Telefunken Advertisement (before 1914)

This advertisement promoted wireless telegraphy, which was an important sub-sector of the shipping industry at the start of the twentieth century. In Germany, Telefunken [Gesellschaft für drahtlose Telegraphie] was founded in 1903 as a joint venture between Siemens & Halske and AEG. Telefunken competed with the British-based Marconi’s Wireless Telegraph Company in the field of telegraphy. In radio telegraphy, messages were transmitted via electromagnetic radio waves, symbolized by the lightning bolts shown on the poster. The lighting bolts also showed that it was possible to communicate with distant targets by radio.