Tecnomasio was an Italian scientific and precision instrument company founded in the 1860s. By the beginning of the 20th century the company has begun to produce electrical equipment. After financial problems in the early 1900s the company was acquired by Brown Boveri becoming ''Tecnomasio Italiano Brown Boveri'' commonly known as TIBB; instrument production halted and the company became an industrial electrical equipment producer, one of the major companies in Italy. The company became part of the ABB group as ABB Tecnomasio in 1988 after the merger of its parent. The plant in Vado Ligure became part of Adtranz and later part of Bombardier's transportation group.

History

The origins of Tecnomasio go back as far as 1863 when mechanical and civil engineer Luigi Longoni, instrument maker Carlo Dell'Acqua, and optical scientist

Ignazio Porro Ignazio Porro (25 November 1801 – 8 October 1875) was an Italian inventor of optical instruments. Porro's name is most closely associated with the prism system which he invented around 1850 and which is used in the construction of Porro prism ...

founded a company in Milan. Porro left the company in 1864 to be replaced by photographer Alessandro Duroni forming the company Duroni, Longoni, Dell'Acqua. Alessandro gave up his stake in 1866 and Dell'Acqua in 1868 making Longoni the sole owner. In 1870 Bartolomeo Cabella joined the company. Longoni died in 1871, and Cabella became the director of the company. Initially the company produced scientific apparatus, including microscopes,

heliostat A heliostat (from ''helios'', the Greek word for ''sun'', and ''stat'', as in stationary) is a device that includes a mirror, usually a plane mirror, which turns so as to keep reflecting sunlight toward a predetermined target, compensating ...

s, cathetometers,

theodolite A theodolite () is a precision optical instrument for measuring angles between designated visible points in the horizontal and vertical planes. The traditional use has been for land surveying, but it is also used extensively for building and i ...

s and arc lamps. Cabella took over the company in 1878 and the name became ''Ing. B. Cabella e C.'' Under Cabella's management the company attempted to expand its product range from precision instrument to one including industrial electromechanical devices such as alternators and dynamos; the company was converted to a limited company in 1898 as Società Anonima Tecnomasio Italiano ing. B. Cabella e C. By 1903 the company was in a financial crisis, Cabella was dismissed from the company, and Brown Boveri of Switzerland took a 50% stake in the company, forming Tecnomasio Italiano Brown Boveri (TIBB). The company ended its production of instruments and became a manufacturer of industrial equipment. The milanese electromechanical company Gadda e C. was also acquired by Brown and Boveri in 1908 and the Westinghouse factory in Vado Ligure was acquired in 1921. During the next two decades the factories in Milan played a major role in supplying electrical generators and transformers for Italian hydroelectric plant. The company also became involved in railway electrification, electrifying the line from

Bolzano Bolzano ( or ; german: Bozen, (formerly ); bar, Bozn; lld, Balsan or ) is the capital city of the province of South Tyrol in northern Italy. With a population of 108,245, Bolzano is also by far the largest city in South Tyrol and the third la ...

to Brenner founding the company Sae.* During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

the factories were badly damaged by bombing, afterwards production of locomotives and large-scale electrical generators began again, along with the start of production of

white goods A major appliance, also known as a large domestic appliance or large electric appliance or simply a large appliance, large domestic, or large electric, is a non-portable or semi-portable machine used for routine housekeeping tasks such as cookin ...

. In 1988 the company became part of the ABB Group after the merger of its parent Brown Boveri with ASEA, later it would become part of Adtranz, and after Adtranz became fully owned by DaimlerChrysler the name of Italian sub division became Daimler Chrysler Rail System (Italia) SpA. As of 2010 the Vado Ligure plant is part of Bombardier Transportation Italy S.p.A. and manufactures locomotives.

Products and projects

Electricity generation and transmission

Locomotives

In 1911 TIBB supplied the

FS Class E.320 The FS Class E.320 was a class of Italian third rail electric locomotive built between 1915 and 1918. Five units were built and they saw service on the Varese - Milan - Porto Ceresio line. They were powered by two direct current electric motors, d ...

electric locomotives for the Italian Railways, whilst the Westinghouse plant in Vado Ligure manufactured the

FS Class E.550 The FS Class E.550 was a class of three-phase electric locomotive used in Italy, introduced in the 20th century, which remained in service until 1965. History In the wake of the success met by three-phase electric locomotives on the Valtellina ...

between 1908 and 1920. After the state railways decided on 3 kV DC electrification prototypes of class FS Class E.625 were produced in Vado Ligure. Post WWII the

FS Class E.424 The FS E.424 is a class of Italian railways electric locomotives. They were built in 1943-1951 and have been decommissioned in 2008. History A design for a small multi-service Bo-Bo locomotive, with speed up to , had been devised by Giuseppe Bi ...

(1940s) and then

FS Class E.636 The FS E.636 is a class of Italian articulated electric locomotives. They were introduced in the course of the 1940s until the 1960s, and have been decommissioned since 2006. They have been one of the most numerous Italian locomotive group, and ...

(1950s) followed by the

FS Class E.646 The Ferrovie dello Stato, FS E.645 and E.646 are two classes of similar electric locomotives used on Ferrovie dello Stato, Italian railways. They were introduced during the 1950s and they were retired in 2009. History The E.646 and E.645 locom ...

during the 1960s all of which were successful designs. During the 1960s and 1970s the

FS Class E.444 The FS E.444 is a class of Italian railways electric locomotives. They were introduced in the course of the 1960s until 1975. Starting from 1989, all E.444s were upgraded as E.444R. The locomotives are nicknamed ''Tartaruga'' (tortoise). The ori ...

and

FS Class E.656 The Class E.656 is an Italian Articulated locomotive, articulated rheostatic-type electric locomotive built from 1975 to 1989. An evolution of the FS Class E.646, E.646, they are mixed traffic locomotives, and have been used on every kind of tra ...

were produced, by the 1980s electronic chopper control began to be used, first in the

FS Class E.632 The FS E.632 and E.633 are two classes of Italian railways electric locomotives. They were introduced in the course of the 1980s. The locomotives are nicknamed ''Tigre'' ("tiger"). History The E.632/E.633 were the first Italian locomotives to ...

. By the 1990s the company had taken part in the consortium producing the

ETR 500 ETR 500 ('' Elettro Treno Rapido 500'') is a family of Italian high-speed trains built by AnsaldoBreda and introduced in 1993. Designed under the aegis of the Ferrovie dello Stato (FS), it is now operated by Trenitalia on RFI tracks. History ...

high speed trains. From the 1990s, locomotive production switched to ABB-developed inverter-controlled AC induction motor technology, first introduced in the multivoltage electric locomotives of the

FS Class E.412 The E.412 class (factory name 112E) is a batch of multi-role electric locomotives built for the mountain lines, particularly for the northern Italian lines of the Brenner pass. They are known as ''Brenner'' or ''Brennerlok'' locomotives. 28 uni ...

, already delivered as part of the Adtranz group. The

FS Class E.464 The E.464 is a class of Italian railways electric locomotives. They were introduced in the course of the 1990s for hauling light trains, especially for commuter service. They were acquired by FS Trenitalia to replace the old E.424 and E.646, d ...

, a single-cabin electric locomotive manufactured at Vado Ligure from 1996 onwards would become one of the most numerous Italian locomotives ever with over 600 units ordered; production continued under Bombardier's ownership.

References

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History

Products and projects

Electricity generation and transmission

Locomotives

See also

References

Further reading