RIES, ELIAS ELKAN:
American electrical engineer; born at Randegg, Baden, Germany, Jan. 16, 1862. When only three years of age he was taken by his parents to America. He received his education at the public schools of Baltimore and New York, attending also lectures at Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore. In 1876 he became a telegraph-operator and removed to New York, being employed by the Edison Company and other electrical concerns. Returning to Baltimore in 1884, he developed some of his own inventions in electrical signaling, and organized (1891) the Ries Electric Specialty Company. Since 1896 he has resided in New York city.
Ries has invented improvements in the telephone, the telegraph, and in other electric apparatus, such as electric lamps, track-rail welding machinery, motor controllers, etc., for which inventions he has secured about 150 patents. He has also contributed articles to the scientific and technical journals.
- American Jewish Year Book, 1905, s.v.
