which actually consisted of basic lead sulphates described by the general formula x PbO • y PbSO4 • z H2O. This invention led to a weight reduction in the electrodes while increasing their capacity, and resulted in a reduction in the sale price of up to 15 per cent. Electric lighting systems On 30 April 1886, Henri Tudor signed a convention with the Town Council of Echternach concerning the replacement of the existing petroleum street by electric lighting. It was understood that the electric power plant would include a steam boiler, two dynamos and Tudor lead-acid accumulators. For the execution of this project, he founded with his brother Hubert and his cousin Nikolaus Schalkenbach, the firm Tudor Frères & Schalkenbach and established workshops in Rosport. The electric lighting system went on stream on 24 October 1886. Echternach was proud to be the first town in the country to benefit from electric lighting. In 1887, Henri Tudor concluded a contract for electric lighting in the small town of Dolhain-Limbourg (Belgium). In 1889, he founded the Société Anonyme Belge pour l'Éclairage public par l'Électricité in Brussels so as to provide a more solid basis for his business activities in Belgium. He then installed two power stations, one in Brussels and one in Ghent. In May 1889, 150 public or private stationary Tudor batteries were in operation in Belgium and in the rest of Europe. In July 1891, their number was 1200, which corresponded to more than 3 million electrodes. Rosport, Tudor's home village, had to wait until 1901 to benefit from electric lighting. It is important to understand that the development of direct current networks based on accumulators was inevitably limited and that, in the long term, it even hampered the supply of electricity in its more efficient form: the alternating current. Industrial activities The Rosport factory The manufacture of Tudor accumulators started in 1885 in the Rosport workshops, installed on the property known as Engelsbuerg. As from January 1897, following the dissolution of the Société Anonyme Franco-Belge pour la fabrication de l’accumulateur Tudor, the Rosport factory manufactured and marketed accumulators not only for Luxembourg but also for Belgium. The workforce exceeded at least occasionally 30 people. From 1899 to 1901, the yearly output exceeded 200 tons. The Rosport factory was unable to cope with the rapid increase in demand and Luxembourg's customs status within the German Customs Union (Zollverein) hampered its