About
About Herold & Mielenz, Inc.
At Herold & Mielenz, Inc., we didn’t invent the first electric motor, but our great-great-great-grandfather did! The members of the Mielenz Family are direct descendants of Thomas Davenport, who is credited with inventing the first commercially successful electric motor in 1834. A blacksmith in Brandon, Vermont, Davenport began experimenting with electromagnets in 1831 and, by 1934, he constructed the first electric motor. Operated by battery, his first motor was used to propel a small car around a circular track, the first recorded instance of an electric railroad.