At the beginning of 1880 Ericsson had 10 workmen on his payroll. Four years later the number was close to 100. The dynamic growth of the enterprise which was to continue - with few setbacks - for nearly a century was under way. Personal details of Ericsson's life during the quarter of a century prior to his retirement are scarce. The company was his life and he apparently had no time or inclination for outside interests or diversions.

These were the years when Ericsson's great energy and capacity for work were most productive. Hemming Johansson, recalling Ericsson when the latter was in his fifties, writes:

"The amount of work he could perform was incredible. Often he brought with him in the morning at the opening of the office a sketch or a drawing of a design that he had worked out the previous evening or night, or that he had put on paper during the boat trip into town. The whole day long he was occupied with organizing and supervising the work out in the plant, interested in the slightest details, with interruptions for discussions of business matters in the office and for participation in, and supervision of, the work of the drawing office. 'Standard working day' was, and always had been, an unknown concept for Ericsson. The close of regular working hours signified most often for him merely that he returned to his beloved drawing board, where, undisturbed, he could devote himself to his favorite occupation. Or maybe trials and experiments with new instruments and equipment took up a great part of the hours the others reserved for entertainment and rest."

These were also the years of Ericsson's close relationships with Henrik Tore Torston Cedergren and the Sievert brothers, Max and Ernst - relationships that were to play a significant role in the development of the new telephone manufacturing company and the Swedish telephone industry.

H.T. Cedergren is regarded by many as the first Swede to appreciate the potential of the telephone if it could be made available to the general public at reasonable cost. In his opinion, the rates charged by the Swedish Bell companies were almost prohibitive. In 1883, to carry out his vision of "a telephone in each home in Stockholm, to begin with," he formed Stockholms Allmanna Telefonaktiebolag (Stockholm Public Telephone Company), relying on Ericsson to design and produce the quality equipment he would need in order to compete effectively with the Bell companies.

Initially Ericsson, cautious by nature, is said to have been cool to the venture. He knew that neither Cedergren, an engineer, nor any of his proposed associates had any technical of financial experience in the field of telophony. Cedergren's enthusiasm finally prevailed, however, and a collaboration of inestimable value to the future of telophony in Sweden was established. Thirty-five years later, in 1918, SAT would be merged into L.M. Ericsson Telephone Company when the later was restructured.

In 1888, Ericsson provided the principal support for the formation of Sieverts Kabelverk, formed in the Stockholm suburb of Sundbyberg to produce covered copper wire. Max Sievert had for a number of years represented a foreign manufacture of this type of wire, which was increasingly important in Ericsson's production program. The Sieverts company, now the largest producer of cables in Northern Europe, is today a subsidiary of the Ericsson Group.

As demand for the new Company's products increased, Ericsson continued to be responsible for a number of pioneering developments. While these were a natural consequence of his technical insight and his skill as a designer, Ericsson is not usually ranked among the great inventors. As Hemming Johansson has pointed out: "In his eyes, an invention was not an end in itself but only a means. His inventions may be said to represent stages in a constantly proceeding energetic effort to develop and improve the branch of electrotechnique to which he had devoted himself."

One of Ericsson's important contributions was to give telephone instruments and their important components a light, attractive appearance without any impairment of technical performance. In this respect, Ericsson instruments differed substantially from the early equipment offered by other manufacturers. Ericsson's first transmitter, the so-called "spiral microphone" developed in 1880, was an original and ingenious design which greatly facilitated the spread of telephone service in Scandinavia prior to the introduction of the carbon transmitter.

It was Ericsson who provided the practical design and engineering for the first hand sets which combined receiver and transmitter in a single unit. While the concept is not regarded as his invention, he is credited with recognizing its value and with establishing the new-style instrument in world markets.

Similarly, Ericsson contributed substantially to the design of early telephone exchanges, designing and producing the first "multiple desk" in Europe in 1884. With Cedergren, he is also credited with developing several automatic connecting switchboards, which enabled Stockholms Allmanna Telefonaktiebolag to offer unusually low subscriber rates when it began operations in 1883. Many of these switchboards continued to be used for more than half a century.

In the concluding years of his business life Ericsson participated actively in the design and engineering of the then new central battery system.

Hemming Johansson notes:

"As a designer, as in other respects, Ericsson was a selfmade man... he was a genius in that sphere, and a genius is not created by study. Persons observing Ericsson's way of working gained the impression that the design was definite and complete in his inner mind before he gave it form on paper, so rapid and sure was the procedure. His work at the drawing board was lightened to a degree by Ericsson's thorough knowledge of his trade... he could visualize to the last detail how the instrument engaging his thoughts for the moment should be built up so that it could be produced in the most sample and efficient manner."

One of Ericsson's major contributions to telephony was his continuing insistence on product quality. His standards were higher than those then considered necessary by foreign competitors, who were gradually forced to raise their sights. The solid quality of Ericsson's work and the elegance of his designs established his products as symbols of the finest in telephony.

By the mid-nineties Ericsson's company had approximately 500 employees - a relatively large number in those days in nearly all countries - and was firmly established in both domestic and export markets. The Company had customers throughout the world, the bulk of them located in the Scandinavian countries, Russia, England and the countries than today comprise the British Commonwealth. Export sales consistently exceeded sales in the limited Swedish market and in some years accounted from 70 to 85 percent of invoicing.

In 1896 Ericsson transferred the business of L.M. Ericsson & Co., to a new corporation, Aktiebolaget L.M. Ericsson & Co., capitalized at one million kronor. Ericsson owned all the shares except for a number distributed as gifts to the faithful Carl Johan Anderson, his works manager for many years, and to 31 other key employees.

Ericsson served as managing director and chairman of the board of the new corporation for four years, retiring as managing director in the fall of 1900. He continued as board chairman, displaying an active interest in the company, until 1903, when disposed of his shareholdings and served all formal connections with the enterprise he had founded and guided to a position of international stature.