WELDING HELMET WITH LIQUID CRYSTAL VISOR, P. 63MOBILE (CELLULAR) TELEPHONY, P. 59

Many well-known innovations and discoveries, both modern and historical, have Swedish origins.This book presents technical products and methods which represented a sufficiently high degree ofinnovation to be granted patents and which went on to achieve great commercial success. As a result,many of these innovations have since become familiar household names, whereas others have playedan important role in the business sector.

Author Kjell Sedig provides us with a valuable insight into some of the more recent Swedishinnovations that have won international acclaim. His account also takes us back to the days ofSweden’s “Universal Geniuses” and their discoveries and inventions.

K J E L L S E D I G T H E S W E D I S H I N S T I T U T E

ISBN 91-520-0694-8

s w e d i s h i n n o v a t i o n s

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HOUSEHOLD PRODUCTS, PP. 35, 37, 77

FUNCTIONAL WORK CLOTHES, P. 65

The Swedish Institute (SI) is a publicagency established to disseminate knowledgeabroad about Sweden’s social and culturallife, to promote cultural and informationalexchange with other countries and tocontribute to increased internationalcooperation in the fields of education andresearch. The Swedish Institute produces awide range of publications on many aspectsof Swedish society. These can be obtaineddirectly from the Swedish Institute or fromSwedish diplomatic missions abroad, andmany are available on Sweden’s officialwebsite, www.sweden.se.

In Sweden Bookshop on Slottsbacken 10in Stockholm as well as on the websitewww.swedenbookshop.se, you will find—inmany languages—books, brochures andrichly illustrated gift books on Sweden, abroad selection of Swedish fiction, children’sbooks and Swedish language courses.

The Swedish InstituteSkeppsbron 2, Box 7434SE-103 91 Stockholm, SwedenPhone: +46 (0)8 453 78 00Fax: +46 (0)8 20 72 48Email: si@si.seInternet: www.si.se

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swedish innovations

s w e d i s h i n n o v a t i o n s

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n e c e s s i t y is the mother of invention, according to the old saying.However, it takes more than that for an invention to achieve commercial success as aninnovation. Knowledge and technical competence are also necessary partners in this pro-cess. In addition, of course, there must be an openness to the possibilities of business.

Sweden’s natural environment, harsh and yet rich in natural resources, as well as thecountry’s constantly increasing need for energy, communication, tools and machines, havebeen strong driving forces behind innovative work in all of these areas. Compared to manyother countries, Sweden’s system of compulsory elementary education was establishedrelatively early. Beginning in the 1800s, elementary schools played an important role inproviding people from all social backgrounds with an opportunity to devote themselves tothe pursuit of knowledge and inventive action. Education gave self-confidence andcourage, and developed people’s capacity to describe new technical ideas or concepts.

The technical competence of Sweden’s researchers and inventors, and their interest intechnology has been of great importance for the development of Swedish society. Manyof Sweden’s early inventors were also discoverers; curiosity and practicality were thuscombined.

This interest in technology and inventing, which in Sweden led to a culture of engi-neering, has been especially lively. On an international level, Sweden is considered to be a

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true nation of engineers. Swedish technology is continually being extended into new areasof creativity and service to humanity. The comprehensive nature of Swedish inventorshipis also reflected in statistics, which show that in relation to population size Sweden hasone of the highest number of patents and patent applications registered in the world.

The successful realization of an innovation requires the capacity to understand andsatisfy the needs of the users, as well as the technical talent for inventing. In Sweden,persistent innovative work resulted not only in interesting products, but also in businessventures which in some cases came to dominate the world market.

This book examines the variety and strength of areas in which innovations andinnovators from Sweden continue to be of importance. More than just a list of interestingpeople and historical examples from creative milieus, this book should also serve as asource of inspiration to inventors, innovators and technologically interested people aroundthe world. It offers a perspective on the work of Swedish inventors and innovatorsstretching from the beginnings of the modern era into this new millennium.

PROFESSOR, PRESIDENT OF THE ROYAL SWEDISH ACADEMY OFENGINEERING SCIENCES (IVA)

l e n a t r e s c h o w t o r e l l

f o r e w o r d

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2 foreword7 introduction

t h e s w e d i s h s c i e n t i f i cr e v o l u t i o n

9 introduction10 olof rudbeck the elder10 christopher polhem11 anders celsius12 carl linnaeus13 pehr wilhelm wargentin13 eva ekeblad14 carl wilhelm scheele15 jöns jacob berzelius15 anders jonas ångström

i n n o va t i o n s f r o m p r e -i n d u s t r i a l s w e d e n

17 introduction 1618 alfred nobel 1719 nobel innovations:

detonator cap, dynamite,gelignite, ballistite,artificial materials 18

21 the nobel prizes22 safety match22 match machine23 screw propeller25 cream separator25 telephone handset26 adjustable wrench27 three-phase electrical system29 blowtorch29 zipper

s w e d i s h i n n o va t i o n s1 9 0 0 ‒ 1 9 5 0

31 combination gauge31 aga lighthouse33 ljungström turbine35 household vacuum cleaner35 primus stove37 refrigerator without

moving parts37 ultracentrifuge39 hasselblad camera41 spherical roller bearing41 c-bearing41 cc-bearing41 axleless wheel bearing41 carb™ bearing

s w e d i s h i n n o va t i o n ss i n c e 1 9 5 0

43 high-voltage direct current45 tetra pak47 quintus press47 pressductor® transducer49 flymo49 v-ring5 1 thorsman plug5 1 thyristor-controlled

locomotive53 straight line flow

shipbuilding53 flofreeze

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c o n t e n t s

55 hydraulic rock drill55 saab turbo engine57 axe system59 mobile (cellular ) telephony61 computer mouse, color screen

graphics for computers,and gp&c

63 welding helmet with liquidcrystal visor

65 functional work clothes65 cash adapter67 three-point safety belt69 retractable seat belt69 airbag sensor7 1 rear-facing child safety seat73 haldex all-wheel drive75 powerformer and motorformer77 self-operating vacuum cleaner

s w e d i s h m e d i c a li n n o va t i o n s

79 pacemaker81 electrophoresis81 sephadex82 macrodex82 intralipid®83 xylocaine®84 time-release tablets85 beta blockers85 aptin®85 bricanyl®

85 seloken®86 dialysis machine87 digital hearing aid87 turbuhaler89 losec®89 nexium®91 brånemark® system91 ultrasound93 leksell gamma knife®

some organisations:95 “strokes of genius”95 mini-entrepreneurs95 young entrepreneurship96 “the greenhouse”96 “finn upp” inventors ’

competition for junior highschool students

96 the swedish inventors ’association, suf

98 devices for personal assistance99 the future100 some other swedish innovations101 index102 index of names103 sources

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A patent is a legally protected sole rightgranted for a certain period of time thatallows the holder to exploit an invention.Patents protect technological solutions(products), methods and uses. To preventcorporations from holding patents that theydo not use, Sweden limits patents to a periodof 20 years (25 years for pharmaceuticalproducts). To keep patents active, the Swedishauthorities charge patent holders an annualfee determined on a progressive scale.

In Sweden, patent seekers apply to thePatent and Registration Office (PRV, Patent-och registreringsverket) which determines

PAT E N T S S O M E T E R M S

SOURCES: SWEDISH STATISTICAL YEARBOOK AND EUROPEAN PATENT OFFICE (EPO).

whether the application fulfills thenecessary conditions. The number ofapplications is considerable in relation tothe size of Sweden´s population. Most ofthese are submitted by a small number ofmajor corporations, and the remaindercome from smaller companies andindividuals.

At international level, Sweden is amember of the Patent Cooperation Treaty(PCT) which covers more than 100 nations,and the European Patent Convention (EPC),which facilitates the patent applicationprocess in other countries.

Swedish Patents 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005Applications submitted 4,936 4,500 3,910 3,619 3,230 2,960Patents granted 2,126 2,265 2,693 2,950 3,232 1,911Patents pending in Sweden at year-end 19,103 19,057 19,610 20,052 20,804 20,478

Several of the Swedish people mentioned inthis book represent one or more of thecategories explained below

Discoverers – find useful principles(theories and observations) in nature, e.g.Carl Wilhelm Scheele, who discovered oxygen,chlorine, molybdenum and other elements.

Inventors – create patentable techno-logical principles or ideas, e.g. SigvardJohansson, inventor of the Haldex All-WheelDrive coupling.

Innovators – create technology ordevices accepted by users or customers, e.g.Jonas Wenström, an innovator in the field ofelectricity, who invented the three-phaseelectrical system.

Entrepreneurs – design products,artifacts and/or services and introduce themonto the market, e.g. Ruben Rausing, whodeveloped and marketed plastic-coatedcartons for liquid products.

Developers – adapt new technical ideasand principles to the needs of users, customersand the market, e.g. Jöns Jacob Berzelius, whodeveloped the first table of atomic weights.

Industrialists – establish the manufactureand distribution of new products on anindustrial scale, e.g. Lars Magnus Ericsson,who established large-scale production oftelephones and other equipment.

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m a n y well-known innovations and discoveries, both modern and historical,have Swedish origins. The ideas of Sweden’s inventors, researchers and innovators havelaid the foundations for industries and corporations, which have in turn played animportant role in Sweden’s industrialization and development into a modern welfare state.

Innovations come in many forms. This book presents technical products and methodswhich, in the eyes of the law, represented a sufficiently high degree of innovation to begranted patents and which went on to achieve great commercial success. We see many ofthese on a daily basis as consumer products, but the following account will also mentioninnovations that have become very important to the business sector as producer products.Swedish marketing innovations such as IKEA or the Hennes & Mauritz clothing storesdo not fall within the scope of this study, nor do innovations such as the latest modelsoffered by Volvo or Saab, or the Öresund bridge between Sweden and Denmark.

Many of Sweden’s leading corporations, such as ASEA (today ABB), Ericsson, SKF,Sandvik and Alfa Laval, were built upon ideas from the late 1800s and early 1900s.Examples of well-known Swedish products from this era include the adjustable wrench,the Primus stove, AGA lighthouses and cream separators, to name but a few.

In the 20th century Swedish innovations and developments in the engineeringindustry remain important but in the second half of the 1900s they have experiencedkeen competition from the medical and pharmaceutical industries, electronics and otherhigh-technology fields.

This book gives an insight into some of the more recent Swedish innovationsthat have taken on great significance and reached the international market. It will alsolook back in history to the days of Sweden’s “Universal Geniuses” and their discoveriesand inventions.

i n t r o d u c t i o n

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LEFT: POLHEM’S “TECHNICAL ALPHABET.” SKETCHES FROM THE NOTEBOOK OF HIS PUPIL CARL JOHAN CRONSTEDT IN 1729.

t h e s w e d i s h s c i e n t i f i cr e v o l u t i o n

In Sweden the scientific “revolution” occurred during the 1700s, a period when the nationwas almost exclusively agricultural. The technological progress made during the 1500s and1600s was mainly the result of the immigration of skilled handcrafters, merchants andother tradespeople, chiefly from Germany, Scotland, the Netherlands, France and theWalloon region of southern Belgium. Rich natural resources such as iron, timber and waterpower also contributed to these developments.

1739, the year when the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences (Kungliga Vetenskaps-akademien, KVA) was founded, is usually regarded as the birth date for natural sciencesin Sweden. Of course, study of the natural world had been pursued previously in Swedenbut it was not until the 1700s that this research became systematically organized. Initially,the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences had economic difficulties, but in October 1747

the organization was granted the privilege of publishing almanacs, which provided it witha stable economic base. This monopoly on almanacs lasted until 1972.

The scientists who were active during the 1600s and 1700s are often regarded as“universal geniuses,” and they were of great importance for scientific and technologicaldevelopments in Sweden. The following names are well worth noting.

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Olof Rudbeck the Elder (1630‒1702), a medical doctor,naturalist and archaeologist, began as a student at Upp-sala University in 1648 and devoted himself to medicalstudies with such success that as a 22 year-old in 1652,he publicized his epoch-making discovery of the humanlymphatic system. Already at this young age his reputa-tion was so great that he was offered positions outsideSweden. However, throughout his life he remainedfaithful to Uppsala, where he worked tirelessly for therenewal of the university and made his mark on theacademic world of his time.

He founded Sweden’s first botanical garden, which

he filled with plants mostly from the Netherlands at hisown expense. After only a few years, the garden washome to over one thousand plants.

Rudbeck was one of Sweden’s most versatile pio-neers. He championed the establishment of technicalschools, built bridges, constructed water systems, andtaught in subjects such as mathematics, astronomy, me-chanics, anatomy, architecture and structural engineer-ing. Within each of these areas he made important con-tributions, some of which were pioneering.

One of his students was Christopher Polhem, whomhe later collaborated with and had great influence upon.

o l o f r u d b e c k t h e e l d e r

Christopher Polhem (1661‒1751) lived in a time when itwas still possible for an individual to master a large por-tion of human knowledge. His ideas had a considerableimpact upon the technological developments of his day.Over the course of his 90-year life Polhem produced ahuge number of inventions and ingenious designs. Hebuilt his machines himself and carried out many of hisprojects on his own.

In 1697 the Swedish Mining Collegium grantedfunds for Sweden’s first Laboratorium Mechanicum. Thetechnical drawings, models and experimental equipmentwhich it would contain were to be used as instructionalmaterials for technical education. Some of these models,as well as Polhem’s “technical alphabet,” are preserved inthe Museum of Science and Technology in Stockholm.

From 1700 to 1716 Polhem worked at the coppermines in Falun. During this time he developed many in-ventions for the mining industry, such as pumps, water-powered hammers and his unusual linkage system for thetransmission of mechanical power over distances via longreciprocating wooden bars. One such linkage systemrenowned for the boldness of its construction was set upat the Hundbo mine, where power was brought in overrough terrain from a water wheel located 2.5 km away.

Despite Polhem’s successes, many of his contemporariesregarded his new-fangled creations with skepticism.

During his travels, Polhem found inspiration for ex-ploiting some of the possibilities offered by Swedish in-dustry. He established a foundry at Stjärnsund to be ableto demonstrate these new ideas. The works at Stjärn-sund manufactured special machines for woodworking,cutting gears, making files and, in particular, producedkitchen tools, looms, hardware and burglar-proof locks(the Polhem lock) as well as clocks.

Polhem was also interested in transportation. In1717 he suggested building a canal between the cities ofNorrköping and Gothenburg (the Svea Canal) whichwould unite Sweden’s east and west coasts. Work was be-gun fairly soon thereafter, but was not completed until1795, after many delays. Polhem was also hired for a num-ber of other engineering projects, including the con-struction of sluices, bridges, sawmills and brickyards.

In addition to his varied technical accomplishments,Polhem engaged in an extensive correspondence in manyother areas, such as economics, agriculture and naviga-tion. He assisted in the establishment of Sweden’s firstsociety for experimentation in the natural sciences, theCollegium Curiosorum in Uppsala.

c h r i s t o p h e r p o l h e m

1 1

Anders Celsius (1701‒1744) exhibited unusual mathemat-ical talent, even as a young schoolboy. He soon gave upthe law studies he had begun at Uppsala University todevote himself entirely to mathematics and astronomy.He was appointed professor of astronomy at UppsalaUniversity at the age of 29. Celsius’ wish that an observa-tory be built in Uppsala resulted in Sweden’s first obser-vatory being erected there in 1741. The observatory wasformally opened the following year and still stands today,with the exception of its upper section. As an astrono-mer, Celsius made countless observations and so con-tributed to world knowledge of solar and lunar eclipses,the orbits of the planets, comets, the aberrations of the

stars, and the breakdown of light in the atmosphere.Celsius is best remembered for his centigrade ther-

mometer, which is used in many areas of the world today.In 1741 he first used his experimental thermometer,which is preserved at Uppsala University’s Departmentof Meteorology. Initially, Celsius had placed the boilingpoint of water at zero degrees and the melting point ofice at one hundred degrees. It is said that it was CarlLinnaeus who reversed the scale.

Celsius’ thermometer has gained widespread use be-cause the boiling point of water and the melting point ofice are two reference points that are easy to identify andre-create.

a n d e r s c e l s i u s

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Carl Linnaeus (1707‒1778), also known as von Linné, isbest known for his system of classification for the plant,animal and mineral worlds published in his SystemaNaturae. He undertook many scientific travels, which re-sulted in comprehensive written reports. The most fa-mous of his travels were to Lapland in 1732, a provincein northern Sweden, to the province of Dalarna in 1734and his final trip to the province of Skåne in 1749. Hesent his students to the far corners of the world to collectspecimens and report on their findings. Pehr Osbeck,Anders Sparrman and Carl Peter Thunberg traveled toChina, Sparrman and Daniel Solander participated inCaptain James Cook’s circumnavigation of the globe,and Thunberg visited Japan. Johan Peter Falck exploredInner Asia, Pehr Kalm traveled to North America,Roland Martin to the Polar Sea, Daniel Rolander andPehr Löfling to South America, Fredrik Hasselqvist andPeter Forsskål to the Holy Land and Arabia.

Linnaeus’ stature as a natural historian, especiallyas a botanist and medical doctor, was not fully appreci-ated until much later. Through his admonition to build

upon experience only, Linnaeus struck a great blow forthe natural sciences as inductive research. Even today,Linnaeus continues to hold a pivotal role in biology.

His two hundred year old collections continue toreveal secrets to modern scientists, although the plantspecimens are beginning to fall apart after having beenstudied by several generations of botanists. While thegreatest portion of Linnaeus’ collections can be found atthe Linnean Society in London, other parts of his collec-tions exist in Sweden, Finland, France, Germany, Russiaand Switzerland.

In order to preserve Linnaeus’ research for posterity,his pressed flowers are being photographed with high-definition digital cameras and the images stored on CD-ROM. The Linnaeus collection in Moscow has alreadybeen photographed at a resolution of 700 points per inch,making it possible to study details as tiny as individualgrains of pollen on a computer monitor.

As an indication of his importance, it is worth men-tioning that Linnaeus’ scientific works are some of themost often cited in the Science Citation Index.

c a r l l i n n a e u s

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Pehr Wilhelm Wargentin (1717‒1783), astronomer andstatistician, combined scientific prowess with good orga-nizational skills. In 1748 Wargentin was made a memberof the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences (KVA) andby a unanimous vote in 1749 he was appointed Secretaryof the Academy. In this capacity, he contributed greatlyto the organization’s consolidation and favorable reputa-tion.

In addition to his significant astronomical obser-vations, Wargentin laid the foundations of Sweden’sremarkable census statistics. This system began witha church law passed in 1686, which ruled that churchrecords must be kept to provide information about birthsand deaths, as well as inward and outward migration be-tween parishes. In 1749 Sweden’s Bureau of Tables wasestablished with Wargentin as its head. Here the statisti-

cal material from the churches was to be compiled. ThusSweden (and Finland, which was part of Sweden at thattime) was the first country in the world to maintainpopulation statistics. The Bureau of Tables was reorga-nized in 1756 as the Commission of Tables and is knowntoday as Statistics Sweden (SCB). An announcementauthored by Wargentin in 1761 is considered to show theinsight he had into the value statistics could hold for so-ciety. Wargentin produced numerous statistical worksand his studies of mortality rates and life expectancies at-tracted widespread attention.

