Kay Oscar Arthur Gulstad
Kay Oscar Arthur Gulstad (1853-1927)
1927 Obituary [1]
KAY OSCAR ARTHUR GULSTAD, who died on the 4th June, 1927, was born on the 29th December, 1853, in the town of Slesvig.
In 1881 he entered the service of the Great Northern Telegraph Co. at Copenhagen.
In 1882 he was transferred to the company's telegraph office at Newcastle-on-Tyne, where he served as a telegraphist and electrician until November of the same year, when he was transferred to London to assist in supervising the manufacture of a submarine cable for the Far East.
After visiting some of the company's stations in the Far East and taking part in the laying of the cable between Japan and Korea, he was, in 1884, transferred to Copenhagen as an assistant in the technical department of the company. In 1889 he became assistant engineer, and in 1896 engineer.
In 1901 he was made chief of the technical department, and was in 1902 appointed engineer-in-chief to the company, in which position he served until 1910, being also a member of the board of management from 1908 to 1910.
In 1910 he resigned owing to bad health and was thereupon appointed consulting engineer to the company. On recovering his health he served actively in that capacity until a few days before his death. As a telegraph engineer he was in the front rank. His wide range of knowledge, his genius for accurate observation and his great energy, coupled with a never-failing interest for even minute technical details, made him eminently well suited for research and scientific experimental work, and his research work led to many improvements in the technical telegraph service of the company. His most important invention is the "vibrating relay" which has been given his name. He had a most lovable, noble and unselfish character, and those who had the privilege of knowing him and of collaborating with him will always remember him with affection and veneration.
He was elected a Member of the Institution in 1902.