Sigmund Schuckert was born in 1846, the son of a Master
Barrel Maker. At elementary school, he was already familiarizing himself, through laboratory experiments, with the properties of electricity. Sigmund refused to follow in the footsteps of his father, becoming instead a precision mechanic. With the help of his teacher, he managed to obtain a mechanical apprenticeship with Friedrich Heller, Nuremberg's oldest electric company. In the meantime he pursued his hobby,
telegraphy, at the same time, through
self-study, deepening his knowledge of arithmetic, geometry, physics and chemistry. Upon completion of his apprenticeship, as a
journeyman Sigmund Schuckert worked successively in Munich, Stuttgart, Hannover and Berlin where he worked with
Siemens & Halske. Essentially, he was keen to meet the best professionals of the top companies, to expand his knowledge and to gain insights from those with whom he worked, while developing his own ideas. Importantly, Schuckert now spent several years in America. Emigrants whom he met in Hamburg triggered a growing urge to go to the
United States himself. While he was working in the electrical department of the Optical equipment business headed up by Albert Krage, Sigmund Schuckert learned English. In 1869 he began his journey. From New York he traveled via Baltimore, Philadelphia and Cincinnati, ending up in
Newark, New Jersey, where he worked in the telegraph factory of
Thomas Edison. According to
Francis Jehl, "The experience he had gained in the Ward Street shop was the most valuable lesson he had ever received. There he had learned the true meaning of courage, resolution and honest conviction. Edison’s work in electricity led him (Schuckert) to resolve to enter the field himself. He did so through the
arc light which was then to the fore, and after saving $1,000 went back to Nurnberg and started his first
arc lamp and generator experiments." == Middle years ==