The work of Pehr Wargentin has meant much, notonly for genealogists, but also for medical researchers,who have been able to map out inherited and other dis-eases thanks to Swedish population statistics.

Eva Ekeblad (1724‒1786), born de la Gardie, was one ofSweden’s early female inventors. She experimented withpotatoes for both the production of powder and the dis-tillation of vodka. Her attempts to produce potato vodkasucceeded in 1748, and the Swedes began to grow morepotatoes for alcohol production. With time, the Swedesfound the courage to try eating potatoes, too.

In reward for her invention, Eva Ekeblad was the

first woman admitted to the Royal Swedish Academy ofSciences (KVA). This move was inspired by trends incountries outside Sweden, which had begun to admitwomen into their science academies. There was a desirein Sweden to show recognition and respect which wouldencourage “the entire gender to pay strict attention toeach and every aspect of keeping of the household.”

p e h r w i l h e l m wa r g e n t i n

e va e k e b l a d

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OCarl Wilhelm Scheele (1742‒1786) began as a pharma-cist’s apprentice in Gothenburg. On his own he acquiredsuch a vast knowledge of chemistry that he surpassedmost of the internationally known chemists of the dayand was admitted to the Royal Swedish Academy of Sci-ences (KVA) in 1775. In 1777 he passed the pharmacologyexam. He was faithful to that profession until his death,by which time he was regarded as one of the greatestchemical scientists.

At the time of his death, no one had surpassed hisrecord for the number of important discoveries. Scheeledeveloped many excellent methods of analysis. He wasprimarily an experimental researcher, equipped with re-

markable powers of observation, judgment, knowledgeand ingenuity in regard to thinking through and carryingout experiments.

Scheele was the first to state that a specific type ofmetal could go through different stages of oxidation. Hediscovered nine basic elements, among them oxygen,chlorine and molybdenum. In addition he was the firstto isolate a number of elements.

Scheele was unassuming, reticent, hard-working andtotally absorbed by his scientific interests. His life wasspent in a small-town milieu where his research, themanagement of his pharmacy and a scientific correspon-dence took up all of his time.

c a r l w i l h e l m s c h e e l e

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OJöns Jacob Berzelius (1779‒1848), a chemist, was one ofthe first to accept Dalton’s atomic theory (of ca. 1803).Using the atomic theory and, among other things, Gay-Lussac’s Law, he developed the first table of atomicweights, a comprehensive work published in 1818. Hehad measured the atomic weights of 45 of the 49 basicelements known to exist at that time and the values hefound are surprisingly close to measurements made us-ing modern methods.

Berzelius also introduced the simplified system ofidentifying the basic elements by one or two letters takenfrom their Latin names. Over time this language of sym-

bols has come to be used by all chemists. In 1817 he dis-covered the element selenium, in 1823 silicon, and in 1828thorium.

Berzelius also authored textbooks in Swedish whichwere in great demand, for example his Lectures in Bio-logical Chemistry, 2 volumes, 1806‒1808, and Textbookin Chemistry, 6 volumes, 1808‒1830. These books havebeen translated into a number of languages.

Berzelius had a great capacity for work and didmuch of his research alone, without students or assis-tants. However, he cooperated with many Swedish andforeign chemists.

Anders Jonas Ångström (1814‒1874), physicist, mappedout a complete exploration of natural magnetic condi-tions in Sweden and determined the inclination and in-tensity of magnetic fields in a number of regions aroundthe country. His program was a comprehensive one andthe magnetic mapping of Sweden was not completeduntil 1934. However, Ångström’s chief interests lay nei-ther in geophysics nor thermology, but rather in optics,a pursuit which he followed throughout his life.

Ångström carried out a much-appreciated pioneeringfeat, which has been the basis for the entire field ofmodern spectroanalysis. He analyzed the basic elementsof the sun, and in 1868 he published a map of the spectraof almost one hundred elements. Ångström was the firstto measure wavelengths in absolute numbers. He intro-duced the basic unit of one ten millionth of a milli-meter, which in 1905 was named the “angstrom” in hishonor. (1 Å = 0.1 nm.)

j ö n s ja c o b b e r z e l i u s

a n d e r s j o n a s å n g s t r ö m

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EARLY ON, ERICSSON FOCUSED ON EXPORTS. HERE AN ERICSSON TELEPHONE IS SEEN IN USE ON THEISLAND OF JAVA IN THE EARLY 1900s.

i n n o va t i o n sf r o m p r e - i n d u s t r i a l

s w e d e nBeginning in the 1870s Swedish industry experienced an unprecedented period ofexpansion. Sweden’s system of compulsory elementary education, which had been intro-duced in 1842, contributed greatly to increased reading and writing skills throughout thecountry and transformed Sweden from an agricultural nation to an industrial one. Thefollowing decades saw the establishment of many major corporations which would cometo play huge roles in Swedish industry. Primarily these corporations produced engineeringproducts, and they became so successful that their inventors and engineers became theheroes of their day. Many of these names are well known even today.

Sweden was a small nation in relation to its population and from their beginnings,these corporations were forced to look abroad. Good ideas and the capacity for precisionmanufacturing led to the powerful expansion of Swedish industry. In addition, manycountries needed to be rebuilt after various wars from which Sweden had been spared.Building up Sweden’s own military defense forces also contributed to industrial growthand provided an opportunity for the development and testing of new products. (Militaryinventions have not been included in this book since information about them is oftendifficult to obtain.)

Some of the corporations established during this period include Atlas Copco,Ericsson, ASEA (today known as ABB), Alfa Laval, Stal Laval, AGA, SKF, ESABand Sandvik.

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Alfred Nobel (1833‒1896) was born in Stockholm, but at9 years of age moved with his family to St. Petersburg inRussia. There, his father Immanuel, an engineer andinventor, had set up a workshop to manufacture anti-personnel mines for the Russian army. St. Petersburg wasat that time a great European metropolis renowned forbeing rich in cultural offerings, and for its lively scienti-fic activity and a sparkling society life. The Nobel boyswere instructed by leading university professors rather

than going to school. Their education embraced boththe humanities and the natural sciences. In addition toSwedish, Alfred and his brothers were taught Russian,French, English and German, and they studied literatureand philosophy as well.

Alfred Nobel—inventor, industrialist and human-ist—produced many inventions. He received a total of355 patents during his lifetime, the most significant ofwhich were in the field of explosives.

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DETONATOR CAP While still in St. Petersburg, Nobelworked with the production and use of nitroglycerine.Returning to Stockholm in 1864, Nobel was at 31 years ofage granted a patent for his detonator cap for nitroglyc-erine, a revolutionary invention which made it possibleto use nitroglycerine as an explosive. The demand forthis volatile “blasting oil” meant that huge volumes hadto be produced. That same year Nobel’s nitroglycerinefactory at Heleneborg Manor in the Södermalm districtof Stockholm was destroyed as the result of an explosion.The accident claimed five lives, including Emil OscarNobel, the youngest of the Nobel brothers. Alfred Nobelcontinued developing the production methods for nitro-glycerine and the design of his detonator in order toachieve more effective and safer production and use ofthis explosive.

DY N A M I T E Alfred Nobel continued to experimentwith various compositions in order to stabilize his explo-sive “oil.” The solution proved to be kieselguhr, a specialtype of sand. In 1866 he introduced “Nobel’s SafetyExplosive”—dynamite. The blasting of the St. GotthardTunnel, the New York City subways, the Panama Ca-nal—to mention but a few projects—made the nameNobel world-famous.

G E L I G N I T E Nobel continued with his research anddevelopment and in 1875 he introduced a new explosivecalled blasting gelatin. This compound consists of 93%nitroglycerine and 7% collodium, a form of gun cotton

(nitrocellulose) dissolved in ether. Blasting gelatin thuscombines two active components in a stable, safe man-ner. It is more powerful than nitroglycerine and can beused for blasting under water.

B A L L I S T I T E A few years later, Nobel invented asmokeless powder based on nitroglycerine, with greaterexplosive force than black powder. Ballistite revolution-ized military munitions technology.

A R T I F I C I A L M AT E R I A L S Nobel pursued many re-search projects simultaneously. His work on the develop-ment of dynamite was the beginning of an entire “family”of artificial materials. Working on his own between 1876and 1890 he developed production methods for artificialrubber and synthetic leather, using nitrocellulose as thebasic ingredient.

In 1894, he obtained a comprehensive patent de-scribing the use of nitrocellulose for making artificialleather, synthetic rubber, thread, lacquers and varnishes.Many feel that this was one of Nobel’s most futuristicpatents. It was not until the 1920s that other syntheticlacquers and varnishes came onto the market.

In 1892 Nobel was contacted by Robert Strehlenert,a Swedish chemist who had an idea which capturedNobel’s interest. Strehlenert wanted to produce artificialsilk from nitrocellulose. Their collaboration was highlysuccessful and Strehlenert began the spinning of artifi-cial silk on a laboratory basis. Cooperative work betweenthe two continued for as long as Nobel lived.

n o b e l i n n o vat i o n s

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Alfred Nobel’s fortune can be attributed to his ability tocombine the qualities of scientist and inventor withthose of a visionary industrialist. Nobel’s corporationswere founded upon his many patents. He owned 90 fac-tories in 20 countries. Their production rose from 11 met-ric tons in 1867 to 60,000 metric tons by 1895. Nobel’spersonal fortune was estimated to have been just oversek 30 million. In his will, Nobel stipulated that themajor part of his estate was to be converted into afoundation and invested in “safe” securities. Accordingly,sek 31.5 million (equivalent to some sek 1.5 billion today)was used to establish the Nobel Foundation.

Nobel announced that the interest on the rest of hisentire estate was to be distributed “in the form of prizesto those who, during the preceding year, have conferredthe greatest benefit on mankind” in the fields of physics,chemistry, physiology or medicine, literature and workfor the promotion of peace.

At its tercentenary in 1968, the Sveriges Riksbankinstituted the Bank of Sweden Prize in Economic Sci-

t h e n o b e l p r i z e sences in Memory of Alfred Nobel, pledging an annualamount to the Nobel Foundation equal to one of theregular Nobel Prizes.

Alfred Nobel’s will drew attention from around theworld. It was not common to donate such large sums ofmoney to scientific and philanthropic causes. Many criti-cized the international nature of the prizes and felt thatthey should have been reserved for Swedes, but thiswould not have suited a cosmopolitan like Alfred Nobel.Some family members contested the will and a series oflegal and administrative complications had to be settled.This proved a lengthy procedure, but eventually all wasresolved and the first Nobel Prizes could be awardedin 1901.

The awards are widely recognized as the world’shighest civil honors. Besides spurring recipients and po-tential candidates to new efforts in their disciplines, theyplay a valuable role in publicizing scientific and literaryachievements and humanitarian endeavors throughoutthe world.

LEFT: THE NOBEL PRIZE CEREMONY HELD AT THE STOCKHOLM CONCERT HALL, ON DECEMBER 10, 2005.TOP: THE MEDAL FOR PHYSICS AND CHEMISTRY.

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Gustaf Erik Pasch (1788‒1862), Johan Edvard Lund-ström (1815‒1888), and Alexander Lagerman (1836‒1904)laid the groundwork for the Swedish match industry.

In 1844 Pasch received a patent for the safety match,in which the deadly yellow phosphorus used in earliermatches was replaced with red phosphorus, which heplaced in the striking surface of the matchbox ratherthan in the head of the match. Johan Edvard Lundström

s a f e t y m at c hand his brother, Carl Frans Lundström (1823‒1917), whoestablished the Jönköping Match Factory in 1844‒1845,adopted Pasch’s invention and improved it.

In 1855 J.E. Lundström was granted a patent for acompletely phosphorus-free match, which was put intoproduction in 1857. Safety matches were more expensivethan phosphorus matches.

In 1864, at 28 years of age, Alexander Lagerman con-structed the first automatic match-making machine. Itwas developed into a practical form in 1892, makingpossible the mass production of matches.

The “complete process machine” which Lagermandeveloped made both matches and matchboxes, and itproduced filled matchboxes ready for sale. In 1898Lagerman’s match machine had a production capacity of40,000 boxes of matches per day. (Lagerman also devel-oped the platen printing press, which had a huge effectupon the printing industry and was an economic success.

This printing press was Lagerman’s last invention beforehe died in 1904.)

The manufacture of matches became the basis for ahuge corporate empire led by industrialist Ivar Kreuger(1880‒1932). At one point Swedish corporations hada monopoly on world match production, accountingfor 75% of all matches manufactured worldwide. AfterKreuger died in Paris in 1932, it took ten years to com-plete the legal examination into the bankruptcy whichfollowed his death. By that time, only a fraction of hishuge empire remained.

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As a 20-year old, John Ericsson (1803‒1889) devoted allhis free time to his inventions, among which was a hot-airengine. In 1826, unable to find anyone to finance his en-gine, he traveled to the UK. There he had difficulty get-ting the engine to work properly because the heat pro-duced by English coal was too intense. Ericsson shiftedhis focus and produced a new type of steam boiler,the “tube boiler,” which he used in constructing his“Novelty” locomotive, which competed against GeorgeStephenson’s “Rocket.” Ericsson’s locomotive was faster,but due to damage it could not compete in the final,decisive stage of the contest.

Ericsson’s many developments included hot-air andsteam engines and solar heaters, but his most importantwork as an inventor was in the area of propellers forships. While Ericsson was not the first to construct apropeller, his design for driving ships was the first practi-cal one. Propellers have barely changed in appearancesince Ericsson presented his design.

Following his successes with propeller design andinnovative steam engines, Ericsson focused once againupon the construction of hot-air engines. He madesignificant progress and in 1865 he received a patent for a

small, easily-maintained machine which could operateon different types of fuel. The engine was a success andmade Ericsson financially independent.

Ericsson gained his greatest fame for building theMonitor, the Union Navy’s armored warship which con-quered the Confederate navy’s Merrimac during theAmerican Civil War. The Monitor was 52 meters long,12 meters wide and clad entirely in plate iron. Of theMonitor only the deck, two canons in a rotating gunturret, the command bridge and the smokestacks werevisible above the surface of the water. The ship was com-pleted on January 30, 1862 and on March 4, the battlebetween the Merrimac (armed with ten fixed guns allaround) and Ericsson’s Monitor took place at HamptonRoads in Chesapeake Bay. The Merrimac was unableto damage the smaller ship and was forced to retreat. Thesuccess of the Monitor was a contributing factor to theestablishment of the Union navy’s dominance at sea.

Over 100 warships were built using this design, in-cluding four for the Swedish navy. The only well-preserved Monitor-type ship in the world is the Sölve,which can be seen today at the Maritime Museum inGothenburg.

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THE CREAM SEPARATOR WAS THE FIRST TRULY SUCCESSFUL EXPORT PRODUCT FOR SWEDEN’S YOUNG INDUSTRIAL SECTOR.

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In 1872, after working and studying in both Sweden andGermany, Gustaf de Laval (1845‒1913) devoted himself towhat would become his most important invention, thecream separator. He began work on his design afterhaving studied the centrifugal separator developed byWilhelm Lefeldt of Germany. De Laval immediatelyrealized the importance of rapid revolving action and hedesigned a machine that revolved several times fasterthan Lefeldt’s.

In 1877, de Laval left for Stockholm, where he con-tinued to experiment with the famous cream separatorwhich bore his name. The first model was patented in1878, and 1883 saw the establishment of the Separatorcompany (today Alfa Laval).

De Laval designed other apparatuses for the dairyindustry, including a milking machine. Yet one of hisgreatest inventions was a steam turbine with a spring-

c r e a m s e pa r at o rcushioned shaft which he introduced in 1892. It was aclear improvement over existing designs.

This turbine was equipped with specially-shapedsteam jets, “Laval jets,” which gave the steam a speedgreater than the speed of sound when it hit the turbineblades. De Laval’s innovative shaft and steam jet designsmeant that his turbine produced extremely high speeds,between 10,000 and 40,000 rpm, with high efficiency.De Laval’s steam turbine represented a significant im-provement in steam efficiency. During the 1900s, it wasthe most-widely used steam power source in the world.

De Laval was renowned for his considerable talentand versatility and unfailing enthusiasm. In the 1890s hisresearch workshop employed over 100 engineers and heproduced thousands of new ideas for inventions. How-ever, de Laval was often happy to merely develop thebasic idea and leave the practical details to others.

Lars Magnus Ericsson (1846‒1926) was trained as ablacksmith. In 1872 he was granted a travel scholarship toGermany and Switzerland, where, between 1872 and1876, he studied primarily electrical engineering. Afterhis time abroad Ericsson opened a precision instrumentworkshop, L.M. Ericsson & Co. Ericsson showed greattalent both as a technician and as a shop manager. Hebegan manufacturing telephones in 1878 and his firsttelephone was released on the market in 1881. In the sameyear he delivered the first central switchboard for 50 linesto the city of Norrköping in central Sweden. The follow-ing years saw new designs and product deliveries oneafter the other. The first telephones in Sweden had beenmanufactured abroad, but Ericsson’s telephones soondominated the Swedish market.

The first automatic telephone switchboards in Swe-den, developed by Ericsson and a jeweller named HenrikCedergren (1853‒1909), were introduced as early as 1886.The Stockholm Public Telephone Company, founded

by Cedergren in 1883, made use of Ericsson’s technol-ogy, and as a result, Stockholm had more telephones percapita than any other city in the world in 1885.

Early on, the Ericsson Company focused on exports,especially to Russia, Finland, Norway, Denmark, theNetherlands and the UK. Ericsson factories were estab-lished outside Sweden and many Ericsson telephone ex-changes were built around the world. Although Ericssonwas primarily a great corporate leader, he also made anumber of improvements to the telephones of the era, aswell as developing switchboards and laying telephonenetworks. In 1885 he invented the telephone handset.

In the 1890s, when the company’s technological ad-vances drew international attention, L.M. Ericsson es-tablished a number of subsidiary companies outsideSweden. In 1903 Ericsson gave up active leadership in hiscompany, which had become a genuine multinational.By that point of time his factories had manufactured over400,000 telephones and other types of equipment.

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Johan Petter Johansson (1853‒1943) began inventingwhen he was very young. He started his own company in1886 after having worked in various technical fields. Inhis work as a fitter, he and his assistants often had tocarry numerous wrenches for various screws and nuts.He invented the “universal wrench” (an adjustable pipewrench) in 1888, and in 1892 he constructed and patentedthe first adjustable nut wrench. Altogether, J.P. Johans-son produced 118 inventions. Many of them were usedaround the world and are still manufactured today.

J.P. Johansson had made the move from repairmanto constructor and manufacturer. He established and led

his own company until 1914, when he sold the majority ofthe stock to B.A. Hjort & Co., a subsidiary of Bahco.Sandvik Bahco has manufactured over 100 million ad-justable wrenches, and production continues. Each year,about 40 million adjustable wrenches are manufacturedaround the world using the design developed by JohanPetter Johansson.

Another of Johansson’s inventions was the Triplexlamp. This adjustable lamp, which he finished in 1919, wasa predecessor to the adjustable table-mounted work lampsseen today. That same year Johansson started the Triplexfactory, which he managed until his death in 1943.

