Siemens & Halske AG was founded as Telegraphen-Bau-Austalt von Siemens & Halske (Telegraph Construction Firm of Siemens & Halske) in 1847 by Werner von Siemens, Johann Georg Siemens and Johann Georg Halske. Initially it was focused on building telegraph installations and other electrical equipment, which it did spreading telegraph lines across Germany. By 1855 a branch had been established in St Petersburg for Russian lines followed by a London branch in 1858. The company's activities were extended to include dynamos, cables, telephones, electric power and electric lighting and in 1897 it became a limited company under the name Siemens & Halske AG. In 1903 power-engineering was transferred to a new company, Siemens-Schuckertwerke, although the two were usually chaired by the same person, always a member of the Siemens family. In 1966 all companies in the Siemens Group were merged to create Siemens AG.