Per Englebert Erikson (c1880-1952)
1952 Obituary [1]
WE regret to record that Mr. P. E. Erikson, who was prominent as a telephone engineer and a member of the International Standard Electric Corporation, died suddenly at the age of seventy-two on Sunday, December 7th, at his home at Malmo, Sweden.
Mr. Erikson received his degree in electrical engineering from the Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm in 1903, and joined the Western Electric Company, New York, as a shop student the same year. On being assigned to the engineering department, he was engaged on the early development of loading coils and balanced toll cables.
In 1909 he was appointed transmission engineer for Europe, with headquarters in London, and was in charge of the construction of the London-Birmingham cable, the first loaded long-distance cable installed in Europe.
During 1918 he carried out the reconstruction of the Rio de Janeiro- San Paulo toll line, the first of its kind in Brazil to be equipped with repeaters and loaded toll entrances cables.
Later, as assistant European chief engineer of the International Western Electric Company, he had charge of the design of toll transmission systems which were being introduced into various European countries after the first world war.
In 1928, he was made assistant vice-president of the International Standard Electric Corporation and European chief engineer in 1930.
From 1924 to 1929 Mr. Erikson was actively engaged on C.C.I.F. work under the direction of the late Sir Frank Gill, and from 1929 onwards he was a delegate for the I. T. and T. Operating Companies at the meetings of that body.
In 1938 he became a member of the board of directors of A.B. Standard Radiofabrik, Stockholm, a subsidiary of the I.T. and T. Corporation. Two years later he was transferred to Sweden and acted as liaison officer between the International Standard Electric Corporation in New York and the Scandinavian companies, which were isolated by belligerent action from 1940 to 1945.
After the war he was recalled, in 1946, to full-time service with London headquarters as technical adviser to the European commercial department. He retired from active service in September, 1950.
Mr. Erikson was a member of the Institution of Electrical Engineers, a Fellow of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers, and a member of "Svenska Teknologforeningen," Stockholm, Sweden.
He was the author of numerous papers and articles and joint author with Mr. R. A. Mack of a paper entitled " Transmission Maintenance of Telephone Systems," read before the Institution of Electrical Engineers, London, on March 6, 1924 a paper which earned the award of the I.E.E. Fahie premium. He was also author of a paper entitled "The Present State of Long-Distance Cable Telephony in Europe," presented to the International Scientific and Technical Congress of Telephony and Telegraphy in commemoration of Volta, at Como, in September, 1927.