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THE ASEA-BUILT HYDROELECTRIC POWER STATION AT HELLSJÖN IN THE PROVINCE OF DALARNA.

Jonas Wenström (1855‒1893) was an electrician and in-ventor. He had considerable knowledge of physics andrelated fields, which he broadened during extensivestudy trips. From the late 1870s onward, he devoted him-self to the study of various areas of electrical research,primarily electrotechnology.

He turned over his first inventions to industrialistLudvig Fredholm, and with Fredholm as general man-ager he founded Sweden’s first electrical company, Elek-triska AB in Stockholm. In 1890 Wenström became chiefengineer at Allmänna Svenska Elektriska AB (ASEA,today ABB). There he continued his diverse and success-ful career as an inventor, developing numerous direct-current machines and more. Among other things, he de-signed an electric locomotive. With government grantshe visited Germany and Switzerland, where he found newinspiration for his ideas concerning power transmission.

Wenström’s most important contributions were histheoretical examinations, which led to the invention ofthe three-phase electrical system. Together with the in-

t h r e e - p h a s e e l e c t r i c a l s y s t e mventor Nicolai Tesla he is honored as the father of alter-nating current (according to the courts, Wenström wasfirst). Wenström’s patent of 1891 covered the entire sys-tem for the transmission of power in the form of three-phase electrical current. It also included the machinesnecessary for the use of this system—generators, trans-formers and motors.

Wenström developed many electrical inventions,and his direct-current generator is a classic. His inven-tions became the basis for ASEA, which was formedthanks to royalties Wenström received for his patentedthree-phase electrical system.

In 1892 the first practical three-phase motor was con-structed in Sweden and in 1893 the validity of Wen-ström’s theories was proven when an ASEA-built hydro-electric power station was completed in the province ofDalarna. Electrical power equal to 300 horsepower wastransferred from the facility at Hällsjön to the miningoperations at Grängesberg, a distance of 15 km. This wasthe beginning of the electrification of Sweden.

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Carl Richard Nyberg (1858‒1939) was an inventor and in-dustrialist. Upon completing elementary school, Nybergworked for a goldsmith. In 1874 he came to Stockholmand in 1881 he began working at J.E. Eriksson’s factory,which manufactured petroleum stoves. His eagerness toincrease their efficiency soon gave him an idea for a newsort of soldering torch.

In 1881 Nyberg invented the blowtorch and by 1882he had developed his idea into practical form. He beganproduction in a former laundry room, but moved to an-other facility a few years later. The Nyberg blowtorchoperated on kerosene in much the same manner as akerosene stove: by air pressure the kerosene is forcedthrough a jet, where it is heated and vaporized. Thevaporized kerosene is then ignited and burned togetherwith large quantities of air.

The blowtorch was small and convenient and manytradesmen used it daily, because it easily provided highheat for many different purposes. Only during the last 20

years has the kerosene-burning blowtorch been outper-formed by liquid-gas torches. Thus Nyberg’s blowtorchhad a lifetime of about 100 years.

Nyberg’s blowtorch was used around the world. Itseconomic success allowed him to pursue an idea whichhe had been interested in earlier, namely aircraft. Asearly as 1878 he built several models of a helicopter-typerotary wing aircraft, but in 1897 he turned to a more con-ventional design using the principle of wings and a pro-peller. Nyberg is considered a pioneer in this area. Thecombustion engine had not yet been sufficiently devel-oped and, despite a series of experiments with light-weight steam engines, Nyberg never succeeded in con-structing an aircraft light enough to lift off. Yet throughhis experiments Nyberg made a number of discoverieswhich were later put to use in aircraft technology. One ofthese concerned laws regarding air resistance on wingsand propellers at different speeds, which Nyberg hadworked out in a wind tunnel he had constructed.

The zipper was developed in 1900 by Gideon Sundbäck(1880‒1954). A number of different zip-type fastenershad been invented since the 1800s, but the first design tofunction satisfactorily was Sundbäck’s.

The patent for the modern zipper design, that is twowoven cotton bands with metal teeth and a pull whichcould join or separate the teeth, was granted in 1914 inthe USA.

By the time the patent was granted, Sundbäck had

b l o w t o r c h

z i p p e remigrated to the USA, where he established a factory forthe production of his invention.

The appearance of the zipper has not changed sinceSundbäck’s day. The only change occurred in the 1970swhen the metal teeth were replaced by plastic, and thisnewer version has not proven to be as dependable or long-lasting. Other attempts to replace zippers with Velcrohave not met with great success. Even today the majorityof zippers are made of cotton and metal.

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s w e d i s h i n n o va t i o n s1 9 0 0 - 1 9 5 0

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Carl Edvard Johansson’s (1864‒1943) greatest achieve-ment was developing and then receiving internationalrecognition for his methods for the precision measure-ment and inspection of machine components. He alsosucceeded in introducing a simple, unified set of rela-tional measures between imperial and metric units ofmeasure. Johansson’s new systems came at a time whenthe need for precision measurement was on the increase,and such measurements were crucial to the mass produc-tion of engineering products and the establishment ofSweden’s corporate industries. C.E. Johansson found that,in theory, a combination gauge consisting of 102 gaugeblocks could accommodate all measurements between1 mm and 201 mm in consistent increments with a vari-ance of 0.01 mm, a total of 20,000 measurements in all.

While working at a rifle factory in the town of

Eskilstuna, Johansson discovered that the gauge blocksused there did not provide sufficiently precise measure-ments. This was the beginning of his endeavors between1897 and 1906 to build gauge blocks of greater preci-sion—his combination gauges. His work generated con-siderable interest in the engineering industry, and in 1910he established his firm, C.E. Johansson & Co., whichone year later was reorganized as AB C.E. Johansson.The gauges he introduced in 1901 had a tolerance of onethousandth of a millimeter, and in 1907 he applied for apatent for a gauge for even closer tolerances.

“Precision Johansson’s” measuring blocks played animportant role in the engineering industry, both in Swe-den and abroad, especially in the American automobileindustry. For a time C.E. Johansson worked for HenryFord.

Following technical studies in Gothenburg and Zurich,inventor and industrialist Gustaf Dalén (1869‒1937) pur-sued an interest in acetylene gas.

During the years 1905‒1909, Dalén developed fourfamous inventions which became the cornerstones ofthe AGA system: 1) aga, a gas storage medium which re-duced the risk of acetylene explosions during transport,2) an intermittent lamp (1905) for lighthouses whichgave rapid flashes of light from acetylene gas, 3) his solarvalve (1907), which automatically lit the gas lamp of alighthouse when darkness fell and extinguished it at day-break and 4) the Dalén mixer (1909), an apparatus whichblended acetylene gas with air. The first installation ofthe AGA system for lighthouse illumination was com-pleted already in 1904. AGA lighthouses became virtu-ally maintenance-free when Dalén added a device whichautomatically changed burned-out gas mantles.

These lighthouses brought huge savings in person-

nel and material costs and increased the safety of oceantransport. Dalén’s lighthouse system was used aroundthe world during most of the 20th century. His systemwas also used in other applications such as lighted buoys,aircraft landing lights, wind indicators and railroad sig-nals. In 1906 he became a chief engineer with the Swed-ish Gas Accumulator Company, and he later served aspresident of the same company. In 1912 Dalén wasblinded in a gas accumulator accident. Despite his mis-fortune he continued as president of AGA until justbefore his death.

Under Dalén’s leadership AGA developed into amultinational company with sales organizations in mostcountries. Another of his inventions was the AGA cookerin 1929. This popular cooking stove, which burns coke,is manufactured by a foreign company today.

In 1912 Gustaf Dalén was awarded the Nobel Prizein Physics.

c o m b i n at i o n g au g e

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THE LJUNGSTRÖM TURBINE WAS AN INSTANT SUCCESS. AMONG OTHER APPLICATIONS, IT POWERED THE STREETCARS OF LONDON.

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Birger Ljungström (1872‒1948) and his brother FredrikLjungström (1875‒1964) began their inventing early.When only 23 years old, Birger Ljungström introducedthe Svea Velocipede, a bicycle with adjustable gears, free-wheeling and a foot brake—an invention which attrac-ted much attention in its day. The Svea’s pedals workedup-and-down rather than in a circular motion. A factoryto manufacture this new creation was established in theUK with financial help from Alfred Nobel. Unfortu-nately the enterprise was never a success and ended upbeing liquidated.

The brothers had a number of other renowned cre-ations, the most famous of which was the Ljungströmturbine. The first sketch was made and patented in 1894and production began in 1908 with the founding of theLjungström Steam Turbine Company. The new turbinewas an instant success. Among other applications, itpowered the streetcars of London.

The Ljungström turbine is a radial turbine, that is,the steam is directed from the center of the turbine bladeout to the periphery. The turbine lacked fixed vanes. In-stead, the blades were shaped so that they also served asvanes for the outer turbine blade. The Ljungström tur-

l j u n g s t r ö m t u r b i n ebine had two shafts which rotated in opposite directions.For this reason it was often referred to as the double rota-tion turbine.

One of Fredrik Ljungström’s most important inven-tions was an air preheater. This rotating heat exchangerincreases the efficiency of steam boilers by recycling heatfrom exhaust gases to warm the incoming air supply.More than 20,000 of these preheaters have been in-stalled around the world and they are still manufacturedby Svenska Rotor Maskiner of Stockholm. While theLjungström preheater is not generally listed as one ofthe most famous Swedish inventions, it was honored in1995 by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers(ASME) as one of the greatest mechanical inventionsever, and was elevated to the status of an “InternationalHistorical Mechanical Engineering Landmark.”

Also well known is the Ljungström boat, a sailboatwith an unstayed, rotating mast. The boat has a single“double” sail that can be unfolded in favorable winds.Another Ljungström invention was a method for the ex-traction of shale oil, which was of considerable impor-tance for Sweden’s fuel supply during the lean years ofthe 1940s.

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THE MODEL 4 VACUUM CLEANER LAUNCHED BY ELECTROLUX IN 1919.

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The first electric vacuum cleaner was invented around1880 in the USA. It was a large machine equipped withbellows and crankshafts, which made it difficult to use.However, the trend was toward smaller, easier-to-usevacuum cleaners, and in 1910 Eberhard Seger (1854‒1923)constructed a smaller machine for home use.

Seger established the Salus factory to manufacturehis vacuum cleaners. He also collaborated with the Luxcompany, which later was merged in Electrolux, and in1912 the first production series vacuum cleaners came outon the market.

Vacuum cleaners were constantly undergoing im-

provements. In 1913 Lux received initial patents. Thecompany finally received its first patent for an entirevacuum cleaner in 1915. This model had an electrically-driven fan which drew the dust in through a nozzle fixedto the end of a flexible hose, into a dust collection bagmade of cloth (much like the vacuum cleaners of today).This machine weighed only 19 kg and took up very littlespace, which made it easy to use in the home.

Vacuum cleaners were soon widely accepted, and to-day they are part of the standard equipment for a home.Vacuum cleaners are still one of the major products of theElectrolux company.

Frans Wilhelm Lindqvist (1862‒1931), an inventor andindustrialist, began working in the metal processing in-dustry in Eskilstuna. He moved on to Gothenburg andthen Stockholm, where after a while he found work inthe shops of the Separator company. There, togetherwith his brother Carl Anders Lindqvist, he developedthe kerosene stove, which they patented in 1891.

Before Lindqvist created his stove, kerosene-firedstoves had worked on the same principle as a kerosenelamp, that is using a wick and an open flame. Lindqvisthit upon the idea of preheating the kerosene so that itwas vaporized before burning. This made for a stove thatprovided much more heat and which did not smoke. To-gether with machine shop owner Johan V. Svensson hebegan to manufacture the new stove, which he dubbedthe Primus. In 1898 the company was merged into ABPrimus. During the period 1905‒1918 Lindqvist served

as president of the corporation, which at times had asmany as 700 employees.

The Primus stove was a huge success and was ex-ported all over the world. Around 50 million of themwere produced by a number of different manufacturersand they were also sold under other names such as theRadius Stove, the Svea Stove and the Optimus Stove.These kerosene stoves are still an important piece ofequipment for many Bedouins on the move in deserts,and many modern day campers still use Primus stoves.The Swedish marketing genius B.A. Hjort contributedgreatly to the huge success of the Primus stove and to J.P.Johansson’s adjustable wrench—two products for whichhe held the world sales rights. In 1918 Lindqvist sold hisshare in Primus to B.A. Hjort & Co. Upon his death in1931 he bequeathed sek 1 million to the cause of needyelderly persons in Stockholm.

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IN THE 1930s, ELECTROLUX BEGAN EMPLOYING WORLD-FAMOUS DESIGNERS SUCH AS RAYMOND LOEWY AND SIXTEN SASON FORTHE DESIGN OF SOME OF ITS APPLIANCES. THIS REFRIGERATOR FROM 1938 WAS DESIGNED BY RAYMOND LOEWY.

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The first functional household refrigerator, the Domeir,was manufactured in Chicago in 1913. A dozen morebrand names appeared on the American market in theyears leading up to 1916. Most of these refrigeratorsconsisted of two separate units: an insulated containerholding cooling tubes and a refrigeration unit, which wasoften located in the cellar. The refrigeration unit usedsulfurous acid as a cooling agent.

The invention of a refrigerator without moving partswas a revolution. Swedish engineers Baltzar von Platen(1898‒1984) and Carl Munters (1897‒1989) succeeded in“generating cold by using heat.” The cold was producedin a sealed system in which a cooling agent (ammonia)was vaporized (boiled) by heat. The ammonia vapor wasabsorbed by water and pumped back into the vaporizer.This invention drew great interest both in Sweden andabroad. Albert Einstein was very impressed by the workof these two men and their theoretical solution for thegeneration of cold temperatures.

Production and sales began in 1925, paving the way

for the corporation that would become Electrolux. Atlast there was a way to store fresh food. By 1930 pricesdropped as the refrigerators became more and more com-mon. That year the national housing cooperative HSBmade the refrigerator a standard item in its apartments.

In 1926 the General Electric company in the USAbegan manufacturing hermetically sealed compressorunits, and in 1939 the first refrigerator with two tempera-ture levels was introduced, making it possible to keepfrozen foods in a special freezer compartment.

Carl Munters remained at Electrolux until 1936. Hecontinued as an inventor and devoted himself to heatingand cooling problems. As early as the 1930s he developeda form of foam plastic. Some of his very successful laterinventions include dehumidifying units, air conditioners,air scrubbers, cooling towers, heat exchangers and waterpurification plants.

Carl Munters died in 1989 at 92 years of age. Duringhis lifetime he was granted patents for more than a thou-sand of his own inventions.

r e f r i g e r at o r w i t h o u t m o v i n g pa r t s

Theodor “The” Svedberg (1884‒1971), physical chemist,performed research on the characteristics of colloids. Re-searchers under Svedberg’s leadership developed an ele-gant method of determining the size of particles in“rough dispersion” systems, that is, colloidal solutionswith relatively large particles. The method was basedupon the sedimentation of the particles caused by grav-ity. The smaller the particle, the slower it sinks. In orderto use this method the weight of the particles had tobe increased many times over, which Svedberg’s teamachieved through the use of a centrifuge.

The work began in 1922 and in 1924 Svedberg pre-sented his method for determining of molecular weightsusing his “ultracentrifuge,” which created the equivalentof 7,000 times the force of gravity. In 1925 a centrifugewas built in Uppsala, from which Svedberg obtained the

equivalent of 100,000 times the force of gravity. Thismethod is based upon the fact that molecules of differentsizes and weights settle at different speeds in a gravita-tional field.

Ultracentrifuges have been improved over the years,and today they achieve gravitational forces 900,000‒1,000,000 times that of the earth’s. Under these circum-stances one gram may have the same effect as a ton.

The molecular weight of complicated protein mol-ecules can now be determined by measuring the speed atwhich large molecules settle under the influence of agravitational field of known intensity. Modern ultracen-trifuges make it possible to determine the weight of amolecule with an uncertainty of less than one percent.For his work regarding dispersion systems TheodoreSvedberg received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1926.

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Hasselblad’s history as a camera maker goes back to 1941,when the Viktor Hasselblad company was formed. Thecompany manufactured aerial cameras for the Swedishair force. Viktor Hasselblad (1906‒1978) also wanted tobuild a precision camera for civilian use. He envisioneda system of interchangeable lenses, film magazines andviewfinders. After six years of work he presented hiscamera, based on a single-lens reflex system.

Upon its debut in New York in 1948 the camera be-came a sensation. It used an image format of 6 cm x 6 cm,unlike earlier system-based cameras, which made use oftiny images. The media paid great attention to theHasselblad when it became the first camera to take pic-tures in space in 1962. One of Hasselblad’s greatest PRsuccesses came later when his cameras were used on the

h a s s e l b l a d c a m e r aAmerican moon missions. After a Hasselblad camerawas used to record Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin’shistoric moonwalk in 1969, Hasselblad became one ofthe most recognized trademarks in the world. Since itsintroduction in 1948, Hasselblad’s camera has undergonemany improvements, and Hasselblad remains a domi-nant camera manufacturer. The Viktor Hasselblad Com-pany has had several different owners in later years.

In his will Hasselblad donated sek 78 million to theErna and Viktor Hasselblad Research Foundation. Eachyear since 1980 the Foundation has awarded the Hassel-blad Prize, one of the most prestigious photographicprizes in the world. The Prize consists of a gold medaland a monetary award.

LEFT: APOLLO 11 ASTRONAUT EDWIN E. “BUZZ” ALDRIN, JR. ON THE SURFACE OF THE MOON, A PHOTO TAKEN ON JULY 20, 1969, BYFELLOW ASTRONAUT AND FIRST MAN ON THE MOON, NEIL ARMSTRONG, USING A HASSELBLAD CAMERA. TOP: THE WELL-KNOWN DESIGN OF THE

HASSELBLAD CAMERA (503CW). THE FIRST VERSION IN 1948 WAS DESIGNED BY SIXTEN SASON.

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THE SPHERICAL BALL BEARING. TOP RIGHT: INVENTOR SVEN WINGQUIST AND A DRAFT OF HIS ORIGINAL DRAWINGS.

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Bearings have been crucial to the development of ma-chine technology. While ball bearings have been usedsince the Middle Ages, Swedish inventor and industrialistSven Wingquist (1876‒1953) is regarded as the inventorof the modern roller bearing. In 1907 he invented thespherical ball bearing. Swedish industry has played asignificant part in the development of roller bearings,particularly Svenska Kullager Fabriken, or as it is knowninternationally, SKF, the company founded by SvenWingquist.

Railway and streetcar technology offered a very in-teresting field of application for bearing research. In 1923the Swedish State Railways, accepted spherical, radialroller bearings for use in its railway cars.

C - B E A R I N G The most often-used spherical rollerbearing, the C-bearing (1948), was invented by ArvidPalmgren of SKF. Unlike earlier roller bearings theC-bearing had symmetrical rollers which were of equalthickness at both ends. In addition the C-bearing had aloose separator or cage which kept the rollers on theright course.

One advantage of the C-bearing is that it can with-stand axial twisting, such as when a car drives around acurve. A bearing with symmetrical rollers maintains aneven load on the rollers, even during axial twisting.When the bearing encounters twisting the outer ringmoves axially in relation to the inner ring. Unlike older

fixed separators the loose separator moves with the roll-ers as they adapt to the axial twisting without increasingthe tension or friction on the ends of the rollers. Thus theC-bearing is able to carry a heavier load than earlierbearings, even when twisted.

