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Director Faber


By Marie Ørstedholm

Peter Faber was known not only as a competent metrician, but also as a proficient scientist by his contemporaries. Through 25 years in his capacity of the first director of the State Telegraph he took charge of a project that revolutionized the ways of communication in Denmark.


Preliminary Exercises
As Headmaster of the Technical University, Peter Faber followed the development of the new electromagnetic telegraphy in the 1840’s. On the initiative of the General Directorate of Post he elaborated a report in 1849 together with among others Professor H.C. Ørsted about the possibility of establishing telegraph lines in Denmark. Faber’s insight in the new technology made him an obvious choice when in 1852 a director of the new telegraph connection between Elsinore and Hamburg was to be appointed. At the opening of the Sound Line in 1854 he took over the full responsibility of the operation and the further establishment of telegraph lines in the country.

An All-Round Job
It was a rather small organization that Faber took charge of. At the totally nine stations of the Sound Line scarcely 35 men were employed. His first major challenge was to improve the many technical weaknesses of the line. At an early stage he realized the limited survival potential of underground cables and gradually replaced them with surface installations.

As an engineer Faber felt most comfortable with technical and practical tasks outside the Main Telegraph Station in Copenhagen: The systematic development of new telegraph lines, training of people at the stations and for linesman’s work, control and repair of the cables, etc.

His ingenuity was also directed towards minor technical details: The porcelain insulators which for many years could be seen on Danish telegraph poles were originally produced in collaboration between Peter Faber and the porcelain factory of Bing & Grøndahl.

Supervision of the lines throughout the country implied right from the start many long days away from his family and the station in Copenhagen. Some of his travels even went abroad in order to collaborate and negotiate with foreign colleagues about the international flow of telegrams.

Growing Pains
After a reluctant start the development of Danish telegraphy really gathered speed in the 1860’s and 1870’s. During Peter Faber’s 25 years as director of the State Telegraph the telegraph network grew from about 520 km to well over 2800 km, and the number of stations was eventually increased to 200 spread throughout the entire country. At that time Faber had more than 300 employees under his direction.

Faber himself considered his work during the second war of Schleswig in 1863-1864 of maintaining the telegraph contact between the Danish troops to be the most important achievement of his life. War, bad weather, and other impediments could not keep Faber away from work. In 1877, he died of pneumonia caught during a tour of inspection in cold and damp weather.


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