Magyar News, 1999. szeptember-2000. augusztus (10. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
1999-11-01 / 3. szám
This year is the hundredth anniversary of the birth of an exceptional but little known Hungarian mechanical engineer, György Jendrassik. What was so exceptional in Jendrassik, is the fact that he possessed a unique combination of different talents usually not found in the same individual. He was the inventor of two different engines; he had the savvy and foresight to protect his own personal interests and he was a "leader of men", indispensable for a successful career as an executive in a large company. Jendrassik started his professional life in the Ganz factory in Budapest in the early 1920’s as a designer of Diesel engines. Very soon he realized that the application of an obscure law relating to the physics of the air would significantly improve the starting of the Diesel engine, thereby enhancing the competitiveness of several of the products of the company. Jendrassik suggested to his management that the idea should be patented, developed and put into production. The company turned to the professor of internal combustion engines at the Technical University of Budapest, for an expert opinion. The opinion was negative: the scheme won't work, he said, and Jendrassik was duly notified of the management's disinterest in the matter. The young man's next move was that he called a meeting of his relatives and asked for their financial help to build a prototype of the engine in a small machine shop to demonstrate the viability of the concept. The family was upper middle class (one of Jendrassik's uncles was a justice of the Hungarian Supreme Court, the Kúria) and they provided the money. The engine was built as frugally as possible; there was not even an electrical starter: an apprentice had to hand crank the engine to start. When the machine was completed, Jendrassik invited his management for a demonstration run. They showed up - with the professor in tow. The camshaft was moved the appropriate inch, the apprentice cranked and the engine roared to life,visibly faster than could have been expected from a similar, conventional engine. The professor was not impressed: “Start the engine without moving the camshaft!” - he demanded. The poor apprentice cranked and cranked - no results. The professor declared: " The engine starts all right - but not for the reason "sir colleague " (formal way of address between Hungarian professionals: “kolléga úr”) thinks it does!” and he walked out of the shop. Management, however, was impressed and Jendrassik was told that he should prepare a formal patent application. Page 4 “And what is in it for me?” Jendrassik demanded. “Nothing. Remember, when you were hired, you signed a release whereby you assigned the rights to all your future inventions in the line of your work, to the company!” “I did?” “Of course! Like every new hire! It's in your personal file!” “Let me see it.” The file was brought over from the archives - and the sentence “All my future inventions are hereby assigned to Ganz” was crossed out. Obviously, the hiring clerk never dreamed that one amongst the hundreds of new hires would alter the form. Management surrendered at once: “What do you want?” “One pengő for every litre of engine capacity sold !” (One pengő was the equivalent of 20 cents). “O. K.”- and Jendrassik was on his way to rapid advancement through the ranks and to modest financial comfort. Under the technical responsibility and leadership of Jendrassik, the so-called Ganz-Jendrassik Diesel engine became the hallmark of the most important products of the company. One of them was the “Árpád Sínautó”, a self-propelled railroad car , a fast luxury train which became an important export item of Hungary; the customers included Argentina. In less than ten years, Jendrassik became the Technical General Manager and his technical interest turned to broader horizons: the gas turbine. The expression “gas turbine” is actually a misnomer: the word “gas” stands for “gaseous material”; essentially, it is air. A windmill is the simplest form of an air turbine where the heat of the sun provides the energy that keeps the air moving. The designer of the gas turbine has to provide the energy himself which he does by burning fuel in his machine; the heat energy released creates a fast moving air stream which turns devices somewhat similar to wind mills. In non-technical terms, a gas turbine is a jet engine that usually does not fly. At low air speeds, the preferred device to move an airplane, is the propeller and a gas turbine can be used to drive a propeller. At higher speeds, the propeller becomes useless; instead, the hot “wind” jet pouring out at the rear end of the gas turbine becomes a substitute for the propeller: the fast jet pushes the plane forward and the gas turbine becomes a jet engine. On the ground, the gas turbine can be used to drive an electric generator and generate electricity. The principles of the gas turbine were known for many years but there is a great difference between theoretical principles and practical machinery. Due to its military and commercial possibilities there was feverish gas turbine activity going on in Switzerland, Germany, A commemorative stamp of György Jendrassik with the Árpád Sinautó in the background was issued by the Post Office of Hungary England, Italy: everybody wanted to be first. Jendrassik stepped into this race with a cool determination, characteristic to someone who is sure of what he is doing. He just sat down and wrote one patent disclosure after another, for about two years (1934-35), before he “cut metal” (as technical people say it). Now we know in retrospect that no successful gas turbine could have been built without violating one or more of Jendrassik's patents. The experimental work was carried out in the Ganz factory and by 1938, Jendrassik introduced to the public his first design: a 100 horsepower engine. The results were so good that the magazine of the German engineering society reported some of the data followed by a question mark in parenthesis: they did not believe the results. Jendrassik made a presentation of his work which was published in the magazine of the Hungarian Society of Engineers and Architects. In the following issue, there was a criticism of the scientific basis of Jendrassik's work: it was the professor. The exchange went on for several issues. The story of the turbine followed the path of the Diesel engine in another respect too: in his lecture, Jendrassik expressed his thanks to Regent Horthy for the financial support received from the personal funds of the Regent. This time, Jendrassik probably could have received funding from Ganz, but he might have had ethical considerations to involve his company's finances in something so speculative which - if successful - would belong to him. We shall see that Jendrassik's caution was justified. One wonders, how could Jendrassik gain access to the Regent's funds? It is unsupported speculation - but here it goes. Horthy’s older son and presumptive heir, István Horthy, was a mechanical engineering graduate of the Budapest Technical University who embarked on a career-path of a technical executive. He first became the president of a company similar to Ganz (the MÁVAG factory), later he became the president of the Hungarian State Railroad. He was also the first reserve officer of the Hungarian Airforce. (This cost him his life: in 1942, he was a fighter pilot on the Soviet front, György Jendrasäk Inventor. TecMral Executive, Businessman.