CC-BEARING The CC-bearing (1972), a self-aligningroller bearing which greatly reduces friction against theflanges, was invented by engineers Magnus Kellströmand Leif Blomqvist at SKF in Gothenburg. The CC-bearing produces lower friction values over a smaller areaof distribution. Lower friction provides lower operatingtemperatures, so that the bearing requires less frequentlubrication and offers higher speeds and a longer life.

AXLELESS WHEEL BEARING In 1972 SKF introduced acompletely new wheel bearing for automobiles whichmade axles unnecessary. The inventor was Sture Åberg.This bearing consists of a double-row angular contactbearing and is especially well adapted to front-wheeldrive vehicles. It is low in both weight and cost. With anaxleless bearing the number of components is drasticallyreduced, which means lower costs for both the bearingsthemselves and for vehicle assembly.

CA R B ™ B E A R I N G The CARB™ bearing (CompactAligning Roller Bearing) is a “new” roller bearing devel-oped by Magnus Kellström. It combines the best ofother types of bearings, can withstand greater axial forcesand sideways thrust, and can carry heavier loads.

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s w e d i s h i n n o va t i o n ss i n c e 1 9 5 0

Electricity must often be transported over long dis-tances. For example, electricity is produced in northernSweden and used mainly in the southern portion of thecountry. Such long transport distances lead to energylosses. These losses are reduced when higher voltage anddirect current are used.

The method for the transmission of high-voltagedirect current (HVDC) was developed by ASEA underthe direction of Uno Lamm (1904‒1989) during the1930s. The development took several years and consistedof many partial solutions which were patented. In 1943an important collaborative effort was undertaken byASEA and Vattenfall, Sweden’s then state-operatedpower company. The project involved high-voltage di-rect current transmission between the western Swedishtown of Trollhättan and Mellerud.

Similar developmental projects that had been un-dertaken in other countries were stopped by the SecondWorld War, and by the time the war had come to an end,the projects had been abandoned. ASEA alone contin-ued in these efforts, and the experiments at Trollhättanshowed such promising results that in 1950 Vattenfall or-dered a direct current transmission system between the

Swedish mainland and the Swedish island of Gotland inthe Baltic Sea. This system was used on a large scale forthe first time in 1954. It is interesting to note that only asingle cable had to be laid—the seawater itself served asthe other conductor. The Gotland cable has been fol-lowed by a number of successors, including at Öresundbetween Sweden and Denmark, in Japan, the EnglishChannel and in Canada.

In 1965 ASEA began an initiative that set the devel-opment of thyristor semiconductors in motion. In 1967 aswitching station equipped with thyristors was installedas part of the Gotland power transmission project. Threeyears later ASEA was able to make the first commercialdelivery of thyristor switching devices for HVDC.

ASEA Brown Boveri (ABB) has continued to de-velop the transmission of high-voltage direct current andhas introduced a method for the transmission of powerfrom offshore and other distantly-located windpowerfarms called HVDC Light. In this system, the cables areburied deep under the earth. The first installationof HVDC Light was made on Gotland for thetransmission of power from Näsudden to the town ofVisby.

h i g h - v o lta g e d i r e c t c u r r e n t

LEFT: THYRISTOR VALVE HALL IN DADRI, INDIA, PART OF THE RIHAND-DELHI HVDC POWER TRANSMISSION PLANT.

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In 1951, Tetra Pak presented the revolutionizing idea forthe storage of non-carbonated drinks such as milk andjuice in plastic-coated paper containers. The inventorswere Erik Wallenberg (1915‒1999) and Ruben Rausing(1895‒1983). Ruben Rausing had got his idea from theUSA where milk was sold in containers made of wax-coated paper. Rausing, who thought this was too expen-sive, wanted to see an inexpensive and hygienic dispos-able container of paper.

In 1944 Erik Wallenberg hit upon the idea of a tetra-hedron shape. A cylinder of plastic-coated paper wasclosed at both ends by two pressed seams located at rightangles to one another. The resulting tetrahedron shapewas well-suited to stacking and storage.

This development began at the firm of Åkerlund &Rausing in 1944, and really gained momentum in thenewly-founded Tetra Pak in 1951. Tetra Pak built ma-chines which could fill plastic-coated cartons with cream

and milk on a continuous basis. The next stage was a re-shaping of the cartons to a more easily-handled squarecontainer. Later, a system for the aseptic handling of milkwas developed. When Tetra Pak cartons were releasedon the market, they offerered consumers a simpler andmore convenient way to handle milk for home use.

Sales of the first machines to the dairy industry weremade in Sweden in 1952. By the end of the 1960s, TetraPak products were in use throughout the world. Thecompany made new advances in packaging technology,for example their “Tetra Brik” carton was introduced in1963. Tetra Pak continuously developed its productionmachines and found new areas of application for its tech-nologies.

Tetra Pak reached its stride as a corporation in themiddle of the 1960s. The company continues to grow,and in 2005 about 64.4 billion liters of products weredelivered in Tetra Pak containers worldwide.

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THE FIRST KNOWN SYNTHETIC DIAMONDS WERE PRODUCED IN 1953 BY ASEA.

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Baltzar von Platen (1898‒1984) was the co-inventor ofthe refrigerator without moving parts during the 1920s(see p. 37). Toward the end of the 1930s, von Platen devel-oped a high-pressure machine press with a large tablearea for use in the production of synthetic diamonds.

Around 1930 he had seen a diagram which showedthe relationship between pressure and temperature whencoal is crystallized into diamond. It was believed that itwould be impossible to build a machine which couldcreate the extremes of pressure and temperature neces-sary to duplicate this process. Nonetheless, von Platentook on the challenge and ASEA became interested inthe project.

By 1950 Baltzar von Platen had developed a “dia-mond machine” which was further refined by ASEA,and in 1953 ASEA produced the first known syntheticdiamond. The process used pressures of up to 80,000

atmospheres and temperatures of 1700 to 1800°C.ASEA developed a series of high-pressure presses

called the “Quintus press” for use in various applications.The Quintus press uses wire wound under tensionaround the frame of the press. Two of the engineers whoworked on the development and application of the presswere Hans Larker and Erik Lundblad. Even though vonPlaten did not himself produce the first synthetic dia-monds, he did create a machine with unique capabilities.

Today the Quintus press is used in powder metal-lurgy for the manufacturing of complex products, whichare difficult to make due to their basic materials or theirform. In the so-called HIP method (Hot Isostatic Pres-sure), production occurs in two steps: first, powderedmetal is produced by finely breaking up a stream of mol-ten metal, and then the powder is pressed into a denseform.

The Pressductor® transducer, a tool for measuring me-chanical forces, was invented by Birgit Dahle and OrvarDahle in 1953. The Pressductor consists of a sheet ofmagnetic material with two windings of wire at rightangles to one another, so that their interior inductance iszero. When the device is put under torque the conduc-tivity of the magnetic material is modified and the mu-tual inductance of the wire windings is also changed, sothat a signal from one winding is transferred to the other.

q u i n t u s p r e s s

p r e s s d u c t o r ® t r a n s d u c e rThe strength of the signal depends upon the strength ofthe force.

The Pressductor is used to measure pressure in roll-ing mills, scales, etc. Another application is in the port-able truck scales often used by highway police, e.g. toweigh an entire truck with a full load. Because the Press-ductor is extremely durable, it can be integrated intolarge projects for continuous monitoring of loads uponmachinery, such as derricks and overhead cranes.

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The hovering lawn mower “Flymo” attracted consider-able attention when it was introduced in 1953. Developedby Sven Kamph, it proved to be a simple but ingeniousdevice.

This lawn mower is based upon the same principleas the hovercraft. A fan forces air downward under thebody of the hovercraft, which is lifted slightly so that itfloats on a cushion of air. Kamph used this principle toget his lawn mower to hover a few centimeters over the

ground. The rotary blade used to cut the grass also servedas the fan, so that the machine could be made small andcompact. The mower is easy to use since the air cushionmakes it feel weightless. At the same time the outwardflow of air distributes the grass clippings, eliminating theneed to rake them up. Kamph’s mower is also easy to useon slopes and over drop-offs. The mower is sold underthe name Flymo, and since its introduction more than500,000 have been manufactured.

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Rotating axles always rest upon one or more bearings,which must be lubricated to maintain their proper func-tion. The lubricating grease should stay in the bearing,preferably for a long time. This is why bearings have sealsdesigned to keep grease in and water and dirt out. Intheir work to develop more effective seals, engineersKarl Gustaf Derman and Sven-Erik Malmström ofSKF produced an axle seal named the O-ring. While itwas a good product, it was problematic due to its roundcross-section. Derman and Malmström knew it wouldbe much easier to mass produce rubber sealant rings ifthey could be cut with knife edges and experimentedwith a hexagonal cross-section. The waste materials fromthese experiments would later spawn a new invention.

v - r i n gAmong the waste scraps were V-shaped pieces. Dermanrealized that they had found a very simple seal with manypotential uses. The V-ring was discovered in 1959. How-ever, their company was not interested, so the inventorsstarted their own enterprise and built their own machinefor production of the V-ring.

The invention was sold to Forsheda Rubber, a com-pany which realized the potential of the new seal. Todaythe V-ring is part of the front wheels of all Volvo auto-mobiles. Later, SKF became a large customer.

Today the V-ring is used in washing machines, cars,and rolling mills. Derman still works as an independentinventor. Among his many inventions is a shock absorberfor boats.

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The Thorsman plug was invented by sociologist OswaldThorsman. It is used to fasten screws into holes whichcannot be threaded. Thorsman experimented with vari-ous plugs in his kitchen in Bromma, a suburb of Stock-holm. He hoped to construct a durable plug for use in thehigh-rise apartments which were to be built between1956 and 1962 at Hötorget in central Stockholm. Alumi-

num plugs eventually turned to powder, and woodenplugs dried out or rotted. The Thorsman plug was madeof plastic, a revolutionary idea for the day. Furthermore,since it expanded outwards in two directions when tight-ened, it produced a double effect, giving it great resis-tance to being pulled out. Thorsman & Co. was foundedin 1959.

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Often when a train began moving, the power of the loco-motive was too great and its wheels began to spin. Un-fortunately, the weight of the loads which a locomotivehad to pull could vary greatly. In 1960 a Swedish groupunder the leadership of Tore Nordin found a solution.Through the use of thyristors, a spin-free application ofthe locomotive’s power was achieved regardless of theweight of the train’s load.

High-voltage alternating current was transformedinto pulsating direct current, which was then fed to thefour electric drive motors. The drive motors are mounted

t h y r i s t o r - c o n t r o l l e d l o c o m o t i v ein two bogeys, where they each drive their own wheel.They are regulated by “drive controls” which control thethyristors so that the appropriate current is fed to themotors. The thyristor is a device which controls the “ap-pearance” of the electric pulse without moving parts. Inturn it also controls the electrical effect delivered to theelectric motors of the locomotive. Thyristor-controlled“Rc-locomotives” can be used with various line voltagesand frequencies. These locomotives have been a majorSwedish export product manufactured by ABB. Todaythey are produced by a foreign manufacturer.

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Nils Svensson revolutionized shipbuilding. Starting witha model built in his cellar, he created an entirely new wayto build large ocean craft. His method laid the ground-work for the revolutionary Arendal Shipyard in Gothen-burg.

Construction of the Arendal Shipyard was begun in1959. In contrast to conventional shipyards, the Arendalfacility was built with a relatively short face toward thewater and a long section on dry land. This formationmade it possible to create a “straight line flow” produc-tion line, beginning with the assembly of frameworkmembers and steel plating almost a kilometer from thewater.

From there, the materials were transported alongrollerways in a sequential order from station to station invarious workshops until they reached the hull assemblybuilding. Here, under a roof in the innermost portionof the shipyard, the panels, plate and framing members

s t r a i g h t l i n e f l o w s h i p b u i l d i n gwere welded together into slice-like sections. The aftsection of the ship was built first.

In Svensson’s system, section is joined to section,and the finished portions of the ship are “extruded” outinto the outer portion of the yard. When the final sectionis welded into place, the ship is finished. What remainsto be done before the ship can be delivered is merelyfinishing work such as painting and testing.

When the Arendal Shipyard was officially opened in1963 the only thing it had in common with traditionalshipyards was that it was a place for building ships.

Eventually, technological developments surpassedthe Arendal Shipyard. During the global shipbuildingcrisis of the mid-1970’s, the Arendal facility concentratedon the offshore market, and achieved success with an-other innovation—half-submerged, floating platforms. In1989 the shipyard’s owner (the Swedish state) decided toend all shipbuilding activity at Arendal.

Although deep freezing is an effective method for thepreservation of food, it is difficult to freeze many freshfoods such as vegetables, berries, fruit and potatoes.Deep freezing had been used early on, but when the foodwas thawed, the results were often disappointing.

In 1961 Per Oscar Persson and Göran Lundahl de-veloped a process in which vegetables were flash-frozenin liquid nitrogen, dubbed “Flofreeze.” Persson and Lun-

dahl found that freezing portions of food almost in-stantly gave the best results.

The liquid freezing medium means that the veg-etables can be spread out and separated from one anotherduring freezing. Since the introduction of this method,frozen foods have replaced many types of canned foods.Facilities for fluidized freezing using Persson’s and Lun-dahl’s method have since been built in most markets.

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LEFT: SAAB TURBO ENGINE WITH 16 VALVES. RIGHT: THE ATLAS COPCO “COBRA” ROCK DRILL, DESIGNED BY BJÖRN DAHLSTRÖM.

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The hydraulic rock drill is a star product for Sweden’sexport industries, in particular for Atlas Copco. Thefirst hydraulic rock drill was sold in 1973. These drills of-fer greater power and depth capacity than pneumaticrock drills. In addition, they are lighter and easier tomove than earlier drill equipment, use less energy andcontribute to improved working conditions.

One of the most important components of thesedrills is a recoil damping system invented in 1975 by

Viggo Romell, chief engineer and project manager,engineer Åke Eklöf and Anders Fensborn. Atlas Copcohas also developed handheld pneumatic and gasoline-driven rock drills (the “Cobra”) which operate at lowvibration levels. They significantly decrease the occur-rence of “white fingers,” a problem which afflicts manypeople who work for long periods of time with vibratingmachines. Atlas Copco has been awarded prizes for thedesign of its handheld rock drills.

Although supercharged (or “turbo”) engines had beenused for many years in motor racing, they were not avail-able to everyday drivers because they were difficult tomaintain, unreliable and had poor fuel economy. Beforeturbo engines could be used in mass-produced passengercars, these problems had to be overcome.

In 1976, as a project manager at Saab-Scania, BengtGadefelt developed a turbo engine for passenger cars.He applied a new idea to turbo technology, namely thatthe turbocharger took effect automatically when thedriver needed extra power, for example when passing

other cars or at highway speeds. Saab built the first mass-produced passenger car with a supercharged engine foreveryday use. The new engine earned Saab more interna-tional press coverage than all of the company’s previousPR efforts put together.

These developments continued and in 1984 Saabbecame one of the first car manufacturers in the worldto market a mass-produced car equipped with a four-cylinder engine with 16 valves and turbo charging.

Saab has had many imitators and today most carmanufacturers produce cars with turbo engines.

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The AXE system is a completely automated telephonesystem that uses computerized switchboards developedby Swedish Telecom (now called Telia) in cooperationwith Ericsson, with production taking place at Ericsson.

In 1969 Ericsson and Swedish Telecom were ex-periencing serious problems with their new computer-ized telephone switchboard stations. The dire situationgave rise to a collaborative development project under-taken in a jointly-owned research company, Ellemtel.Ellemtel was started in 1970 with stock holdings ofsek 10 million. In addition, both Swedish Telecom andEricsson invested sek 20 million each in the form ofloans to the company, which can in retrospect be re-garded as a wise investment.

Bengt Gunnar Magnusson (1925‒1995), the origina-tor of the idea, also served as project manager. The firstAXE facility began service in the town of Södertälje,south of Stockholm.

With the AXE system Ericsson underwent a hugeexpansion. AXE offered customers access to a variety ofservices such as wake-up calls, forwarding of incoming

calls to other telephones, fast dialing of frequently-usednumbers, and more. AXE became the basis for the tele-phone systems of today.

No matter where in the world people pick up a tele-phone handset, the AXE system is involved. AXE willcontinue to be one of the main components in the globalinfrastructure of traditional landline and mobile com-munications for both speech and data. One of the firstnations to make full use of the system was Australia.AXE is the most widely-used switchboard system, withmore than 250 million users in over 135 countries, on 150million land-based and over 100 million mobile tele-phone lines.

During the final years of the 20th century, AXE wasthe most-frequently installed system for land-based tele-phone lines, and sales of AXE for use in mobile tele-phone systems are three times higher than for land-based networks. AXE systems that were installed in the1980s are still in use around the world, and they are fullycompatible with today’s telephone technology.

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The basis for mobile (cellular) telephony was establishedin the 1950s. The equipment was clumsy and the rangewas short. Nonetheless, the system showed promise. In1968 Östen Mäkitalo became head of a research group atEricsson. The dream that everyone could own a mobiletelephone existed even at that early stage even if thetechnological means did not.

As electronic components shrank in size and micro-chips were developed, an intense worldwide race beganto create a first-generation wireless telephone system.In 1976 Mäkitalo’s group drew up their guidelines forNetwork Management Technologies (NMT), a wirelesstelephone system for everyone. The idea was based noton existing technology, but on technology that was ex-pected to come several years later.

The tactic was a success. In the beginning of the1980s NMT made its breakthrough in modern mobiletelephony. When NMT was introduced, the media madethe claim that “Portable telephones have finally become

portable.” Sweden had taken on a leading role in mobiletelephone technology. At the same time, work began ontoday’s Global System for Mobile Communication, orGSM.

Ericsson took advantage of their head start and dur-ing the 1990s became the world’s leading seller of mobiletelephone systems. In this extremely high-growth indus-try, Ericsson has since had to relinquish its leadershiprole in mobile telephones to other manufacturers whoare more specialized in consumer sales.

In 1885 Stockholm had more telephones per capitathan any other city in the world. A little more than 100years later, Sweden had more mobile telephones percapita than almost any other country thanks to Ericsson.Östen Mäkitalo remained at Ericsson and has led thedevelopment of a number of projects, including GSM,RDS (a computer system for mobile radio), MBS (beep-ers) and Dualband, which allows mobile telephones toswitch between different bandwidths.

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Håkan Lans is one of Sweden’s most famous living in-ventors. He began inventing as a boy, finding inspirationin the odd items in the cellar of his father’s pawn shop.At the age of twelve, he built a go-cart powered by amoped motor. A few years later he constructed a minia-ture submarine which could dive to a depth of more than100 meters. Today he is best known for three major in-ventions: the computer mouse, color computer graphicsand GP&C (Global Positioning & Communication).

Lans constructed a digitizer, also known as a “poin-ter,” consisting of a small box that had one button, at-tached to a light table by an electrical cord. The devicewas manufactured and sold in great numbers by HoustonInstruments. Because other inventors introduced similarmethods of controlling computers at around the sametime, Lans’ copyright on the computer mouse has beendisputed.

