Wincentz Thurmann Ihlen (2 May 1826 – 18 January 1892) was a Norwegian engineer and industrialist. He was born in

Holmestrand is a town and municipality in Vestfold in Vestfold og Telemark county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Holmestrand. The town was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt). ...

as the son of Nils Ihlen and Barbara Wincentz Thurmann.Genealogy
/ref> His brother Jacob Thurmann Ihlen was a politician. In November 1852 Wincentz married Birgitte Elisabeth Mørch, granddaughter of Constitutional founding father

Ole Clausen Mørch Ole Clausen Mørch (2 August 1774 – 4 July 1829) was a Norwegian merchant and banker. He served as a representative at the Norwegian Constituent Assembly at Eidsvoll in 1814. He was born in Christianssand in Vest-Agder, Norway. He was the son o ...

, and the couple had one daughter and three sons. His oldest son

Nils Claus Ihlen Nils Claus Ihlen (24 July 1855 – 22 March 1925) was a Norwegian engineer and politician for the Liberal Party. He served as Foreign Minister of Norway from 1913 to 1920. Personal life He was born in Skedsmo as the oldest son of Wincentz Th ...

would become a member of the national parliament and Minister of Foreign Affairs. During the 1860s Ihlen started as an entrepreneur and bought several local enterprises and real estate. This included the farms at Haneborg, Granholt and Vittenberg, and the Nordby saw mill. Based at

Fjellhamar Fjellhamar is a village in Akershus, Norway and is about twenty minutes driving from Oslo. Famous residents * Jarle Aambø Jarle Alex Aambø (born 26 March 1960) is a Norwegian sports official. In 2013 NRK published the claim by Adresseavisen's ...

Farm in

Lørenskog is a Municipalities of Norway, municipality in Akershus in Viken (county), Viken Counties of Norway, county, Norway. A suburb of Oslo, it is part of the Oslo urban area and the Districts of Norway, traditional region of Romerike. The administrati ...

, he built up a major complex of saw mills and grain mills, establishing the first industrial complex in Lørenskog. The background for the establishment was the new railway line that ran past Lørenskog, giving easy access to lumber from the inner parts of the country, as well as to the port in Oslo. The mills were owned proprietorially until they incorporated as the limited company ''A/S Fjeldhammer Brug'' in 1893, and the company has today become part of Icopal. Wincentz Thurmann Ihlen established his own mechanical workshop and iron works at

Strømmen Strømmen is a town in Lillestrøm municipality, Viken county, Norway. It is about twenty kilometers east of Oslo, and considered part of Greater Oslo. It has around 11,400 residents. The town has its origins from floating lumber and sawmills alon ...

in 1873, under the name ''W. Ihlen, Strømmen''. The main product was

railway car A railroad car, railcar ( American and Canadian English), railway wagon, railway carriage, railway truck, railwagon, railcarriage or railtruck (British English and UIC), also called a train car, train wagon, train carriage or train truck, is ...

s, with the first being produced in 1874. After Wincentz's retirement the Ihlen family retained ownership of the company, with Nils Claus taking over the works in 1883, changing the name to

Strømmens Værksted Strømmens Værksted A/S was an industrial company based in Skedsmo, Norway, specialising in the production of rolling stock. Founded in 1873, it remains as a part of Bombardier Transportation. The plant is located just off Hovedbanen west of ...

, and his sons Joakim and Alf Ihlen in 1908, who transformed it to a

limited company In a limited company, the liability of members or subscribers of the company is limited to what they have invested or guaranteed to the company. Limited companies may be limited by Share (finance), shares or by guarantee. In a company limited by ...

. He died in 1892 in

Kristiania Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ihlen, Wincentz Thurmann 1826 births 1892 deaths Norwegian engineers People from Holmestrand