Click for homepage
ACEC
Ateliers de Construction Électriques de Charleroi

From 1904 to 1989, ACEC was a Belgian manufacturer of electro-mechanical products, based in Charleroi (Belgium). The company developed electrical systems, such as motors, transformers and domestic equipment such as radio and television sets. ACEC also produced cipher machines.


The company was established as Société Anonyme Electricité et Hydraulique à Charleroi in 1886 by Julien Dulait. In 1904, the company was taken over by Edouard Empain and the name was changed to ACEC (Ateliers de Construction Électriques de Charleroi). It would become the most significant Belgian manufacturer of electric motors and domestic equipment. In the early 1960s, ACEC was about the same size as Philips was in The Netherlands.

In the late 1980s, ACEC ran into financial trouble and was eventually dissolved in 1989 by its shareholders (Alcatel, Alstrom and Waalse Regio). In 1992 the company officially ceased to exist. The activities of ACEC were spread over 8 different independent companies of which only the domestic heating part (ACIT) exists today.

It is little known that, during the 1960s and 1970s, ACEC also manufactured teleprinter equipment (telex) and cipher machines for the Belgian Department of Defence (DoD). One example is the TP-845-A Telecijferaaruitrusing (Telecrypto system) featured on this website.


ACEC equipment on this website
Acec TP-845-A one-time tape cipher machine
Known ACEC cipher machines
References
  1. Wikipedia, ACEC
    Retrieved November 2010.

  2. History of ACEC, Histoire des ACEC (French)
    Retrieved November 2010.
Further information
Any links shown in red are currently unavailable. If you like the information on this website, why not make a donation?
© Crypto Museum. Created: Tuesday 09 November 2010. Last changed: Sunday, 02 July 2017 - 22:55 CET.
Click for homepage