Although color TV did exist when Lans first intro-duced his color graphics for computers, most felt that

black and white screens were completely sufficient for allcomputer needs. Today his color graphics are used byalmost all computer manufacturers.

Lans called his third great invention “GP&C,” anextension of the GPS Global Positioning System satel-lite navigation developed by the American military.With GPS, pilots, navigators and automobile drivers cansee exactly where they are. With Håkan Lans’ GP&Csystem they can also see where other aircraft, ships andcars are.

In 1999, Lans’ system was accepted as the interna-tional standard for ocean traffic, and in 2000 also as theinternational standard for air traffic. If this system hadexisted earlier, many terrible air collisions might havebeen avoided. Using this system, aircraft can fly closer toone another’s routes, reducing overall flying time. In thefuture GP&C may be put to use in highway traffic to di-rect vehicles centrally, which could bring great improve-ments to the transport sector.

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LEFT: DEVELOPED IN COLLABORATION WITH ERGONOMIDESIGN, THIS WELDING HELMET RECEIVED THE 1997 EUROPEAN DESIGN PRIZE.TOP: THE VISOR IS MADE OF A LAMINATE OF VARIOUS LAYERS: A UV/IR FILTER, LIGHT-POLARIZING LAYERS, LAYERS OF LIQUID CRYSTAL,

AND AN OUTER LAYER OF GLASS.

Åke Hörnell is the man behind an innovation which hasimproved working conditions for welders around theworld—a welding helmet with a visor that automaticallydarkens when the light from the welding arc strikes thehelmet’s sensors. The visor lightens again automaticallyas soon as the arc is broken and the welder can moveon to the next task without having to raise or lower thevisor. In combination with the new ergonomic shape ofthe helmet this visor has greatly simplified the workof modern welders.

Hörnell’s visor and helmet are based upon an in-vention he developed in 1972 for his final year project atthe Chalmers University of Technology in Gothenburg.At the Götaverken Shipyards Hörnell was employed tofind better glass for welders’ visors. In this role, a Swissdiscovery from 1974—“liquid crystals,” which reactedimmediately to light—caught his attention. After severalyears at Götaverken he once again delved into research

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on the new technology of liquid crystals. He had an ideato create eyeglasses for light-sensitive persons using liq-uid crystals. Given Hörnell’s knowledge of welding, itwas no great leap for him to apply this technology towelding visors. By 1978 he had created a prototype, andas Hörnell was unable to interest anyone in his inventionhe started his own company.

Today Hörnell’s idea for an automatic welding visorprovides work for nearly 100 people in Sweden, as well asother employees abroad. Approximately 120,000 hel-mets are sold yearly, with sales in almost all industrial-ized nations. The company continues to develop newproducts, such as the “Speedglas 9000®.” Developed incollaboration with Ergonomidesign, this helmet receivedthe 1997 European Design Prize. The company has alsodeveloped a battery-driven air filter, which removes 98%of the toxic substances in welding fumes.

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Electrician Matti Viio was annoyed over poorly-designedwork clothes. He thought that the clothes just got in hisway. The straps of his overalls kept pulling loose, andwhen he tied the straps together so that he would notlose his overalls, the knots dug into his shoulders. Hefound his pockets poorly suited to carrying staples andnails.

Matti Viio tried to get clothing factories to makework clothes that were better adapted to work, but the

companies answered that this would be too expensiveand difficult. Viio took the matter into his own hands.

In 1975, after some years of experimentation, hestarted Snickers Original on the concept of “practicalwork clothes for all situations.” His endeavors succeededbeyond all expectations and the company grew rapidly.Over the years, Snickers has gained many competitors,and today almost every field of work has its own specialwork clothes adapted to its specific needs.

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At the age of 17, after just eight years of compulsoryschool and a short time as an apprentice in a radio shop,Leif Lundblad started his first company, a TV repairshop. An excavator caught his interest and this led to anew entrepreneurial experiment with that type of ma-chine. Then came a new company that used hydraulic“skylift” platforms for cleaning building facades. Afterthat, Lundblad invented his highly successful cash pay-ment device for gasoline pumps, which made it possibleto pay at the pump with bank notes.

In 1976 came the idea for what was to become LeifLundblad’s greatest success yet, a cash machine thatcould handle bank notes. A major drawback with thefirst automated teller machines was their inefficiencyin handling notes. Bank personnel had to cull out the

c a s h a d a p t e rworn notes and then manually push the usable ones inbetween a set of metal bands. Around 1978 Lundbladsolved this problem by placing the notes in a magazine.This made it possible to use all of the notes, and theycould even be of different denominations. This greatlyreduced the work involved with these machines.

Lundblad’s invention found applications not only inautomated teller machines, but in banks themselves,wherever large quantities of notes had to be handled.

In 1976 Lundblad started his Inter Innovation com-pany to manufacture his note handler and other inven-tions. Ten years after it was started, the company had2,000 employees and sales of sek 1.2 billion. In 1996 thecompany was sold to a foreign investor.

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For years Nils Bohlin (1920‒2002) worked as a techni-cian in Saab’s aircraft division. He helped develop theejection seat for the famous J35 Draken fighter aircraft.In 1958 he switched from aircraft to automobiles and begana new job at Volvo. At that time, seat belts were alreadystandard equipment in some car models, but they wereonly two-point belts, which went across the hips ordiagonally across the torso. With such seat belts therewas still a sizeable risk of slipping out of the belt in a col-lision and being thrown from the car.

Bohlin became Volvo’s first safety engineer, and wasassigned the task of finding a better design. His solutionwas the three-point safety belt: one strap across the torsoand one across the hips, with a fixed hitching point be-tween the seats. This belt stayed in the correct place dur-ing a collision. The powerful forces of a collision weredistributed to the pelvis, one of the most durable parts ofthe body, and the ribcage, which is fairly flexible. Thusthe soft organs of the abdomen could be protected. Alltests showed that the belt worked well, and in 1959 thethree-point belt was introduced as standard equipmentin the front seats of Volvo’s passenger cars for the Nordicmarket. However, Volvo had set its sights on the USA.

In 1968 the large American car manufacturers ac-cepted the three-point safety belt as standard equipmentin the front seats of all passenger cars. Since then, the

three-point belt has spread around the world and hassaved tens of thousands of lives. The three-point belt hasspared many people from injuries which might have leftthem disabled for life. Nils Bohlin and Volvo have re-ceived a number of honors for their development of thethree-point safety belt and their documentation of itsadvantages.

In 1989 Nils Bohlin was inducted into the Safety &Health Hall of Fame International and in 2002 into theInventors Hall of Fame. When the West German patentauthority celebrated its one hundredth anniversary someyears earlier, it honored eight patents which had been ofthe greatest importance for humanity. The three-pointsafety belt was one of these, and Bohlin was ranked equalin importance to other names from automobile historysuch as Edison, Benz and Diesel.

Figures maintained by the National Highway TrafficSafety Administration in the USA reveal just how im-portant the safety belt has been for humanity. They showthat, in the 1980s, eleven lives were saved by safety beltseach day. This amounts to a life saved every other hour or4,000 lives per year in the USA alone.

Today, all three-point safety belts use the design de-veloped by Nils Bohlin, regardless of the make of the car.The safety belt is one of the most important car safetyfeatures.

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Cars had been equipped with safety belts for many years,but earlier belts hung loose and were difficult to adjust.Different drivers using the same car were forced to re-adjust the length of the belt. If one needed to reach forsomething, for example in the glove compartment, thebelt had to be released. The type of safety belt dominanttoday—the retractable belt—eliminates these drawbacks.

Attempts to produce a functional retractable seat-belt met with several difficulties—the spring that was toretract the belt was too weak and became weaker withtime, and the locking mechanism did not function satis-factorily and was affected by dirt. In the early 1960s HansKarlsson, a helicopter mechanic at Ostermans, beganwork on an improved belt. His efforts led to the intro-duction of the retractable seat belt in 1961. This inventionwas improved by its inventor several times until 1972.

The retractable belt was a great improvement on

Airbags for front-end crashes have been in existencesince the 1970s. Airbags for side collisions are a relativelynew development. A problem with side crash bags wasthat they had to be inflated much faster than front crashbags, but existing technology would not allow this.

The solution to this problem was found by engi-neers Staffan Carlsson and Torsten Persson in the townof Karlskoga. With the help of modern pyrotechnologythey developed a sensor which reacted quickly enough.The sensor sends a signal to the gas generator which in-flates the airbag. The entire process occurs in a fractionof a second.

earlier fixed seat belts. It is always pulled close to thebody without squeezing. It is self-adjusting, fits all bodytypes, rolls out of the way when it is released and is easyto put on and take off. However, the most important fea-ture is the action of the locking roller. It has a doublelocking function: it has a “shock lock” when pulled outrapidly and a retarded locking action when the speed ofthe car is reduced more gradually.

Hans Karlsson has also produced other inventions,such as a balancing pulley for the suspension of handheldtools. This pulley is based upon the principle of “reversedspring power” which provides constant tension on a line,even when pulled a considerable distance. Karlsson isstill active as an inventor and is working on a vibration-free, fuel-efficient two-stroke motor. He has alreadybeen granted a patent in Sweden and has applied for pat-ents in several other countries.

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a i r b a g s e n s o rThe sensor was put into production in 1994 and hassince come into use around the world. It is used in forexample Saab and Volvo cars.

Side crashes account for about one quarter of all col-lisions, but because the sides of a car are thin and the dis-tance to the passengers is shorter, these accidents are re-sponsible for one third of all serious car injuries. Aroundhalf of all side collisions lead to head injuries. In the USAalone, side collisions cause 2,400 deaths and 60,000 seri-ous injuries per year. Side airbags providing head protec-tion could save the lives of around 600 people per yearand greatly reduce injuries in the USA alone.

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Professor Bertil Aldman (1925‒1998) has made many pio-neering contributions to traffic safety and biomechanics.He is internationally known, especially for his develop-ment of the world’s first rear-facing child safety seat.

The year was 1957 and Sweden’s national researchcouncils had organized a joint committee on traffic safe-ty research. Traffic accidents were on the rise duringthis period and the committee was looking for a physi-cian willing to devote himself to this type of research.Aldman registered his interest and was given the task ofexamining the problem.

Studies were made on safety belts, traffic accidentsand the treatment of the injured. Tests were made of alltypes of safety systems for both adults and children thatcould be found on the market. Very little was knownabout how much bodily stress children could withstandduring an accident. The studies showed that existingsafety systems were insufficient, especially those that hadbeen developed for children, as most of them could notwithstand the forces they were supposed to.

At a symposium in the USA, Aldman saw a proposalfor how astronauts would be placed during takeoff and

landing, when the forces of acceleration or decelerationcan be almost as high as in a traffic accident. The astro-nauts would lie on their backs and absorb the force withtheir entire body and head simultaneously. The head andbody were not to move in relation to one another duringacceleration.

Aldman thought this solution would also be goodfor children in cars, and in 1963 he developed a prototypewhich his youngest son got to test during trips aroundthe Stockholm area. The child seat was soon put intoproduction, and in 1988 Sweden passed its law regardingcompulsory child safety seats for children in cars. As aresult, injuries to children in car accidents have been dra-matically reduced. In Sweden it is felt that other types ofchild seats are not suitable for children up to three yearsof age. Small children have weak necks in relation to theweight of their heads, making support for their headsduring a collision very important.

Bertil Aldman also collaborated on work to developa seat belt cushion for somewhat larger children. Similarsolutions were presented simultaneously in different partsof the world.

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An invention created in a workshop in the westernSwedish town of Trollhättan may be one of the greatestinnovations in the area of four-wheel drive in the lastfew years. The Haldex AWD coupling has begun tocatch on around the world. Volkswagen held the produc-tion rights until autumn 1999, but since then other carmanufacturers have begun to use the system and othersare waiting in line as the interest in all-wheel drive(AWD) continues to grow.

Four-wheel drive (4WD) is nothing new—heavy-terrain vehicles have been equipped with it for years.About 80% of today’s four-wheel drive systems usesimple, manual “on-off ” systems for switching betweentwo-wheel and four-wheel drive, whereas other vehiclesare equipped with a full-time four-wheel drive system inwhich all four wheels drive the vehicle at all times.

In the late 1980s a mechanically-minded car racer,Sigvard Johansson from Trollhättan, found that none ofthe 4WD systems he had tried worked satisfactorily. Hebegan to build his own system. Johansson succeeded, butthe development work became too involved and heturned over the production to the Haldex company,which has developed the product since 1992.

In later years four-wheel drive has been used for

more than just getting around in heavy terrain. It pro-vides greatly improved driving characteristics and safetyin situations such as hydroplaning on wet roads.

Haldex has developed a coupling that can work inconjunction with other safety systems requiring quickmechanical action, such as ABS, TCS and ESP.

The Haldex AWD coupling is a compact mechani-cal, hydraulic unit with integrated electronics. It is linkedto other systems in the car, so no additional sensors areneeded. The coupling delivers different effects adaptedto road conditions without direct input from the driver.The unit can be described as a hydraulic pump equippedwith a disc clutch located between incoming and out-going shafts. The pump is activated by differences in thespeeds at which the wheels rotate, for example when thewheels spin on slick surfaces. The pump is not activeduring normal driving. When there is a difference in thewheel speeds the clutch discs are pressed together andthe wheel spinning ceases. The system reacts in onetenth of a second.

As Haldex AWD has gained international recogni-tion, more foreign car manufacturers are placing orders.Volvo has introduced the Haldex system in its S 60AWD and XC 90 models.

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Mats Leijon, currently a professor at Uppsala University,has registered more patents through ABB than any otherinventor in recent years. One major innovation he hasled the development of is the “Powerformer.” It replacesthe transformer and makes a middle stage between high-voltage lines and the generator unnecessary. In the longterm it will lead to energy savings.

A series of products has been developed using thetechnology of the Powerformer, among them the “Mo-torformer,” a new electric motor.

What distinguishes this new series of generators andmotors from conventional technology is that the stator iswound with fully insulated wire. This construction makesit possible to operate the motor using high-voltage elec-tricity with a higher output than conventional motors.

Total energy losses are reduced, since this motordoes not need a transformer or the control equipment thatelectric motors normally require. Among other things,there is no need for a breaker between the motor and thetransformer to protect the motor in case of a power surge.

When Mats Leijon began working at ABB Corpo-rate Research in Västerås, he was determined to build ahigh-voltage electrical generator. Although conventio-nal wisdom held that this was impossible, Leijon foundno fundamental limitations in Maxwell’s Laws. After

three years of consideration and calculation, he was readyto present his idea to the corporate management. Leijonwas given the freedom to develop his idea, and the projectwas guarded in high secrecy. During the five years it tookto develop the Powerformer generator, not one wordleaked out.

The development of the Powerformer itself is no lessthan remarkable. As soon as the blueprints were ready,a functional Powerformer facility was built in just 18months at the Porjus power station in northern Sweden.The station was formally opened in June 1998.

Powerformer technology, with its polymer insulatedhigh-voltage cables in the stator windings, is legally pro-tected by more than 200 patents. Other components inthe system are for the most part the same as in ABB’sconventional products.

The Motorformer is the world’s first electric motorthat can operate on unadulterated high-voltage alternat-ing current. These motors can reduce a factory’s energylosses by about 25%. They can be used in all types of in-dustry, but are especially useful in the processing of rawmaterials, for example to operate large pumps or ma-chines. The Motorformer motor uses the same technol-ogy as the Powerformer high-voltage generator.

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A self-operating vacuum cleaner which navigates byultrasound, like a bat, is the world’s first automatichousehold vacuum cleaner in mass production. It hasthree settings: normal, fast, and localized cleanup. Itfinds its charging station automatically. If cleaning is notfinished when the vacuum cleaner needs charging it willcontinue cleaning where it left off after two hours of re-charging. After cleaning it puts itself in “sleep” mode.

Electrolux introduced this vacuum cleaner as a pro-totype in 1997 and today it is sold on the market. Per

s e l f - o p e r at i n g va c u u m c l e a n e rLjunggren led a development team which consisted ofabout 50 people. Prehistoric animals inspired the shapeof the vacuum cleaner, which was named the “Trilobite.”It received a great deal of attention for its unusual de-sign and was included in an exhibition at the NationalMuseum of Fine Arts in Stockholm. The Trilobite wasdesignated the most exciting design product of 1997 inthe book “100 Designs, 100 Years: Innovative Designs ofthe 20th Century” (1999). The Trilobite’s exterior formwas designed by Inese Ljunggren.

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RECENT SWEDISH INNOVATIONS MEDICAL

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Physician Rune Elmqvist (1906‒1996) developed a small,battery-operated pacemaker to stimulate contractions of theheart muscle when the heart’s natural impulses are too weak.

As early as the beginning of the 1800s, physicianshad dreamt of increasing the frequency of the heartbeatthrough electrical impulses. In the 1950s this idea wasrealized, and in 1958 Rune Elmqvist built his first pace-maker, a device so small that it could be surgically im-planted. That same year, Professor Åke Senning (1915‒2000) performed the world’s first pacemaker operationat the Karolinska Hospital in Stockholm. The two re-searchers had cooperated for many years. In 1948 Elm-qvist had built a defibrillator for Senning that could stopthe pumping of the heart and then start it again.

According to the story, the first pacemaker wasmolded in the bottom of a coffee cup. It was 55 mm in di-ameter and 16 mm thick and had a frequency of 72 beatsper minute, with a pulse length of 2 milliseconds. Elm-qvist was able to construct the device because he had ob-tained some of the first silicon transistors ever imported

pa c e m a k e rinto Sweden. It took him 14 days to build his pacemaker.

A modern pacemaker weighs 14 to 40 g and can beimplanted with local anesthesia. Electrodes connect thepacemaker to the heart via the veins. The speed of mod-ern pacemakers can be adjusted according to the needs ofthe individual patient. Adjustments are made by telem-etry, using radio contact between the pacemaker and thedoctor’s programming unit. This also makes it possibleto obtain diagnostic information. Efforts are underwayto create pacemakers which automatically sense thepatient’s needs.

Current pacemakers have a battery life of up to tenyears, after which they are replaced, and there are nowrechargeable types as well. This device has helped manypatients live a normal life. Today more than one millionpeople have implanted pacemakers.

In 1948 Rune Elmqvist also invented the Mingograph,an ink jet printer that could register rapid changes. TheMingograph was used in ECG machines, and a modern-ized version is still in use today.

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HOEFER™ SE 600 RUBY FROM AMERSHAM BIOSCIENCES HAS BEEN THE WORLDWIDE LABORATORY STANDARD SYSTEM FOR GEL ELECTROPHORESISSEPARATIONS FOR YEARS. COPYRIGHT AMERSHAM BIOSCIENCES 2002. (COURTESY OF AMERSHAM BIOSCIENCES.)

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e l e c t r o p h o r e s i sElectrophoresis is a method for the analysis of differentproteins based upon the fact that molecules can be nega-tively, positively or neutrally charged in different envi-ronments. The method was developed by chemist ArneTiselius (1902‒1971) during the 1930s and 1940s. He con-structed devices that used capillary zone electrophoresisto show that blood plasma from a human being could bedivided into several fractures.

