Moritz Immisch

Immisch's most significant work was in connection with early applications of electric motors. He had long been interested in the science of electricity and magnetism; as far back as the 1860s he understood the basic principles and measurements of resistance, voltage, and current. In applying his mechanical skills and practical scientific approach to electro-magnetism, he entered into the design and construction of electric motors, of 'electro-motors' as they were then known. By 1880, his experiments in small dynamo-electric machines had led him to step away from watchwork and explore the new opportunities in the nascent electrical engineering industry.[7] In 1882 he patented 'An improved electro-motor' [8] and, together with a small number of friends and colleagues, he established a small company 'Messrs M. Immisch & Co.' with works in Kentish Town, first at Perry Road and then much more substantially at the larger premises at 19 Malden Crescent.[9]

The company was established in the Summer of 1882, composed of a number of fellow electrical enthusiasts and London businessmen. Foremost amongst them was Immisch's friend and partner, Frederick William John Hubel, who was himself formerly involved in watchwork, but who left the trade to become an 'electrician', and commercial partner in the development of the company's electrical undertakings.

The company spent several years improving the existing design of direct current motors, improving their efficiency and power-to-weight performance a compared to contemporary manufacturers such as Siemens, Elwell Parker, and Mather and Platt.[10] The company was particularly active in seeking new industrial applications for their products. From 1888 onwards they had notable success in the application of their motors to pumping and haulage work in mines, carrying out installations in England, Scotland and Wales.

The Immisch name also came to be associated with some of the earliest electric cars produced in England. Immisch motors, geared with chains made by Hans Renold were fitted to a series of electrical carriages and dogcarts reported in the electrical press in 1887, 1888, 1889, 1890 and 1896. The first two electric vehicles were carried out in association with Magnus Volk, himself an inventor and engineer.[11] News and illustrations of the 3- and 4-wheel vehicles produced for the Sultan of Turkey, brought both men to international notice.[12][13]

Immisch & Co also employed Magnus Volk as a manager in the development of their electric launch department - probably the world's first fleet of electric launches for hire, with a chain of electrical charging stations established along the River Thames. The company built its headquarters on the island called Platt's Eyot. After 12 months of experimental work starting in 1888 with a randan skiff, the firm commissioned the construction of hulls which they equipped with electrical apparatus. From 1889 until just before the First World War the boating season and regattas saw the silent electric boats plying their way up and downstream.[14]

Like his contemporary and fellow electric launch pioneer, Anthony Reckenzaun, Immisch became interested in the development of electric traction for urban transport. Both men had designed and built electric motors to be fitted to tramcars for the public and light railways for industrial purposes.

At the end of 1888 and during 1889 the Electric Traction Company, employing Immisch machinery and expertise, had instigated a trial of accumulator tramcars on the Barking Road section of the North Metropolitan Tramways Company's network. This small mile-long single-line track from Plaistow to Canning Town was chosen to prove the economy and reliability of the electric system. The 52 seat tramcars, 6 in total (4 on the road at any one time), ran daily from June 1889 until August 1892.

In 1890, with hopes of a large scale expansion of electric traction on the existing horse-drawn tramways, Immisch's Company, together with the Electric Traction Company chaired by Viscount Bury, sold itself to the General Electric Power and Traction Company Limited. This new company soon foundered however due to its reliance on rechargeable battery traction.

Despite the North Metropolitan Tramways Company having obtained a Private Act in 1890 to employ such electric tramcars throughout the network, the ultimate approval remained with the local authorities through whose areas the trams ran. In a time of growing municipal powers, the old contracting leases of the Tramways Act of 1870 were expiring and local authorities in the UK looked to buy out old lines from the tramway companies, to develop services of their own.

These obstacles, together with the high costs of maintaining the accumulators on such a small installation were the end of the system, and it was evident that the General Electric Power and Traction Company had, in the circumstances, been overcapitalised. It was wound up in 1894.

In 1891 an Immisch motor was used in a tramcar tested on the experimental John Gordon closed conduit (or closed culvert) electric tramway system. The tests took place in the Merryweather & Sons works in Greenwich, known for its fire engines and steam trams, showing success although the system was not commercially adopted. (Letter from Merryweather & Sons to (London) Standard, and Morning Post 21 Oct 1891; same letter to Pall Mall Gazette 31 Oct 1891; also quoted in The Queenslander (Australia), 19 Dec 1891).