Adertonhundratalets argonauter: Kunskapsinhämtning och praktisk teknikanvändning under Sveriges industriella genombrott

Abstract

Argonauts of industry: Knowledge gathering and technologies in use in Sweden’s industrial breakthrough

In this article we explore how knowledge transfer about industrial production and new technologies affected Sweden’s rapid industrialisation in the second half of the nineteenth century. Focusing on two case studies taken from the Swedish glass and gunpowder industries, we argue for the importance of human actors with a practical bent: technical workers and non-academic specialists who collected new forms of knowledge as they visited industrial sites across Europe and the globe. Inspired by the American economist AnnaLee Saxenian and her research on Asian migration to Silicon Valley, we refer to these actors as ”Argonauts” as they undertook long, adventurous journeys in their quest for industrial knowledge. They were driven by practical concerns and issues, and primarily on the lookout for applicable solutions to the technical problems which were hampering production back in Sweden. Thus, these Argonauts of industry were determined to find what the American Israeli economic historian Joel Mokyr has labelled ”useful knowledge”: knowledge that made a difference for dayto-day production and could easily be adapted to local conditions. It was an experiential form of knowledge inextricably intertwined with people’s practical skills and somatic memories. Industrial knowledge was neither bookish nor institutional, but based on trained eyes, skilled hands, and a professional feel for the tools and materials necessary for industrial production. We propose an analytical model for future studies into the crucial relationship between knowledge transfer and the specific processes of industrialisation. The model has a threefold aim and emphasises the importance of technologies in use, professional journeys, and cultural concepts – the interaction of hand, eye, and brain.