In electrophoresis, molecules mixed into a gel suchas Sephadex, are exposed to an electrical field causingthem to move in different directions and at differentrates. Positively charged particles move toward the mi-nus pole and negatively charged particles move towardthe plus pole. If the electrical field is constant, the speedof the particles will be determined by the charge theyhold, their size and shape, as well as by the strengthof the field and the viscosity of the liquid. This is whyelectrophoresis plays such an important role in the sepa-ration of molecules and particles in complex mixtures.Electrophoresis is an effective tool for the determinationof the genetic material contained in DNA.

Electrophoresis is used for both analysis and separation.The most commonly used medium is water that has beenmade electrically conductive through the addition ofelectrolytes. The electrolyte systems are often buffered,that is, they have the capacity to hold pH levels at a de-sired constant.

In other methods of electrophoresis, the solution issurrounded by a porous matrix, usually a gel mediumwhich slows the flow within the liquid and keeps theseparated components from reuniting. The interactionbetween characteristics of the matrix, for example poresize, and the surrounded reagents is often used to advan-tage.

Tiselius’ work has been continued by other research-ers who have developed many different methods foranalysis and separation based on the principles of elec-trophoresis. The pioneering work done by Tiselius hastaken on great importance in modern medical and bio-logical research. Along with the ultracentrifuge it is animportant part of modern laboratory equipment. ArneTiselius received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1948.

Sephadex is a medium discovered in 1958 by researchersBjörn Ingelman, Per Flodin and Jerker Porath. Sephadexconsists of molecules of dextran, a polysaccharide whichhad been known for many years. These molecules can bemade to cross-bind, resulting in a three-dimensionalnetwork. This discovery led to further developments inthe separation technology of electrophoresis (see above).

The wound dressing Debrisan®, introduced in 1973,

is another area of application for Sephadex. This salveutilizes the cleansing and absorbent properties ofSephadex.

Debrisan consists of a network of dextran chains inthe form of small “pearls” which can absorb the moisturefrom a wound. This innovation came about after Assis-tant Professor Ulf Rothman accidentally dropped a canof dextran in water.

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Dextran is also used as a blood plasma substitute. Foryears, medical researchers around the world had beensearching for an artificial plasma.

Researchers Björn Ingelman and Anders Grönwalldiscovered that dextran could be used as a blood sub-stitute. Ingelman and Grönwall worked for ProfessorArne Tiselius at Uppsala University’s Department of Bio-chemistry. In 1943 Ingelman studied high level molecularsubstances found in sugar beets. A certain type of bacte-ria in sugar beet juices created an unusual high level mo-lecular substance, which proved to be dextran. Ingelmaninjected this substance into rabbits in an attempt to pro-duce an antiserum. He discovered that dextran had no

antigenic properties, and his experiment failed. How-ever, when the negative results revealed this peculiar lackof antigenic properties, Ingelman and Grönwall got theidea to use dextran as a blood replacement.

After initial experiments, a collaborative effort wasestablished with the pharmaceuticals corporation Phar-macia for large-scale production of dextran. After com-prehensive development work, the plasma substituteMacrodex was introduced in 1947. In 1961 a newer variantcalled Rheomacrodex was released. Macrodex increasesthe body’s plasma volume and also helps prevent bloodclots. Rheomacrodex has the additional benefit of im-proving circulation.

In the 1940s nutritionist Arvid Wretlind (1919‒2002) hadan idea for achieving a completely intravenous nutrientinput as an alternative to normal food, for patients whocould not eat. At the time, the idea was thought bizarreand the task impossible. Wretlind’s first goal was todevelop a preparation of amino acids to replenish thebody’s protein supply. This preparation was ready in1944 and was dubbed Aminosol.

One problem remained: How was the patient to geta sufficient intake of energy without eating? Others hadtried to solve this problem without success. Wretlind de-

veloped an emulsion of fats that could be introduced intothe body via a drip.

His work resulted in the preparation Intralipid®,introduced by Vitrum in 1962. Many people around theworld have had their nutritional requirements fulfilledthanks to this preparation, particularly in connectionwith unconsciousness, major operations, and severeburns. There are also reports of people who enjoy goodphysical health and can manage their jobs, even thoughthey have been receiving all of their nourishment intra-venously for several years.

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BECAUSE XYLOCAINE® ANESTHETIZES ALMOST IMMEDIATELY, VISITS TO THE DENTIST ARE MUCH SHORTER THAN IN THE PAST.

Comprehensive experiments conducted by physiciansNils Löfgren (1913‒1967) and Bengt Lundqvist (1906‒1952) during the 1930s led to the introduction of the localanesthetic ll-30 in 1943. That same year, pharmaceuticalcompany Astra took over the development of the drug,and in 1948 Xylocain® (in English, Xylocaine) was in-troduced. It brought about something of a revolution inlocal anesthesia, because it anesthetizes with virtually nodelay. Xylocaine is still used around the world in odon-tology and other medical fields. Every day, over one mil-lion injections of this drug are given.

Xylocaine is also used to treat certain irregularities of

the heartbeat, including heart attacks (as Xylocard®) andin the form of an ointment used for problems such ashemorrhoids (as Xyloproct®). Xylocaine is often used inconjunction with adrenaline, which contracts the bloodvessels. This lengthens the effective period of the Xylo-caine due to slower blood transport, and also reduces therisk of side effects since less of the drug reaches thebloodstream.

Nils Löfgren was also involved in the developmentof the local anesthetic Citanest® in 1957. This agent issimilar to Xylocaine with fewer side effects.

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In 1955 researchers Lars-Einar Fryklöf (1929‒1999), ErikSandell and Ivan Östholm developed a method of time-delayed medication they named “durettes.” These tabletswork on the principle that their active ingredient is re-leased after they are ingested. Time-release tablets aremade of coated grains of medicine imbedded in a mate-rial which breaks down slowly in the digestive tract.Another method involves surrounding the tablets with

a polymer membrane that controls the diffusion of themedication into the liquids of the digestive tract. Sincethey contain larger amounts of medication than regularpills, time-release tablets must be swallowed whole, oth-erwise they may have too strong an effect. Time-releasetablets have the advantage that patients do not need totake their medication as often, and that the release of theactive ingredient is more even.

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In the early years of the 1960s, the research and develop-ment departments at three Swedish pharmaceutical cor-porations began research into receptor mechanisms. Theproject led to beta blockers, a new type of medicine forvarious diseases. Cell activity in the body is controlled bydifferent “signal” substances. These signal substances ex-ert their influence via “stations” in the cell known as re-ceptors. The development of substances that seek out thereceptors (or that have an “affinity” for the receptors andstimulate the cell to increased activity) has given rise tomedications that improve the function of a particular or-gan, for example the heart.

Some important medicines that have resulted fromthis research include Aptin® (1965), a medicine againstangina pectoris, Bricanyl® (1966), an asthma medicinewith no undesirable side effects on the heart, and Selo-ken® (1970), a selective beta blocker that reduces bloodpressure.

APTIN® is used in the treatment of diseases of theheart and arteries, to protect against extreme stimulus ofthe heart. Such exaggerated stimulus can occur duringextreme emotional stress or during heavy physical work.In such cases the levels of adrenaline and/or noradrena-line in the blood increase. Adrenaline, a hormone, andnoradrenaline, a signal substance, stimulate the heartsince their molecules bind with special receptor pointsknown as beta receptors. The molecules of the betablocker also bind to these receptors without stimulatingactivity. Since the receptors are blocked, the adrenalineor noradrenaline is unable to locate a receptor, and thusdo not stimulate the heart.

Aptin was developed at Hässle Pharmaceuticals in

Gothenburg by three professors: Arne Brändström, HansCorrodi and Bengt Åblad.

BRICANYL® is one of the most successful Swedishmedications. Bricanyl was developed in 1966 by re-searchers Kjell Wetterlin and Leif A. Svensson at theDraco Pharmaceuticals in Lund. In order for an asth-matic to be able to breathe easier the smallest capillariesof the lungs, the bronchi, must be widened. In the 1960sit was felt that it was impossible to affect the bronchiwithout also affecting heart activity. However, whilestudying medical literature, Henry Persson at Dracofound mention of an agent which had greater effect uponthe bronchi than on the heart. Thus began intensiveresearch, which eventually led to Bricanyl. By 1969 theresearchers had synthesized a suitable substance, devel-oped a means of large-scale production, tested the medi-cation for side effects and had performed comprehensivetests on humans and laboratory animals so that themedication was ready to be released.

SELOKEN® is a selective beta blocker used as a heartmedication. It reduces blood pressure and blocks painsensations in the heart. Its primary advantage is that itlimits injuries resulting from a heart attack and preventsnew heart attacks. This is achieved primarily through anincreased oxygen flow to the heart. Seloken is one of themost important blood pressure reducers. A patient canuse it year after year without major side effects. The in-ventors of Seloken are the researchers Arne Brändström,Arvid Carlsson, Stig Å.I. Carlsson, Hans Corrodi, LarsEk and Bengt Åblad, and the medicine was developed atHässle Pharmaceuticals in Gothenburg.

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The dialysis machine was invented in 1965 by Nils Alwall(1904‒1986) and Lennart Östergren of Lund University.It was a device for one-time use, intended as a substitutefor a kidney that had been injured or surgically removed.In dialysis, the patient is connected to a dialysis machineand the blood is filtered through the machine. Dialysiscleanses the blood of substances which in a healthy per-son would be passed in the urine once the kidneys hadremoved it.

As the human body breaks down nutrients, it alsoproduces waste products which are carried away in thebloodstream. The blood is then cleaned by the kidneys.The kidneys also filter extra liquid out of the blood. Inaddition, the kidneys regulate the pH levels of the bloodand are part of the system that produces red blood cells.The kidneys are vital organs that are normally impos-sible to live without. Through dialysis, it is possible to

live a reasonably healthy life even when the kidneys haveceased to function.

Dialysis is also used in certain acute situations tocleanse the blood of poisons which might damage thekidneys (for example, when a patient has been poisonedor while awaiting transplantation of a new kidney). Di-alysis prevents urine poisoning and increases the patient’sprospects of a return to health.

Work on the first dialysis machine was begun in1968. Since then the device has allowed hundreds ofthousands of people to lead a reasonably normal life. To-day 200,000 patients around the world are treated usingthis invention. A major manufacturer of dialysis ma-chines is the Gambro Company, headquartered in Lund,southern Sweden, with branches in about 40 countries.Gambro serves more than 50,000 patients at 700 clinicsworldwide.

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Asthma is often related to inflammatory diseases of therespiratory passages. It is estimated that 5 to 10% of theadult population in industrialized countries suffer fromasthma. Yet the exact cause of asthma remains unknown.Persons afflicted with asthma have become one of thelargest target groups for the pharmaceuticals industry.AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals in Lund has developedseveral major products for its treatment includingSymbicort®, Pulmicort®, and Bricanyl®. However, itwas difficult to determine the proper dosages of thesemedications and overdoses were common. Also, some ofthe medicine always remained in the empty packagingand was wasted. A better means of setting the dosageswas needed.

Researcher Kjell Wetterlin at Draco in Lund hasdeveloped the Turbuhaler, an inhaler that provides asimpler and more effective way to take asthma medica-tion than by earlier means. The development work onthe Turbuhaler began in 1970 and took about ten years.

The Turbuhaler is pre-charged with a certain num-

ber of doses. Each dose is exactly the same quantity,reducing the risks of under- or overdosage. The user sim-ply inhales deeply. Unlike earlier inhalers, no propellentgases are necessary since the medication is moved alongby the patient’s inhalation.

This new inhaler is more effective due to its preci-sion, and because its construction allows more thandouble the distribution of the medication in the lungsthan with earlier inhalers. In turn this allows the use ofsmaller doses to achieve the same effect. The Turbuhaleris made of an environment-friendly plastic which overtime breaks down into carbon dioxide and water.

The development of this inhaler was a new area forAstraZeneca, since the company had previously devel-oped only medicinal substances. With the Turbuhaler,AstraZeneca moved into the production of technicalaids for dispensing medications. Today this new area isan important part of the research pursued by the com-pany at its facilities in Lund.

One of the most difficult problems for a person with im-paired hearing is distinguishing human speech from dis-turbing background noise. The greatest disadvantage ofmost models of traditional analogue hearing aids is thatthey amplify all sound, including noises that the userwould prefer not to hear. Researchers Johan Hellgren andThomas Lunner have developed a solution to this prob-lem. Under the leadership of Professor Stig Alinger atthe University Hospital in Linköping they invented thetechnology behind Digifocus, the world’s first digitalhearing aid, which is marketed by a Danish company.

Digifocus is unique in that different portions of the

“sound image” can be emphasized according to theunique hearing profile of the individual. Digifocus auto-matically adapts itself to different sound environments,making it easier to go from a noisy street to a quiet li-brary without the inconvenience of having to manuallyadjust a hearing aid.

Digifocus was awarded the European Union’s pres-tigious Technology Prize for 1996. Since its introductionin the spring of that same year, it has achieved wide-spread use. Today the device is recommended by hearingclinics around the world and is sold in about 40 coun-tries, chiefly in Europe and USA.

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Losec® differs from all previous ulcer medications. Itworks on only one type of cell in the entire body: the typethat produces gastric acid. As a result, the side effects ofthis product are minimal. The “secret” of Losec is itsability to prevent the formation of gastric acid in thestomach.

Hässle Pharmaceuticals’ ulcer project began in 1964.The need for better ulcer medications was great since 10‒15% of the population is afflicted by ulcers sooner or later.Since it was known that one of the main causes of ulcerswas excessive production of gastric acid by certain cells inthe lining of the stomach, the project sought a substancethat could inhibit this acid production.

Sven Erik Sjöstrand joined the project in the sum-mer of 1972 and in 1973 Ulf Ljunggren discovered a sub-stance called h 123/26, which unfortunately proved tobe poisonous. h 123/26 was modified, and in 1978 theLosec molecule was synthesized. Losec was made avail-able for sale in Sweden in 1988. During the developmentyears the project was nearly discontinued on severaloccasions, but managed to survive.

Numerous clinical studies have shown that Losec ismore effective than earlier ulcer medications. It reducessymptoms more quickly and heals ulcerations in theesophagus as well as stomach ulcers. The advantages ofLosec for the individual are a healthier life with fewerside effects, fewer operations and shorter recuperationtime. For the health care system, Losec provides signifi-cant savings due to shorter hospital stays and fewer phy-sician consultations.

A large number of people contributed to the devel-opment of Losec. In addition to project manager SvenErik Sjöstrand, chemist Ulf Ljunggren and chief re-searcher Ivan Östholm, the project involved around 150researchers and technicians.

Losec is the most widely sold medication in theworld. For four years in a row it had the largest salesfigures of any medication on the world market. Throughmore than 200 million treatments given, Losec has im-proved the quality of life for patients around the world.Today sales of its successor Nexium amount to aroundthree times those of Losec.

Nexium® is AstraZeneca’s successor to Losec®. It is apurified form of Losec based upon a simpler molecule.The USA was one of the largest markets for Losec.When the patent on Losec in the USA expired in 2001,

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n e x i u m ®the market was opened wide for less-expensive copies.AstraZeneca is trying to introduce patients to the newmedication in order to reduce the market share availableto competitors.

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SINCE 1965 OVER HALF A MILLION DENTAL PATIENTS AROUND THE WORLD HAVE BEEN TREATED USING THE BRÅNEMARK® METHOD.THE SURGEON IMPLANTS SMALL TITANIUM SOCKETS INTO THE JAWBONE, INTO WHICH THE ARTIFICIAL TEETH ARE

SCREWED. THE TEETH ARE SECURELY FASTENED AND FEEL LIKE THE PATIENT’S OWN.

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Per-Ingvar Brånemark, a professor of anatomy, devel-oped a method for surgically inserting titanium screwsdirectly into the bone. This method has proven especiallyuseful in replacing lost teeth. Traditional dental solutionsusing prosthetics and bridges are not always satisfactory.

In the 1950s Per-Ingvar Brånemark had discoveredthat titanium can bond with human tissues and can thusfunction as an implant in the human body. Brånemarkhad been studying how blood is produced in the bonemarrow and then moves out through the bone tissue andout into the bloodstream. In order to observe this pro-cess, he surgically implanted tiny microscopes made oftitanium directly into the bodies of his subjects. When itwas time to remove the microscopes they couldn’t be re-moved. They had “taken root.” Brånemark was struck bythe possibilities of this discovery. His study showed that

titanium had very special characteristics. While the bodyrejects almost all foreign materials, it will accept tita-nium. Titanium is a member of the family of light metalsand is resistant to most acids.

In 1965 Brånemark performed his first tooth replace-ment on a patient. Since then over half a million dentalpatients around the world have been treated using theBrånemark® method. The surgeon implants small tita-nium sockets into the jawbone, into which the artificialteeth are screwed. The teeth are securely fastened andfeel like the patient’s own.

In addition to fasteners for artificial teeth and otherprosthetics, this method has also been used in the devel-opment of facial prosthetics and hearing aids that arefastened directly to the bones of the skull. It promisesnew uses in other types of surgery as well.

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Helmuth Hertz (1920‒1990) was born in Berlin. Hisstudies were interrupted by the Second World War andafter some years as a prisoner of war, Hertz came toLund, thanks to the help of Danish physicist Niels Bohrand others. Hertz worked in the Department of Physicsat Lund University, where he directed the constructionof the university’s first accelerator. In the early 1950s,Helmuth Hertz began the research into ultrasound formedical uses, which would later make him famous theworld over.

At about this time, ultrasound had come into useas a means of testing materials. In this method, a seriesof ultrasound impulses are sent into a material, and theresulting echoes can then be interpreted, revealing forexample holes and weaknesses in the material. The sameprinciples are used in radar and sonar.

Physician Inge Edler told Hertz that he wanted a blood-less method for examining a patient’s heart. Hertz hitupon the idea of using ultrasound. Over a period of a fewdays Hertz and Edler performed experiments with anultrasound machine at the Technical X-Ray Center inMalmö. It took many years to fully develop the method-ology, but echocardiography has revolutionized heartdiagnostics.

In 1977 Hertz and Edler received the Lasker Prize,the American equivalent of the Nobel Prize in Medicine.The use of ultrasound in health care is constantly in-creasing in a number of areas.

Helmuth Hertz also developed a color ink jet printerthat has been used chiefly for printing alphanumericsymbols, and especially for computer-generated imagesin color.

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LEKSELL GAMMA KNIFE®, MODEL 4C WITH AN AUTOMATIC POSITIONING SYSTEM, APS. TOP RIGHT: THE FIRST LEKSELL GAMMA KNIFE.

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The Leksell Gamma Knife® is an ingenious tool in-vented by Lars Leksell (1907‒1986) and Börje Larsson,who built the first prototype in 1968 for the private hos-pital Sophiahemmet in Stockholm. The prototype wassold to the USA in 1974 for the symbolic sum of sek 1.

In contrast to traditional brain surgery, this is a non-invasive method. The portion of the brain where the dis-ease is located is exposed to radiation. The “knife” deliv-ers gamma rays through a helmet. With the help of a sys-tem of three-dimensional images and dosage metering,the helmet focuses the radiation on a specific target pointin the brain, destroying the diseased tissue without dam-age to surrounding areas. The Gamma Knife is especiallyuseful when the diseased area is located close to vital ar-eas of the brain. In such cases, traditional surgery wouldput the life of the patient in danger.

