A pioneer of electricity in Charleroi
While he is not particularly well known today, Julien Dulait had a huge impact on Belgium’s industrial history thanks to his visionary ideas and inventions. He was a key player in the roll-out of electricity in Belgium
An auspicious start
A civil engineering graduate from the University of Liège, Julien Dulait set up a workshop/laboratory near his family home in Charleroi. There he developed hydraulic motors powered by the urban water supply, capable of driving dynamos. With this system, he lit his workshop using electricity – quite a feat at the time.
A talented engineer and entrepreneur
In 1881 he became a consultant engineer at the Compagnie générale d’électricité, which, among other things, manufactured products patented by Zénobe Gramme. With this experience under his belt, he founded his own company, Électricité & Hydraulique in Marcinelle in 1886. The company grew quickly and soon employed more than 1,000 people. It made use of the many patents filed by Dulait and developed a wide range of activities:
A vision for the future
Always on the lookout for technical improvements, Julien Dulait invented a number of innovative products. He created the “Dulait regulator”, a lamp designed to offer better quality lighting, and the “pandynamometer”, a device used to measure how powerful machines were. A real visionary, he also worked with two Russian engineers on an ambitious project: tangential traction, a revolutionary solution for high-speed electric train technology. Despite its potential, the project never came to fruition.
After the Ateliers de constructions électriques de Charleroi (ACEC) were founded by Édouard Empain, taking over the activities of Électricité & Hydraulique, Dulait became its commercial managing director until 1908, and remained a director until his death in 1926.
