MS worker on roof. MS girl working. MS gates saying 'Siemens Brothers', door opens and workers rush out at end of day. CU's women at work, making small bulbs elements etc., for lamps. CU as machines spin round. Good CU's women working.

    CU dummies advertising Wotan's, with weights swinging from their hands. CU woman moulding bulb. MS woman working on machine which produces flame, she fashions bulb. MS man turning the bulb and shaping it then adding element.

  • Tags

  • Data

    Film ID:
    2378.17
    Media URN:
    76107
    Group:
    Old negatives
    Archive:
    British Pathé
    Issue Date:
    1910 - 1920
    Sound:
    Silent
    HD Format:
    Available on request
    Stock:
    Black & White
    Duration:
    00:09:27:00
    Time in/Out:
    01:38:31:00 / 01:47:58:00
    Canister:
    ON 280 A

Comments (3)

  1. James Hooker says

    I believe this film is of the Siemens factory in Dalston, UK. It was opened in 1908 to produce the newly developed Tantalum filament lamps invented by the parent Siemens & Halske company in Berlin. Lamps were produced under the names of Siemens for the UK market, and Wotan for exports (Wotan was the trade mark of Siemens metal-filament lamps in Germany). By 1911 the tantalum filament was obsolete and the factory had been converted to produce tungsten filament lamps, which appear to be the type featured in this film. The factory was closed in 1923, because a few years earlier Siemens had formed a joint venture for making lamps with English Electric, whose Preston works were deemed to be superior and all lampmaking was concentrated there. So it is possible to identify the date of this film as being between 1911 and 1923, and its location at Dalston, East London. Your keywords also mention Osram and Wembley, but that was another factory elsewhere in London which is not related.

  2. kathfp says

    This is definitely the Siemens lamp works on Tyssen Street in Dalston - the building is still there.

  3. globecollector says

    The building is now called "Springfield House". The "Tantalum is strength" poster hangs on a south-east facing wall at 51 degrees 32 minutes and 48.3 seconds North Latitude and zero degrees, 4 minutes and 20.4 seconds West Longitude. (51.546759, -0.072325).

We always welcome comments and more information about our films.
All posts are reactively checked. Libellous and abusive comments are forbidden.

Add your comment