A patient can often leave the hospital within 24hours after a Gamma Knife operation. With traditionalbrain surgery, a patient may need to remain in hospitalfor several weeks. In addition, the cost of Gamma Knifetreatment is lower.

Elekta, founded in 1972, is a world leader in thedevelopment and sales of linear accelerators used inradiation treatment for brain tumors and arterial mal-formations without opening the skull.

The market for this device is expanding rapidly, and itsfield of applications continues to grow. For example, it isused to treat comparatively common functional distur-bances of the brain such as epilepsy and Parkinson’s dis-ease, eye cancer, cancer of the nose and chronic facialpain.

Elekta has calculated that in Europe, there arearound 110 patients per million inhabitants afflicted bydiseases that can be treated using the Gamma Knife. Iffunctional disturbances are included, the numbers areconsiderably higher, both for the treatment of patientswith a functional disturbance who have already beentreated by traditional means, and for new patients.

In 1984 the first Leksell Gamma Knife for generalclinical use was sold, and 1986 saw commercial sale of aGamma Knife. Model b was introduced in 1988, andModel b-2 in 1992. A whole new generation was intro-duced in 1999 and proved to be a commercial success:Model c with an Automatic Positioning System, APS.With the help of APS, the patient is automaticallypositioned and treatment time is reduced by 50‒75% ascompared to earlier systems.

The growth potential of this device is significant. Atpresent the Gamma Knife is used in only 20% of theapplications for which it has been clinically approved.

l e k s e l l g a m m a k n i f e ®

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A “STROKES OF GENIUS” EXHIBITION HELD IN GOTHENBURG IN 2000. HERE, 12-YEAR OLD IDA LARSSON DEMONSTRATES HER ANTI-CRUELTYFLY SWATTER, WHICH IS SUPPOSED TO SCARE FLIES WITH A ‘NEAR-DEATH’ EXPERIENCE, RATHER THAN KILL THEM.

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“Strokes of Genius”The origin of the Swedish movementknown as Snilleblixtarna (“Strokes ofGenius”) was the “Egg Drop” contestfor young inventors started by inventorand entrepreneur Anders Rosén. Hewanted to stimulate children’screativity and sense of initiative byletting them solve a problem on theirown. Rosén hoped to awaken thechildren’s interest for problem solving,technology and science through playfulmeans not always found in school.

The first “Egg Drop” contests werestaged at the Kristinedal ElementarySchool in Stenungsund on Sweden’swest coast in 1991 and 1992. Childrenand adults competed to find thecleverest method for keeping an eggfrom breaking when it was droppedfrom a height of 25 meters. The resultwas that the children showed anincredibly rich inventiveness. Many ofthe children were more creative thanthe adult contestants.

Anders Rosén’s experiences fromthis contest led to the formation of theSnilleblixtarna (“Strokes of Genius”)movement in 1993. Rosén wanted toshowcase the creativity of children byorganizing inventors’ exhibitions.

Children from 6 to 11 years old

S O M E O R G A N I Z AT I O N S

would be given the freedom to thinkup their own solutions to everydayproblems they encounter.

Teacher Inga-Lill Ottoson of theKristinedal School took up the causeand the first “Stroke of Genius Day”inventors’ contest was held in 1994with 22 children participating. An8-year old named Angelica came upwith the name “Strokes of Genius,”which the children voted on in a namecontest.

“Strokes of Genius” is based uponvoluntary participation and a completelack of limitations for the stimulationof the children’s ideas and creativity.Their incredible creativity and thoughtprocesses are displayed to the adultworld.

“Strokes of Genius” has now grownto a national movement with branchesin many parts of Sweden and counter-parts in other countries as well.

Mini-EntrepreneursThe Mini-Entrepreneurs (Mini-företagarna) group was begun in 1997by Anders Rosén. “Strokes of Genius”is a group for elementary school pupils,and works well with children from 6 to10 years old. It’s more difficult tointerest children in the age group 11

and up. Rosen’s son had been amember of “Strokes of Genius” forseveral years. When he asked about away of continuing, the idea for theMini-Entrepreneurs was born.

The movement seeks to stimulateand develop children’s creativity andability to take initiative by encouragingthem to start their own mini business.The group fills the gap between“Strokes of Genius” and the “YoungEntrepreneurship” group for studentsof high school-age. Together thesegroups provide an unbroken chain ofsupport for young inventors and entre-preneurs all the way through theeducation system, from elementaryschool up to college and universitylevel.

Young EntrepreneurshipYoung Entrepreneurship (Ung Före-tagsamhet) is an educational conceptfor high school students, which wasimported from the USA in the 1980s.Its aim is to stimulate the creativityand entrepreneurial spirit of youngpeople by increasing their understand-ing of the small business process.Young people are given a chance torefine their business skills by running abusiness.

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“The Greenhouse”Sweden also has a group for younginnovators at university and collegelevel called “The Greenhouse” (Driv-huset). This movement was started in1992 by Fredrik Langborg andChrister Westlund, two students atthe University College in Karlstad.The two felt the need for more roomfor students in the early stages oftheir college education to developtheir ideas and design their ownprojects. The concept has spread toseveral universities and colleges inSweden.

“Finn upp” inventors’ competition forjunior high school studentsThe idea for inventors’ competitions foryoung people originated in Japan,where during the 1970s contestantsfrom all over the world were invitedto attend. In Sweden the then-namedBoard for Technical Development(STU) encouraged the Swedish Inven-tors’ Association (SUF) and theSwedish Society of Engineers (ISF,a non-profit organization with a mem-bership of about 150,000 engineers),to draw up guidelines for an inventors’contest in Sweden. The best inventionsfrom this contest would go on to theJapanese competition. Sweden’s firstsuch contest was organized in 1979.All junior high school students in thenation were invited to participate. Thecompetition was given the name FinnUpp, a humorous word play on theSwedish verb `uppfinna´ (’invent’).

The basis for this contest was adesire to show young students howimportant inventing is for the devel-opment of society. It was hoped thatthey might become more aware of the

types of needs which exist, and that intrying to realize their own ideas, theywould be able to experience the joy ofcreating something new. In doing allthis, they would learn to make betteruse of technology and at the same timedevelop a greater interest in scienceand technology.

When the 1979 Finn Upp contesthad ended, 632 inventions had beensubmitted. Over the years, interest hasincreased. In 2006, Finn Upp wasorganized for the tenth time. Allstudents in grades 6–9 of Sweden’scompulsory schools were eligible.The 7,579 students who participated,of whom as many were girls as boys,submitted 5,340 ideas. A new com-petition is planned for 2009.

In the ten competitions to date,a total of 42,340 contributions havecome in. A number of them have resultedin commercial products and newcompanies.

The Swedish Inventors’ AssociationThe Swedish Inventors’ Association(SUF) was formed on March 12,1886, making it the oldest inventors’group in the world. The group’s founderwas Salomon A. Andrée, ChiefEngineer at the Swedish PatentAuthority. This was the same Andréewho ten years later made the famedtrip to the North Pole by balloon.Other founding members of the Societyincluded Otto Fanehjelm, Gustaf deLaval, Carl Setterberg and Ernst A.Wiman.

In its early years, SUF was mainlya social organization for the greatSwedish inventors of the day, such asde Laval, Alrik Hult and Gustaf Dalén.Today the group plays a strong role in

promoting Swedish industry by lendingsupport to inventors. SUF has anumber of local branches as well ascorporate members.

Over the years, the world ofinventing has clearly been dominatedby men. In an effort to correct thisimbalance and spotlight femaleinventors, QUIS (Qvinnliga uppfinnarei Sverige/Women Inventors of Sweden)was formed to provide a network forall women members of SUF. Thegroup’s goal is to emphasize the workof women inventors and to collaboratewith other networks and organizations.In their 1986 study on 100 significantSwedish innovators, Torkel Wallmarkand Douglas McQueen found only onewoman, Birgit Dahle (see p. 47),who together with her husband OrvarDahle invented the Pressductortransducer.

An analysis by S.A. Andrée in1888 showed that during the period1870-1874, women inventors ac-counted for only 1.3% of all patentsgranted in Sweden. A study by theSwedish Patent Authority in the year2000 showed that women made up5% of the patent-receiving inventors.Among members who have receivedSUF’s highest honors, two werewomen: Ellida Lagerman (1863–1950) and Walborg Thorsell. Three ofthe recipients of SUF’s honors plaqueare women: Kerstin Gustafsson, Anna-Greta Werner and Ragnhild Löfgren.

A look at SUF’s membershiprosters shows an interesting develop-ment. Of 800 members in 1975, four-teen were women, or barely 2% of themembership. By 1999 this percentagehad increased markedly: of 2,000women members is 435 out of a total

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DIGNICAP COOLING CAP FOR CANCERPATIENTS, DEVELOPED BY ONCOLOGYNURSE YVONNE OLOFSSON.

members, 550 were women or 27%of the total membership. In 2005 thenumber of women members was 320out of a total of 2,500, or about 13%of the total.

QUIS members have made signifi-cant contributions. Examples of inven-tions which have attracted particularattention include:

Simplified skin test for allergies Nurse Kajsa Naenfeldt collaboratedwith Per Arne Sigurdsson to developthe “Kajsomat,” a device for adminis-tering allergy skin tests. The Kajsomatmakes it possible to perform all of thenecessary “prick” tests at once ratherthan having to perform several.

A “short cut” to cells Doctoralresearcher Sarah Fredriksson wasworking on the problem of introducinggenes into a cell without disturbing ordamaging it. She developed a methodbased on magnetic fields and magneticparticles which has been named“MagnetoPore.” This method is gentleto the cell, allowing it to take onforeign molecules and genes whilemaintaining its integrity. MagnetoPoreis used primarily in research and by thepharmaceuticals industry.

Cooling cap for cancer patientsOncology nurse Yvonne Olofssondeveloped the Dignicap, which allowspatients to undergo chemotherapy

treatments without losing their hair.The cap is computer controlled tomaintain the necessary temperature.

Anesthetic mask for infantsAnesthesiologist Monika Dahlstrandof the Blekinge Hospital in Karlskronahas developed an anesthetic maskequipped with a pacifier. The infantbreathes in the anesthetic through itsnose while sucking on the pacifier.

Mosquito and tick repellentChemist and researcher WalborgThorsell has researched more effectiverepellents against mosquitoes. She hasdeveloped several different repellents,including Demidex and IxnIx.

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Many new inventions to assist peoplewith functional impairments are beingdeveloped, e.g. the “Permobile” electricwheelchair (above) and the specialadaptation of automobiles. However,such inventions are not often producedin mass quantities since many suchsolutions are tailor-made to suit theindividual. One invention that hasmeant much for the disabled is themobile telephone. It is interesting tonote that with the introduction of themobile telephone, many projects todevelop aids for people with functionalimpairments were made obsolete.

Continued developments in

mobile telephony and its combinationwith Internet services and perhaps evenGlobal Positioning Systems (GPS)will provide important aids andimproved quality of life to people withvisual, auditory and mobility impair-ments and many others. The miniatur-ization of electronics and mechanicaldevices and their integration withhuman biology will also providesignificant improvements. There arealready prosthetic devices controlledby nerve impulses, e.g. artificial legs,hands and arms. It is likely that we willbe able to treat many function-reducing diseases in more satisfactory

ways than today. An example of worktoward this end is Nobel Prize winnerArvid Carlsson’s work to cureParkinson’s disease, schizophrenia, etc.by medically influencing the signalsubstances produced by the body.

Many inventions that we perhapsdo not regard as aids for people withfunctional impairments make itpossible for many to live a normal,active life which would not otherwisebe possible, e.g. medications for treatingheart conditions, blood pressure andasthma, pacemakers and dialysismachines.

Sweden is also a forerunner in

D E V I C E S F O R P E R S O N A L A S S I S TA N C E

99

preventing disability through preventa-tive safety measures, for example seatbelts, the rear-facing child safety seatand airbags. Other important Swedish

inventions which help prevent congeni-tal defects include ultrasound, fetaldiagnostics and equipment formonitoring childbirth. Some of these

devices make it possible to takemeasures to prevent future impair-ments at an early stage.

The future is of course impossible topredict. Many of the innovations thatwill be of importance in the next 10 to20 years have already been invented.Developments are continually ongoing.Methodologies are refined, materialsare made stronger, etc. Continualdevelopment means that ideaspreviously thought impossible may berealized.

It is difficult to know just whichinnovation will lead to a great leap intechnology. Two historical examples ofsuch inventions are the transistor andthe laser. Although these “unexpected”innovations would have been difficultto predict, they changed the course oftechnological development.

Sweden will continue to be thebirthplace of many significant innova-tions. One reason for this is that moreSwedish universities are acceptingresearch ideas for commercialpurposes. Attempts are also beingmade to reduce the time needed tomove from idea to finished product.Research and development takes placein “start-up” companies, researchparks and university courses inentrepreneurship.

Sweden has a strong tradition inthe field of biotechnology research.Thanks to the Swedish inventions ofthe ultracentrifuge and electrophoresis,gigantic leaps in knowledge are beingmade throughout the world. Examplesinclude HUGO, the human genome

project, as well as mapping of thegenomes of animals and plants usingmolecular biology. These projects willlead to yet more innovations, as willmultidisciplinary fields in whichbiology, IT, electronics and mechanicsare integrated.

The Internet offers a means for thegathering of a hitherto unparalleledknowledge and power. Its capacity anduses will increase greatly, both forprivate use and for research andcommunication. One example of this isSkype software, which transformsyour computer into a telephone.Skype, which has about 60 millionusers today, was developed by NiklasZennström, a Swede, together withJanus Friis, a Dane.

When the telephone becamecommon in the early 1900s, manyexperts believed that the need fortravel and letter writing would come toan end. In fact, the telephone had justthe opposite effect. Today, 100 yearslater, as the Internet is becoming morewidespread, banks for example believethat people will begin to stay at homeand manage their banking from there.Will this really be the case or will thedemand for banking services increasebecause of the Internet?

New developments and inventionswill be made not just in the fields ofIT, biotechnology, nanotechnology andmicroelectronics, but also in roadsafety, medical equipment and the

provision of package solutions inenvironmental and engineering fields.Sweden will also produce inventionsin traditionally mature fields. 100years have now passed since JonasWenström introduced his greatinventions in electro-technology,which became the basis for theelectrification of industrializednations. The beginning of this newcentury saw significant innovations inthat same field by Mats Leijon thatwill lead to the continuation of theprocess of electrification andeffectivization of the old electricalnetworks. (We should mention herethat about 40% of the world’s popula-tion still does not have electricity.)

Water shortages are a huge globalproblem, in particular shortages ofdrinking water, but also for other uses.In this area, Karl Dunkers has madeuse of new technologies for greatcontributions to the science of storageand purification of sewage water, aswell as the storage of fresh water.Other major problems include environ-mental pollution at the local andglobal level as well as the provision,storage and distribution of foods.These are fields where Swedishtechnology and research are in theforefront, but which also requirepolitical decisions to achievesolutions.

T H E F U T UR E

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S O M E O T H E R S W E D I S H I N N O VAT I O N Sin chronological order

Halda Taximeter: Hjalmar Hammarlund, 1902.Coated Welding Rods: Oskar Kjellberg, around 1905.Kanthal Incandescent Wire: Hans von Kantzow, 1926.Unitized Steel Auto Body: Gösta Nyström, 1929.KaMeWa Propeller (Boat Propeller with Adjustable Blades), 1937.AP or Dikumarol, Anti-blood Clot Medication: Jörgen Lehmann, 1939.PAS Tuberculosis Medication: Jörgen Lehmann, 1943.Free-wheeling/Front Wheel Drive for Passenger Cars: Gunnar Ljungström, 1945.Portable Ticket Machine: Nils Ståhl, 1946.Geodimeter: Erik Bergstrand, Ragnar Schöldström, 1947.Submersible Pump: Sixten Englesson, 1947.Circulating Pulp Digester for Paper Production: Johan Richter, Tyke Christenson, 1948.Lightweight Concrete: Per Isaksson, 1948.Climbing Building Crane, Remote-Controlled: Elis Lindén, 1950.“500” -Point Selector System, Automatic Telephone Exchange: Christian Jacobaeus and Axel Hultman, 1950.Fully Automated Sugar Centrifuge: Oscar Magnusson, 1950.Perstorp Flooring: 1950.Position Sensing Detector: Torkel Wallmark, 1950.Respirator: Carl Gunnar Engström, 1950.WKE 4 High Alloy Cobalt Steel: Holger Jarleborg, 1950.Fully Automated Production of Sugar Cubes: Åke Bireth Jensen, 1953.Heart and Lung Machine: Clarence Crafoord, Åke Senning and P.A. Åstradsson, around 1956.ASEA-SKF Method for Production of Steel: Walter Nordin, 1958.Tape-driven Feeder: Isak Rosén, 1960.Thermovision: Per Lindberg, Hans Malmberg, 1961.Lamella Separator: Bengt Hedström and Åke Jernqvist, 1965.Nicodur Grinding Wheel: Olle Lindström and Erik Lundblad, 1965.RIST Allergy Test (Radio Immuno Sorbent Test): Leif Wide, Rolf Axén and Jerker Porath, 1966.Dynamex, an Improved Explosive: Bertil Enoksson, 1967.ID Card and PIN Code: Erik Rothfjell, 1967 and 1986.RAST Allergy Test (Radio Allergo Sorbent Test): Leif Wide, Hans Bennich and Gunnar Johansson, 1967.DuoProp, VolvoPenta. Two counter-rotating propellers on the same axle: Lennart Berglund, about 1970.ORIGA Cylinder: Bo Granbom and Gunnar Lundqvist, 1970.Penglobe, Synthetic Penicillin: Bertil Ekström and Berndt Sjöberg, 1970.Symmetrical Door: Eddy Lundin, 1971.Dirivent and Optivent Fan Systems: Birger Lärkfeldt, 1972.“Doppin” Robotic Linefeeder for Production Lines: Arne Rönnbeck, 1973.Minirin, Medication against Diabetes Insipidus: Jan Mulder and Czech researchers, 1974.Handheld Data Collection Terminal: Gerhard Westerner, 1975.Bearing Frequency System for Signals over Electric Lines: Bosse Lindgren and Lykke Olesen, 1978.Self-emptying Railroad Car: Hilding Månström, 1978.Surface Heparanization: Olle Lamm, 1980.Pergo Laminated Flooring: Sven Danielsson, Tommy Johnsson, Kent Lindgren and Nils-Joel Nilsson, 1988.Lead-free Bullets for Firearms: Bo Jakobsson, early 1990s.Ferroelectric Liquid Crystals for Flat Picture Screens: Torbjörn Lagerwall and Noel Clark, 1991.Accelerometer, gyro in etched silicon structure: Gert Andersson, 1992.Aqua Barrier: Sten Magnus Cullberg, 1997.

