The Railway.
In 1839 Hjorth made a journey to England, France and Belgium. By that time, he seems to have come to the conclusion that steam-carriages running on rails, are preferable to steam-carriages running on the high-road, at any rate he mainly studied locomotives and railroading during this journey.
After his return to Denmark, he spent some years as manager of Marschall’s piano factory, though still at work with his railroad schemes, and in 1840 he happened to find a man named Schram, a book-keeper, who shared his interests and was able to assist him in the realisation of his ideas. In 1840, these two men published a detailed calculation of the probable revenues and expenses of a railroad between Copenhagen and Roskilde. This project, however, did not arouse any interest, and people were mostly inclined to smile at the idea, and it appeared impossible to induce competent men to take, any interest in the scheme, much less to invest money therein.
Then, in 1841, they applied to the young »Industrial Association« which body referred the case to its special committee of commerce. Even this committee did not seem much inclined to listen to Hjorth’s and Schram’s proposition, but their undefatigable energy finally succeeded in persuading the committee of commerce to convoke a large meeting to be held on the 24th of March. Here it was decided to make an application to the Government for the surveying of the proposed railroad line and, to the surprise of many, the petition was granted. Hjorth, possessing distinctive agitatory faculties, showed great activity, delivering lectures and exhibiting models, and tried thereby to excite interest in his schemes. His contemporaries describe him as a sociable man of a winning and lovable disposition and possessing a certain persuasive power. He was well liked by his friends as well as by his many casual acquaintances. In 1841 both Hjorth and Schram were elected members of the Board of Representatives of the Industrial Association, and from 1841 to 1843 Hjorth was the vice-president of the association. Now there began to be some sympathy for their cause, and the Board of Representatives of the Industrial Association showed a willingness to follow the sub-committee elected, consisting of the two motionists and Lector, (later Professor) Wilkens of the Polytechnic Institute. The strenuous efforts of this sub-committee resulted in the Industrial Association submitting, in January 1843, an application for a franchise to form a stock-company for the purpose of building a railroad from Copenhagen, by way of Roskilde, to a sea-port on the western coast of Sealand. This franchise, was granted, for a period of 100 years, and on the 16th of April 1844 the Industrial Association issued a public invitation to take stock in a company whose stock capital was to be 1 1/2 million rixdollars, a very considerable sum for those times. As early as in the beginning of May, most of the stock was taken—mainly in Hamburg. While the confidence in a scheme of this kind was but slight in Denmark, the speculation in railroad stocks was nearly culminating at the stock-exchanges of Germany and England; as a matter of fact, it became near being a swindle. The Sealand Railroad Company was founded on the 2nd of July 1844, and Hjorth became its first technical director, while Schram became its first general manager. The Industrial Association received 15000 rixdollars for the franchise, and from this sum it paid 3000 to Hjorth and Schram.
In 1843, Hjorth was unanimously elected president of the Industrial Association. In 1845, he had to resign this office, but as it appeared very difficult to concentrate the votes in favour of a new president and vice-president, »Secretary Hjorth, to meet the general demand, accepted the vice-presidency«, which office he then held for a year.
In the meantime, the railroad company had finished the construction of its first piece of road, from Copenhagen to Roskilde, and this was opened for traffic on the 27th of June 1847, some days before the time limit fixed. Even at that time it was decided, owing to Hjorth’s influence, to extend the road to Korsør. The cause of the delay in commencing this work was the railroad crisis which had just broken out in Germany and England, making it impossible to obtain money for the construction of railroads. This road, therefore, was not constructed until the government, in 1852, guaranteed an interest of 4% on the capital invested.
Hjorth retained his position for about 4 years, and concerning this period he writes: »All the great difficulties and obstacles to be surmounted during the construction of the road influenced my health to such a degree that I broke down and was forced to abandon my position as technical director of the railroad before the expiration of my term of office, in order that I might take a water-cure at Klampenborg«. After he had, to some extent, regained his health there, and another board of directors had been elected, he made a travel to England which turned out to be of such great importance that we will describe it more fully in the following.
Electricity.
After Faraday, in 1831, had discovered how an electric current might be produced by means of a magnet, many people busied themselves by trying to put this invention into practical use, and numerous attempts were made to construct electro-magnetic and magneto-electric machines for useful purposes.
No wonder that these efforts attracted Hjorth’s attention, and, as early as 1842, he had drafted an electro-magnetic machine, consisting of a stationary circle of magnets, whose poles were directed against the poles of a moveable circle of magnets. In 1843 this sketch was deposited with the Royal Scientific Society, but the sketch itself, as well as the explanation belonging to it, are very incomplete.