1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Solingen

SOLINGEN, a town of Germany, in the Prussian Rhine Province, on a height above the Wupper, 13 m. S.E. of Düsseldorf, and 20 m. N.E. of Cologne by rail. Pop. (1905), 49,018. Solingen is one of the chief seats of the German iron and steel industry, its speciality consisting in all kinds of cutlery, Solingen sword-blades have been celebrated for centuries, and are widely used outside Germany, while bayonets, knives, scissors, surgical instruments, files, steel frames and the like are also produced in enormous quantities. These articles are largely made by the workmen at their own homes and supplied to the depots of the large dealers; there are about 20,000 workers in steel in Solingen and the vicinity. Solingen received its municipal charter in 1374. Sword-blades have been made here since the early middle ages, and tradition affirms that the art was introduced during the Crusades by smiths from Damascus.