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INDEX

Adjustable Lamp, 26Adjustable Wrench, 26, 35AGA Cooker, 31AGA Gas Storage, 31AGA Lighthouse, 31Air Conditioner, 37Air Filter, 63Air Preheater, 33Air Scrubber, 37Airbag Sensor, 69Aircraft Landing Lights, 31All-Wheel Drive, AWD, 73Alternating Current, 27, 51Aminosol, 82Anesthetic Mask for Infants, 97Angstrom (1 Å = 0.1 nm), 15Antipersonnel Mines, 18Aptin®, 85Arendal Shipyard, 52-53Artificial Materials (leather, rubber, silk), 19Aseptic handling of Milk, 45Atomic Weights, 15Automatic Positioning System, APS, 93AXE System, 56-57Axleless Wheel Bearing, 41Balancing Pulley, 69Ballistite, 19Basic Elements, 14-15Basic Unit, 15Beta Blockers, 85Blasting Gelatin, 19Blasting Oil, 19Blood Plasma Substitute, 82Blowtorch, 29Brånemark® System, 91Bricanyl®, 85, 87CARB™ Bearing, 41Cash Adapter, 65C-bearing, 41CC-bearing, 41Cellular (Mobile) Telephony, 59Census Statistics, 13Centigrade Thermometer, 11Chlorine, 14Citanest®, 83Cobra Rock Drill, 55Collegium Curiosorum, 10Colloids, 37Color Screen Graphics for Computers, 61Color Ink Jet Printer, 91Combination Gauge, 31

Complete Process Machine, 22Computer Mouse, 61Computerized Switchboards, 57Cooling Cap for Cancer Patients, 97Cooling Tower, 37Cream Separator, 24-25Dalén Mixer, 31Debrisan®, 81Dehumidifying Unit, 37Demidex, 97Detonator Cap, 19Dextran, 81, 82Dialysis Machine, 86, 99Diamond Machine, 47Digifocus, 87Digital Hearing Aid, 87Digitizer, 61Dignicap, 97Direct-current Generator, 27Dispersion Systems, 37Dualband, 59Durettes, 83Dynamite, 19Egg Drop Contest, 95Ejection Seat, 67Electric Locomotive, 27Electrophoresis, 81, 99Equipment for Monitoring Childbirth, 99Facial Prosthetics, 91Fetal Diagnostics, 99Finn Upp, 96Floating Platforms, 53Flofreeze, 53Flymo Hovering Lawn Mower, 48-49Foam Plastic, 37Four-wheel Drive, 73Functional Work Clothes, 65Gelignite, 19Generator, 27Global Positioning & Communication, GP&C, 61Global System for Mobile Communication, GSM, 59Greenhouse, 96H 123/26, 89Haldex AWD Coupling, 73Hasselblad Camera, 38-39Hasselblad Prize, 39Hearing Aid, Digital, 87Heart Diagnostics, 91Heat Exchanger, 37Helicopter-type Aircraft, 29High-pressure Machine Press, 47

High-voltage Direct Current, HVDC, 42-43HIP Method (Hot Isostatic Pressure), 47Hot-air Engine, 23Household Refrigerator, 36-37HUGO Human Genome Project, 99HVDC Light, 43Hydraulic Rock Drill, 54-55Hydroelectric Power Station, 27Ink Jet Printer, 79, 91Intermittent Lamp, 31Intralipid®, 82Intravenous Nutrient Input, 82IxnIx, 97Kerosene Stove, 35Laboratorium Mechanicum, 10Lawn Mover, Hovering, 49Law Regarding Air Resistance, 29Leksell Gamma Knife®, 92-93Lighted Buoys, 31Linkage System for Transmission of Power, 10Linneaus Collection, 12Ljungström Boat, 33Ljungström Turbine, 32-33LL-30, Local Anesthetic, 83Losec®, 88-89Lymphatic System, 10Macrodex, 82MagnetoPore, 97Match Machine, 22MBS, Beepers, 59Merrimac, 23Method for the Extraction of Shale Oil, 33Milking Machine, 25Mini-entrepreneur, 95Mingograph, 79Mobile (Cellular) Telephony, 59Molecular Weights, 37Molybdenum, 14Monitor, 23Mosquito and Tick Repellent, 97Motor, Three-phase, 27Motor, Vibrationfree, Two-stroke, 69Motorformer Motor, 75Network Management Technologies, NMT, 59Nexium®, 89Nitroglycerine, 19Nobel Centennial Prize Ceremony, 20Nobel Prize, 21, 31, 37, 81Novelty Locomotive, 23Observatory, 11Optimus Stove, 35

102

O-ring, 49Oxygen, 14Pacemaker, 78-79, 99Permobile, 98Phosphorus-free Match, 22Platen Printing Press, 22Polhem Lock, 10Population Statistics, 13Powerformer High-voltage Generator, 75Precision Camera for Civilian Use, 39Precision Measurement, 31Pressductor® Transducer, 47Prick Tests, 97Primus Stove, 35Pulmicort®, 87Quintus Press, 46-47Radius Stove, 35Railroad Signals, 31Rc-locomotives, 51RDS (Computer System for Mobile Radio), 59Rear-facing Child Safety Seat, 70-71, 99Recoil Damping System, 55Refrigerator without Moving Parts, 36-37Relational Measures, 31Retractable Seat Belt, 69Rheomacrodex, 82Rocket, 23Rock Drill, 55Roller Bearing, 40-41Rotating Gun Turret of Monitor, 23Saab Turbo Engine, 54-55Safety Belt, Retractable, 69Safety Belt, Three-point, 67Safety Match, 22Science Citation Index, 12Screw Propeller, 23Seat Belt Cushion, 71Selenium, 15Self-operating Vacuum Cleaner, 76-77Seloken®, 85Sephadex, 81Shock Absorber, 49Short Cut to Cells, 97Silicon, 15Simplified Skin Test for Allergies, 97Skype Software, 99Snickers Original, 65Snilleblixtarna, “Strokes of Genius”, 95Solar Heater, 23Solar Valve, 31Spectroanalysis, 15Speedglas 2000, Welding Helmet, 62-63

Spherical Roller Bearing, 40-41Steam Jets, 25Steam Turbine, 25Straight Line Flow Shipbuilding, 52-53“Strokes of Genius”, 95Supercharged Engine, 55Svea Canal, 10Svea Stove, 35Svea Velocipede, 33Swedish Inventors’ Association, SUF, 96-97Switchboard, 25, 57Symbicort®, 87Synthetic Diamond, 46-47Synthetic Leather, 19Systema Naturae, 12Sölve, Monitor-type Ship, 23Technical Alphabet, Polhem´s, 8-10Telephone Handset, 25, 57Telephone Networks, 25Tetra Brik, 44-45Tetra Pak, 44-45Thorium, 15Thorsman Plug, 51Three-phase Electrical System, 27Three-phase Motor, 27Three-point Safety Belt, 66-67Thyristor Semiconductors, 43Thyristor Switching Devices, 43Thyristor-controlled Locomotive, 50-51Time-release Tablets, 84Tooth Replacement, 91Transformer, 27Transmission of Power, 27, 43Trilobite Vacuum Cleaner, 76-77Triplex Lamp, 26Tube Boiler, 23Turbine, Double Rotation, 33Turbo Engine for Passenger Cars, Saab, 54-55Turbuhaler, 87Ulcer Medicine, 89Ultracentrifuge, 37, 99Ultrasound Machine, 91, 99Universal Wrench, 26Vacuum Cleaner, 34-35Vacuum Cleaner, Self-operating, 76-77Water Purification Plant, 37Wavelengths, Measurement of, 15Welding Helmet with Liquid Crystal Visor, 63Vibration-free, Two-stroke Motor, 69Wind Indicators, 31Wireless Telephone System, 59

Vodka, 13Work Clothes, 65V-ring, 49Xylocaine®, 83Xylocard®, 83Xyloproct®, 83Young Entrepreneurship, 95Zipper (Zip Fastener), 29

I N D E X O F N A M E S

Åberg, Sture, 41Åblad, Bengt, 85Aldman, Bertil, 71Aldrin, Buzz, 38–39Alinger, Stig, 87Alwall, Nils, 86Andrée, Salomon A., 96Ångström, Anders Jonas, 15Armstrong, Neil, 39Berzelius, Jöns Jacob, 15Blomqvist, Leif, 41Bohlin, Nils, 67Bohr, Niels, 91Brändström, Arne, 85Brånemark, Per-Ingvar, 91Carlsson, Arvid, 85, 99Carlsson, Staffan, 69Carlsson, Stig Å.I., 85Cedergren, Henrik, 25Celsius, Anders, 11Cook, James, 12Corrodi, Hans, 85Cronstedt, Carl Johan, 9Dahle, Birgit, 47, 96Dahle, Orvar, 47, 96Dahlstrand, Monika, 97Dalén, Gustaf, 31, 96de Laval, Gustaf, 25, 96Derman, Karl Gustaf, 49Dunkers, Karl, 99Edler, Inge, 91Einstein, Albert, 37Ek, Lars, 85Ekeblad, Eva, 13Eklöf, Åke, 55Elmqvist, Rune, 79Ericsson, John, 23Ericsson, Lars Magnus, 25Fahnehjelm, Otto, 96Falck, Johan Peter, 12Fensborn, Anders, 55

103

Flodin, Per, 81Ford, Henry, 31Forsskål, Peter, 12Fredholm, Ludvig, 27Fredriksson, Sarah, 97Friis, Janus, 99Fryklöf, Lars-Einar, 84Gadefelt, Bengt, 55Grönwall, Anders, 82Gustafsson, Kerstin, 96Hasselblad, Viktor, 39Hasselqvist, Fredrik, 12Hellgren, Johan, 87Hertz, Helmuth, 91Hjort, B.A., 35Hörnell, Åke, 63Hult, Alrik, 96Ingelman, Björn, 81, 82Johansson, Carl Edvard, 31Johansson, Johan Petter, 26, 35Johansson, Sigvard, 73Kalm, Pehr, 12Kamph, Sven, 49Karlsson, Hans, 69Kellström, Magnus,41Kreuger, Ivar, 22Lagerman, Alexander, 22Lagerman, Ellida, 96Lamm, Uno, 43Langborg, Fredrik, 96Lans, Håkan, 60–61Larker, Hans, 47Larsson, Börje, 93Lefeldt, Wilhelm, 25Leijon, Mats, 75, 99Leksell, Lars, 93Lindqvist, Carl Anders, 35Lindqvist, Frans Wilhelm, 35Linnaeus, Carl, 11–12Ljunggren, Inese, 77Ljunggren, Per, 77Ljunggren, Ulf, 89Ljungström, Birger, 33Ljungström, Fredrik, 33Loewy, Raymond, 36Löfgren, Nils, 83Löfgren, Ragnhild, 96Löfling, Pehr, 12Lundahl, Göran, 53Lundblad, Erik, 47Lundblad, Leif, 65Lundqvist, Bengt, 83Lundström, Carl Frans, 22

Lundström, Johan Edvard, 22Lunner, Thomas, 87Magnusson, Bengt Gunnar, 57Mäkitalo, Östen, 59Malmström, Sven-Erik, 49Martin, Roland,12McQueen, Douglas, 96Munters, Carl, 37Naenfeldt, Kajsa, 97Nobel, Alfred, 18–21, 33Nobel, Emil Oskar, 19Nobel, Immanuel, 18Nordin, Tore, 51Nyberg, Carl Richard, 29Olofsson, Yvonne, 97Osbeck, Pehr, 12Östergren, Lennart, 86Östholm, Ivan, 84, 89Ottosson, Inga-Lill, 95Palmgren, Arvid, 41Pasch, Gustaf Erik, 22Persson, Henry, 85Persson, Per Oscar, 53Persson, Torsten, 69von Platen, Baltzar, 37, 47Polhem, Christopher, 9–10Porath, Jerker, 81Rausing, Ruben, 45Rolander, Daniel, 12Romell, Viggo, 55Rosén, Anders, 95Rothman, Ulf, 81Rudbeck, Olof, the Elder, 10

Sandell, Erik, 84Sason, Sixten, 36, 39Scheele, Carl Wilhelm, 14Seger, Eberhard, 35Senning, Åke, 79Setterberg, Carl, 96Sigurdsson, Per Arne, 97Sjöstrand, Sven Erik, 89Solander, Daniel, 12Sparrman, Anders, 12Stephenson, George, 23Strehlenert, Robert, 19Sundbäck, Gideon, 29Svedberg, Theodor “The”, 37Svensson, Leif A., 85Svensson, Nils, 52Tesla, Nicolai, 27Thorsell, Walborg, 96, 97Thorsman, Oswald, 51Thunberg, Carl Peter, 12Tiselius, Arne, 81, 82Wallenberg, Erik, 45Wallmark, Torkel, 96Wargentin, Pehr Wilhelm, 13Wenström, Jonas, 27, 99Werner, Anna-Greta, 96Westlund, Christer, 96Wetterlin, Kjell, 85, 87Viio, Matti, 65Wiman, Ernst A., 96Wingquist, Sven, 41Wretlind, Arvid, 82Zennström, Niklas, 99

S O U R C E S

Andersson, P. Gunnar, Idé grundar industri. Carlssons. Stockholm, 1995.Boken om uppfinningar. Forum. Borås, 1986.Från idé till produkt, 2nd part. Ed. Birger Kock. STU and SUF. Stockholm, 1963.Från idé till produkt, 3rd part. Ed. Birger Kock. STU and SUF. Stockholm, 1981.Frängsmyr, Tore. Alfred Nobel. Swedish Institute. Stockholm, 2003.Hult, Jan, and others, Svensk teknikhistoria. Gidlunds. Hedemora, 1989.Isakson, Börje, and Johansson, George, Svenska snilleblixtar I o.II.

Gummessons. Falköping, 1993–1994.Peterson, Alf, Swedish Pioneers of Technology – a Presentation of IVA’s

Commemorative Medalists. IVA. Stockholm, 1994.Sedig, Kjell, Swedish Inventions and Discoveries. Fact Sheets on Sweden. Swedish

Institute, 2003.Svenskt biografiskt lexikon.Wallmark, Torkel, and McQueen, Douglas, 100 viktiga svenska innovationer.

Studentlitteratur. Lund, 1986.

104

SWEDISH INNOVATIONS is also available in Chinese, Korean, Portuguese, Russian,Spanish and Swedish.

Do you have any comments on this SI publication?Feel free to contact us at info@sweden.se

SEK 1 = EUR 0.11, GBP 0.07 or USD 0.13 (average 2005)

Some metric and imperial measures:1 billion = 1,000 million1 km (1,000 meters) = 0.621 mile10 millimeters = 1 centimeter = 0.3937 inch1 metric ton (1,000 kg) = 2,204.6 pounds1 kg (1,000 g) = 2.2 pounds

Photos: ABB (pp. 27, 42, 46, 74), Alfa Laval (p. 24), Jan Almerén (p. 89), Amersham Biosciences (p. 80),AstraZeneca (p. 88), Torbjörn Bergkvist (p. 98), JanHåkan Dahlström/Bildhuset (p. 50 and Back Cover),Dahlström Design (p. 54 right), Dignitana (p. 97), Chad Ehlers/Tiofoto (p. 30), Eizo (p.60), Electa (pp.92, 93), Electrolux (pp. 34, 36, 76, 77 and Inside Front Cover), Ericsson (p. 16, Telephone p. 58), FirstLight/EyeQnet (p. 28), Flymo Partner (p. 48), Gambro (p. 86), Haldex (p. 73), ©Hasselblad AB (p. 39),Hörnell (pp. 62, 63 and Front Cover), Gunnel Johansson/Mira (p. 70), Sven Olof Jonn/Johnér (p. 40),Bengt-Göran Karlsson/Tiofoto (p. 11), Kirby/Getty Images (p. 32), JessKoppel/Getty Images (p. 13),Philip Laurell/Johnér (pp. 12, 53), Lexel (p. 51), Matton Bild (p. 78), Jonas Ekströmer/Pressens Bild(p. 20), Nasa/Pressens Bild (p. 38), Nobel Biocare (p. 90), Nobelstiftelsen (pp. 18, 21), Pressens Bild(p. 52), Kristian Pohl/Pressens Bild (p. 61), Magnus Rietz/Johnér (p. 23), Saab (p. 54 left and p. 68),Sofia Sabel/Pressens Bild (p. 94), Georg Sessler/Bildhuset (p. 83), SKF (p. 41), Gunnar Smoliansky/Bildhuset (p. 26), Snickers Workwear (p. 64 and Inside Back Cover), Stock Image/EyeQnet (p. 84),Swedish Match (p. 22), Tekniska Museet Stockholm (p. 8), Tetra Pak (pp. 44, 45),Carl Henrik Tillberg (Dynamite p. 18), Volvo (pp. 66, 72).

Web addresses: www.iva.se, www.kva.se, www.si.se, www.sweden.se, www.swedishtrade.se

Kjell Sedig (born 1950), Licentiate in Engineering, Innovation Technology, Chalmers Universityof Technology in Gothenburg, has contributed to various publications, including Boken omuppfinningar (The book about inventions). Forum. Stockholm, 1985.

Third, revised edition.

The author alone is responsible for the opinions stated in this book.© Kjell Sedig and the Swedish InstituteEditor: Inger EnvallTechnical adviser: Bengt A. Mölleryd, IVATechnical editing: Camilla Modéer, former Federation of Swedish IndustriesTranslator: Daniel M. OlsonLanguage consulting: Terry WilliamsGraphic Designer and Picture Editor: Mats HedmanTypefaces: A Caslon, Bell GothicPaper: Igepa Trucard Duo Gloss 260 g (Cover), Tom & Otto Gothic Silk 150 gPrinted in Sweden by LJ Boktryck, Helsingborg 2006.ISBN 91-520-0910-6ISBN 978-91-520-0910-9

HOUSEHOLD PRODUCTS, PP. 35, 37, 77

FUNCTIONAL WORK CLOTHES, P. 65

The Swedish Institute (SI) is a publicagency established to disseminate knowledgeabroad about Sweden’s social and culturallife, to promote cultural and informationalexchange with other countries and tocontribute to increased internationalcooperation in the fields of education andresearch. The Swedish Institute produces awide range of publications on many aspectsof Swedish society. These can be obtaineddirectly from the Swedish Institute or fromSwedish diplomatic missions abroad, andmany are available on Sweden’s officialwebsite, www.sweden.se.

In Sweden Bookshop on Slottsbacken 10in Stockholm as well as on the websitewww.swedenbookshop.se, you will find—inmany languages—books, brochures andrichly illustrated gift books on Sweden, abroad selection of Swedish fiction, children’sbooks and Swedish language courses.

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WELDING HELMET WITH LIQUID CRYSTAL VISOR, P. 63MOBILE (CELLULAR) TELEPHONY, P. 59

Many well-known innovations and discoveries, both modern and historical, have Swedish origins.This book presents technical products and methods which represented a sufficiently high degree ofinnovation to be granted patents and which went on to achieve great commercial success. As a result,many of these innovations have since become familiar household names, whereas others have playedan important role in the business sector.

Author Kjell Sedig provides us with a valuable insight into some of the more recent Swedishinnovations that have won international acclaim. His account also takes us back to the days ofSweden’s “Universal Geniuses” and their discoveries and inventions.

K J E L L S E D I G T H E S W E D I S H I N S T I T U T E

ISBN 91-520-0694-8

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