The past

Ábrahám Ganz

1814 - 1867

He was born in Switzerland in the village of Unter-Embrach. He became a founder apprentice, then went abroad to improve his skills in the foundries of France, Germany, Italy and Austria. He got a job in a recently established rolling mill (József Hengermalom) in Pest in 1841. In the fall of 1844 he left the rolling mill, his plan was to establish an iron foundry of his own. He bought a site in Buda, related to which on 5 February 1845 the municipal council issued the permission for iron casting and related branches of industry. During the first year they produced canal and water pipes, fences, gates, but in November of the same year the wheel of a steam carriage cast for the railway company had been exhibited at the exhibition of the Industrial Association. In 1854 he applied for a patent for chilled casting. In 1856 he received orders from different railway companies for several hundred chilled cast wheels. In 1859 the selection of railways castings was widened by the manufacture of chilled-cast V-points. In 1867 at the Paris World Expo such a locomotive wheel was exhibited which operated for twenty years without any defect. In November 1867 the production of the 100.000th chilled-cast wheel was celebrated.

Antal Eichleiter

1831-1902

After having finished the public elementary school in Augsburg, industrial and agricultural specialized secondary school, technical high school he worked as an engine fitter then as a drawer in Erfurt, in the principal works of the Railways of Thüringia. Starting from 1854 he undertook engineering work in Cramer-Klett factory, where in 1857 he was commissioned to hand over the railway carriages manufactured for Tisza railways in Szolnok. The wheels of the carriages had been delivered by Ganz-factory in Buda, and meanwhile he got acquainted with Ábrahám Ganz, whose offer he accepted and started work in the Ganz Foundry in August 1858. The first task was to establish a new, bigger machine shop. He designed the chilled-cast V-pieces for railway crossings. Apart from his design work he conducted the correspondence with the different railway companies. Following his proposal András Mechwart stayed in Buda in 1859. Before his death Ábrahám Ganz made such a secret, legally binding agreement with him, according to which in case of his sudden death Eichleiter would direct the factory for ten years. It was this agreement that made possible that after the tragic death of Ábrahám Ganz in 1867 Ganz and Co. ("Ganz és Társa") could be established with Antal Eichleiter, András Mechwart and Ulrich Keller.

András Mechwart

1834-1907

After his excellent exam work as a locksmith’s apprentice he received his diploma in engineering with scholarship in 1855. Upon the recommendation of his friend –Antal Eichleiter - he became an engineer in the Ganz factory in 1959. After the death of Ábrahám Ganz the heirs charged Eichleiter, Keller and Mechwart with the management of the factory. After the sale and reorganisation of the factory in 1869 Mechwart became technical manager and general manager in 1847. Under his activity the company continuously kept developing. Apart from increasing the production and establishing economic stability, he was concerned about the representation of the interests of the workers and employees. He established a pension fund, aid fund, aid pay-office and a school for teaching the apprentices. In 1880 based on his proposal Ganz Rt. bought the Fist Hungarian Railway Carriage Works that went bankrupt (the present site of Ganz Holding Zrt.). The manufacture of carriages was started here, he could increase the area of the factory in Buda by this area.

Titusz Ottó Bláthy

1860-1939

He finished the mechanical engineering faculty of the Technical University in Vienna in 1881 and he did his apprenticeship in the Hungarian National Machinery Works. He started working in Ganz as a design engineer on 1 July 1883 in the Electro-technical department lead by Károly Zipernovszky. In the exposition held in Torino in 1844 the self-induction A.C. generator designed by Bláthy made a great success. In 1884-85 the transformation of electric current was worked out together with Zipernovszky. The new system was presented at the National Exposition held in Budapest in 1885, the total area of which was lighted by A.C. of 70 cycles distributed on 1350 V primary voltage, by 75 small casing transformers. He worked out the regulation of driving machines and parallel operation of A.C. generators of different big power stations (e.g. in Innsbruck, Tivoli).

Kálmán Kandó

1869-1931

He received his diploma in mechanical engineering with excellent qualifications at the Technical University Királyi József in Budapest in 1892. He spent one year in the navy, then he started his career of engineering in Paris at the Compagnie de Fives - Lille factory. In the summer of 1894 András Mechwart called him to join the Electric Department of Ganz-factory. First he designed induction motors, then the application of three-phase electric current system for the purpose of railway traction. In 1897 he went to America for a study tour of nearly a year, where he studied the electrification of big railway lines. Based on his experience gained he designed the first A.C. electric locomotive of big railway lines and the Ganz factory constructed the Valtellina railway in Italy between 1898-1902. The three main characteristics of the Kandó locomotives: the induction driving motor, the liquid resistance and the transmission gear equipped with rods. He applied for 69 patents in Hungary.

György Jendrassik

1898-1954

He started and finished his studies in mechanical engineering in Budapest, but in the meantime he studied in Berlin as well with a scholarship. He started working in the Design and Development Department of Ganz factory in 1922. In 1924 he worked out designs of the fast, medium and small-power diesel engines, then he applied for his first patent together with Ganz-factory under the name "Internal combustion heat engine and the related operation". The first Ganz-Jendrassik diesel-engines were produced in 1927. His most successful engine construction was the type VI JaR 153 made in 1933, which were built in railcars. In 1934 he established a private engineering office under the name "Development and sale of inventions limited liability co.". The new gas turbine was designed here and a V arrangement engine for Hispano Suiza. In 1939 he became deputy general manager, and in 1942 general manager. Altogether he applied for 77 Hungarian patents. His experiments related to gas turbines were interrupted due to the world war.